This paper examines the magnitude and determinants of trading costs for small-cap funds in Australia. The total price impact for these funds is 0.67 (-0.62) percent for purchases (sales). This is significantly larger than costs reported in prior research. No significant asymmetries in the...

This study examines the extent to which the abnormal performance of active Australian small-cap equity fund managers, previously documented by Chen et al. (2010), is associated with broker recommendations. Our empirical evidence supports the investment value of broker recommendations, showing...

Using a representative sample of monthly portfolio holdings and daily trades, this study presents unique evidence of significant stock selection skill amongst institutional small-cap equity managers on a risk-adjusted basis. Of particular importance is the magnitude of the performance generated...

Cross-region and cross-sector asset allocation decisions are one of the most fundamental issues in international equity portfolio management. Equity returns exhibit higher volatilities and correlations, and lower expected returns, in bear markets compared to bull markets. However, static...

This study extends an examination of Quality investing in the US (Gallagher et al., 2013) to the Australian market. Specifically, a Quality score is computed as the aggregate of eight fundamental accounting metrics. An investment strategy investing in the highest (lowest) quality stock quintile...

This study investigates how the quality of stocks owned by mutual funds affects the performance of those funds during 2000-2009. The quality of a stock is positively related to its size, while quality is inversely related to volatility. Evidently, stocks in the lowest quality decile perform...

“Say on pay” legislation has been introduced in several countries but Australia's version, namely the “two-strikes” rule, is unique in that it empowers shareholders to vote on a board spill if the compensation report of a public company receives 25% or more dissenting votes for two...

Superannuation fund fees have come under public scrutiny in recent years, with some observers arguing that fees are set too high. This report focuses on a sample of Australian superannuation funds to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence the fees that they charge. We examine...

There is considerable debate about the size of fees charged by superannuation funds. This paper investigates both investment fees and administration fees and shows that there are economically valid reasons why most investment fees are set at their current level. Our results show that on average,...

Superannuation fees have come under public scrutiny in recent years with the belief that many are set too high. Using a comprehensive dataset of Australian superannuation funds, we examine the relationship between investment fees and fund performance. We find that the most expensive funds...