WHAT DO FINANCIAL ANALYSTS LOOK AT WHEN A FIRM DECLARES A LOSS?
 
I am Professor Ghosh from the Steed School of Accounting at the Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma.  I request you to participate in my research project entitled “What do financial analysts or portfolio managers look at when a firm declares a loss?” 

This survey is designed to better understand what factors or measures are examined or used by professional financial analysts or portfolio managers to assess a firm for investment purposes when the firm declares an annual loss (instead of an annual profit).  This questionnaire of factors and measures was put together based on prior published research on what measures analysts use when they assess a firm that declares an annual profit as well as based on interviews with financial analysts.  Your participation will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

Please answer each of the questions in the survey as completely as possible.  Assume each question pertains to your primary industry of coverage. PART A lists a number of factors and measures which are used by analysts or portfolio managers to assess a firm. There is no right or wrong answer; your opinion is what really matters. PART B asks for some background information (such as years of work experience) which will help us better understand your responses.

To express our gratitude for your time, we will make a donation on your behalf to one of the charities listed at the end of PART B or a charity of your choice.

Your participation in the survey is completely voluntary, and a university-required consent form and privacy statement appears on the next page if you wish to review them.  Please turn to the next page and proceed with the survey.  You have the option to discontinue the survey any time you want. Your response will remain completely anonymous. We will be happy to share our aggregate findings with you if you are interested (please indicate this at the end of the survey.)
 
Thank you for your help.
 

                 
The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution
 

 

Would you like to be involved in research at the University of Oklahoma? This research is being conducted at the Price College of Business. You were selected as a possible participant because of your expertise as a financial analyst or portfolio manager. You must be at least 18 years of age to participate in this study.
 

Please read this document and contact me to ask any questions that you may have BEFORE agreeing to take part in my research.

 

What is the purpose of this research? The purpose of this research is to understand what factors or measures are examined by financial analyst when assessing a firm which declared an annual loss.

 

How many participants will be in this research? About 200 financial analysts will take part in this research.

 

What will I be asked to do? If you agree to be in this research, you will be asked to complete a survey questionnaire.

 

How long will this take? Your participation will take about 15 to 20 minutes. 

 

What are the risks and/or benefits if I participate? There are no risks and no benefits from being in this research.

 

Will I be compensated for participating? You will not be reimbursed for your time and participation in this research.

 

Who will see my information? In research reports, there will be no information that will make it possible to identify you. Research records will be stored securely and only approved researchers and the OU Institution Review Board will have access to the records.

In addition, this is an academic not-for-profit research project. Please note the data you provide will be used for no other purposes other than this research.

 

Do I have to participate? No. If you do not participate, you will not be penalized or lose benefits or services unrelated to the research. If you decide to participate, you don’t have to answer any question and can stop participating at any time.

 

Who do I contact with questions, concerns or complaints? If you have questions, concerns or complaints about the research or have experienced a research-related injury, contact Dr. Ghosh at +1(405) 312 9520 or dghosh@ou.edu.

 

You can also contact the University of Oklahoma – Norman Campus Institutional Review Board (OU-NC IRB) at 405-325-8110 or irb@ou.edu if you have questions about your rights as a research participant, concerns, or complaints about the research and wish to talk to someone other than the researcher(s) or if you cannot reach the researcher(s).

 

Please print this document for your records. By providing information to the researcher(s), I am agreeing to participate in this research.

 

This research has been approved by the University of Oklahoma, Norman Campus IRB.

IRB Number: 5519                                                                                  Approval date: 08/24/2015