Definition of Rules-versus-Discretion Debate

Rules-versus-Discretion Debate

Argument about whether policy authorities should be allowed to undertake discretionary policy action as they see fit or should be replaced by robots programmed to set policy by following specific formulas. See discretionary policy, policy rule.

Administrative pricing rules

IRS rules used to allocate income on export sales to a foreign sales corporation.

Attribution Rules

Legislation under which interest, dividends, or capital gains earned on assets you transfer to your spouse will be treated as your own for tax purposes. Interest or dividends relating to property transferred to children under 18 also will be attributed back to you. The exception to this rule is that capital gains relating to property transferred to children under 18 will not be attributed back to you.

Delivery versus payment

A transaction in which the buyer's payment for securities is due at the time of
delivery (usually to a bank acting as agent for the buyer) upon receipt of the securities. The payment may be
made by bank wire, check, or direct credit to an account.

Discretionary account

Accounts over which an individual or organization, other than the person in whose
name the account is carried, exercises trading authority or control.

Discretionary cash flow

Cash flow that is available after the funding of all positive NPV capital investment
projects; it is available for paying cash dividends, repurchasing common stock, retiring debt, and so on.

discretionary cost

a cost that is periodically reviewed by a
decision maker in a process of determining whether it continues
to be in accord with ongoing policies; a cost that
arises from a management decision to fund an activity at
a specified cost amount for a specified period of time, generally
one year; a cost that can be reduced to zero in the
short run if necessity so dictates

Discretionary Policy

A policy that is a conscious, considered response to each situation as it arises. Contrast with policy rule.

Tick-test rules

SEC-imposed restrictions on when a short sale may be executed, intended to prevent investors
from destabilizing the price of a stock when the market price is falling. A short sale can be made only when either
1) the sale price of the particular stock is higher than the last trade price (referred to as an uptick trade) or
2) if there is no change in the last trade price of the particular stock, the previous trade price must be
higher than the trade price that preceded it (referred to as a zero uptick).

administrative department

an organizational unit that performs management activities benefiting the entire organization;
includes top management personnel and organization
headquarters

Arbitrage-free option-pricing models

Yield curve option-pricing models.

Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT)

An alternative model to the capital asset pricing model developed by
Stephen Ross and based purely on arbitrage arguments.

Asset pricing model

A model for determining the required rate of return on an asset.

Asset pricing model

A model, such as the Capital Asset pricing Model (CAPM), that determines the required
rate of return on a particular asset.

Binomial option pricing model

An option pricing model in which the underlying asset can take on only two
possible, discrete values in the next time period for each value that it can take on in the preceding time period.

Black-Scholes option-pricing model

A model for pricing call options based on arbitrage arguments that uses
the stock price, the exercise price, the risk-free interest rate, the time to expiration, and the standard deviation
of the stock return.

Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

An economic theory that describes the relationship between risk and
expected return, and serves as a model for the pricing of risky securities. The CAPM asserts that the only risk
that is priced by rational investors is systematic risk, because that risk cannot be eliminated by diversification.
The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio is equal to the rate on a risk-free security
plus a risk premium.

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

A model for estimating equilibrium rates of return and values of
assets in financial markets; uses beta as a measure of asset risk
relative to market risk

capital asset pricing model (CAPM)

Theory of the relationship between risk and return which states that the expected risk
premium on any security equals its beta times the market risk premium.

Cost-plus pricing

A method of pricing in which a mark-up is added to the total product/service cost.

dual pricing arrangement

a transfer pricing system that allows
a selling division to record the transfer of goods or
services at one price (e.g., a market or negotiated market
price) and a buying division to record the transfer at another
price (e.g., a cost-based amount)

Garmen-Kohlhagen option pricing model

A widely used model for pricing foreign currency options.

GENERAL-AND-ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES

What was spent to run the non-sales and non-manufacturing part of a company, such as office salaries and interest paid on loans.

Performance attribution analysis

The decomposition of a money manager's performance results to explain
the reasons why those results were achieved. This analysis seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What
were the major sources of added value? (2) Was short-term factor timing statistically significant? (3) Was
market timing statistically significant? And (4), Was security selection statistically significant?

Pricing efficiency

Also called external efficiency, a market characteristic where prices at all times fully
reflect all available information that is relevant to the valuation of securities.

Regulatory pricing risk

Risk that arises when regulators restrict the premium rates that insurance companies
can charge.

Target rate of return pricing

A method of pricing that estimates the desired return on investment to be achieved from the
fixed and working capital investment and includes that return in the price of a product/service.

Two-state option pricing model

An option pricing model in which the underlying asset can take on only two
possible (discrete) values in the next time period for each value it can take on in the preceding time period.
Also called the binomial option pricing model.

Underpricing

Issue of securities below their market value.

underpricing

Issuing securities at an offering price set below the true value of the security.

Yield curve option-pricing models

Models that can incorporate different volatility assumptions along the
yield curve, such as the Black-Derman-Toy model. Also called arbitrage-free option-pricing models.

Related to : financial, finance, business, accounting, payroll, inventory, investment, money, inventory control, stock trading, financial advisor, tax advisor, credit.