Poole College Accounting Researcher Aims to Help Individual Investors
“Our research is expected to identify whether presentation format of risk factors influences investor decisions, and if corporations can improve how they communicate risk factors to investors,” Taylor said.
The survey is part of the research on investor decision-making that Taylor is conducting in collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Blaskovich, assistant professor of accounting at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The idea for their project emerged from the researchers’ observation of investing trends over the past decade, in which they found that the number of individual – or retail – investors buying and selling stock is rising with the increased availability to the general public of stock market information. Previously, that information had been available primarily to professional investors and analysts.
Improving the flow of information so that individual investors are better able to make more knowledgeable investments is one outcome that the two researchers hope to achieve through their study. They also aim to determine the way that “investors interpret corporate disclosures related to risk factors” with the ultimate goal being to level the playing field for individual investors.
Funding for this research is provided through grants awarded to the researchers by the American Accounting Association and an innovation grant awarded to Taylor by NC State Poole College of Management. BetterInvesting is supporting the research by forwarding the researchers’ online survey to its diverse group of non-professional investors and encouraging their participation.
The survey is being distributed in March and the researchers expect to have preliminary results in spring 2011.
BetterInvesting is a nonprofit organization that helps its members become knowledgeable investors by equipping them with tools and information to make well-informed investment decisions about stocks and mutual funds. As part of its collaboration on this project, it is offering business students at both Poole College and the UNO College of Business Administration the opportunity to join the organization at a discounted student rate.
Note to reporters:
If interested in the results of this survey, please contact Poole College’s communications director, Anna Rzewnicki.
About the Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University
The Poole College of Management was established in the North Carolina State University in 1992. Its Jenkins Graduate School was named in 2007, and the college was named in December 2010. The college offers undergraduate degrees in accounting, business management and economics and the Master of Accounting, MBA, and Master of Global Innovation Management programs, with an emphasis on management and leadership in a technology focused, global marketplace. The college also offers masters and doctoral degrees in economics, jointly with NC State’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Its business administration and accounting programs are accredited by AACSB International.
About the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha
University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Business Administration was established in 1952, and offers undergraduate programs in accounting; economics; finance, banking and law; management, marketing and real estate. At the graduate level, it offers the MBA, Executive MBA, Master of Accounting and Master of Economics degree programs. Its college and its Executive MBA program are accredited by AACSB. View details online.
About BetterInvesting
Since 1951, BetterInvesting, the brand identity of the National Association of Investors Corporation, has helped over 5 million people become better, more informed investors. BetterInvesting, based in Madison Heights, Mich., helps its members build wealth through local, regional and national learning events as well as through Web-based tools, software, member publications and online resources. As the nation’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated to investment education, it provides investing knowledge and practical investing experience through local investment clubs, local volunteer chapters, online courses and an active online community. BetterInvesting and its subsidiary, ICLUBcentral, currently serve over 120,000 investors. Read more about BetterInvesting and its educational tools and other resources.
