Page 107 - Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Proceedings 2017-18

School of Business and Management
Department of Accounting

Department of Accounting

Bank lending practices and human capital in the financial industry

Supervisor: LI Xinlei / ACCT
Student: CHAN Kwok Cheung Kelvin / ECOF Course: UROP1100, Spring

During the data collection process, our group has discovered that there is a relation between high-level manager and an
MBA degree. Our further research revealed that companies’ desire for employee that possess MBA has significantly
increased during the past ten years. Seeing that employees in the US are willing to pay oodles of money to pursue an
MBA degree, our project objective is to find out the factors which may affect the decision of an employee, whether to
pursue an MBA or not. Our research used a regression analysis with four regressors (timetaken, DRD, Jobchange & Rank)
to explain the rationale behind employees’ decision. Our findings are: 1. all coefficients resulted in a correct sign with
our hypothetical logics; 2. employees with business related Bachelor’s degree are less likely to pursue an MBA; 3. 25% of
the studied targets contain a Finance/Accounting related Bachelor degree; and 4. More experience person without being
promoted are more likely to go for MBA programs. It is hoped that this study will act as a reference for employees who
are considering to pursue an MBA degree for the purpose of getting a managerial title.

Supervisor: LI Xinlei / ACCT
Student: CHANG Jiacheng / MAEC Course: UROP1100, Summer
LIANG Zexian / QFIN UROP1100, Summer
TANG Zidan / ACCT UROP1100, Summer

In the professional world, choices made at the preparation or starting stage can pose a great influence on the whole
career path and achievements. To study this influence, our research focuses on the relationship between the early-year
experiences and promotion opportunities of people working in the finance field. The educational background and the
entry-level job experience are used to represent the subject’s early-year experiences; and the time the subject got
promoted from his entry-level position to CFO is used to proxy the efficiency of promotion. Our results show that a
finance/accounting-related college major can accelerate the speed of getting promoted to CFO; however, acquiring an
entry-level job in finance-related positions or the combination of a finance/accounting-related college major and a
finance-related entry-level job doesn’t have a statistically significant impact on the improvement of promotion efficiency.

Supervisor: LI Xinlei / ACCT
Student: CHUAH Jin Yin / ACCT Course: UROP1100, Spring
KUMAR Anish / GBUS UROP1100, Spring

We study the role of education as a catalyst of being successful in the finance industry. Specifically, we examine how
does having a finance-related or business-related education background affect one’s entry into the finance industry and
how does such education background affect one’s speed in achieving a higher position in the industry. In this study, we
find that it is a more common pathway for non-business undergraduates to take MBA prior to joining the industry. We
also find that averagely, those without a master degree obtain a higher position faster than those with a master degree.
Further, among those master degree holders, those having non-business undergraduate degree achieve a higher post
faster compared to those who did business undergraduate degree.

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