Q-31. Jorge Lopez, CFA, is responsible for his bank’s proxy voting on behalf of the bank’s asset management clients. Lopez recently performed a cost-benefit analysis , showing that voting all proxies might not benefit the bank’s clients. Based on this analysis, Lopez changes the proxy voting policies and procedures without informing anyone else of the change. Lopez now v otes client proxies on the side of management on all issues with the exception of major mergers where a significant impact on the stock price is expected. Lopez least likely violated the CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct regarding: A. Cost-benefit analysis. B. Voting with management. C. Proxy voting policy disclosures. Solution: A. A is correct because there is no violation of Standard III (A) Loyalty, Prudence, and Care by performing a cost-benefit analysis showing that voting all proxies might not benefit the client, and concluding voting proxies may not be necessary in all instances. However, even though voting proxies may not be necessary in all instances, part of a member’s or candidate’s duty of loyalty under Standard III (A) Loyalty, Prudence, and Care includes voting proxies in an informed and responsible manner, which is not being done by Lopez by automatically voting with management on the majority of issues. In addition, members and candidates should disclose to clients their proxy-voting policies, including any changes to that policy as required by Standard III(A) Loyalty, Prudence, and Care, which has not been done. Q-32. One of the discretionary accounts managed by Farnsworth is the Jones Corporation employee profit-sharing plan. Jones, the company president, recently asked Farnsworth to vote the shares in the profit-sharing plan in favor of the slate of directors nominated by Jones Corporation and against the directors sponsored by a dissident stockholder group. Farnsworth does not want to lose this account because he directs all the account's trades to a brokerage firm that provides Farnsworth with useful information about tax-free investments. Although t his information is not of value in managing the Jones Corporation account , it does help in managing several other accounts. The brokerage firm providing this information also offers the lowest commissions for trades and provides best execution . Farnsworth investigates the director issue, concludes that the management-nominated slate is better for the long-run performance of the company than the dissident group's slate, and votes accordingly. Farnsworth: A. Violated the Standards in voting the shares in the manner requested by Jones but not in directing trades to the brokerage firm. B. Did not violate the Standards in voting the shares in the manner requested by Jones or in directing trades to the brokerage firm. C. Violated the Standards in directing trades to the brokerage firm but not in voting the shares as requested by Jones. Solution: B. This question relates to Standard III (A) Loyalty, Prudence, and Care—specifically, a member's or candidate's responsibility for voting proxies and the use of client brokerage. According to the facts stated in the question, Farnsworth did not violate Standard III(A). Although the company president asked Farnsworth to vote the shares of the Jones Corporation profit-sharing plan a certain way, Farnsworth investigated the issue and concluded, independently, the best way to vote. Therefore, even though his decision coincided with the wishes of the company president, Farnsworth is not in violation of his responsibility to be loyal and to provide care to his clients. In this case, the participants and the beneficiaries of the profit-sharing plan are the clients, not the company's management. Had Farnsworth not investigated the issue or had he yielded to the president's wishes and voted for a slate of directors that he had determined was not in the best interest of the company, Farnsworth would have violated his responsibilities to the beneficiaries of the plan. In addition, because the brokerage firm provides the lowest commissions and best execution for securities transactions, Farnsworth has met his obligations to the client in using this brokerage firm. It does not matter that the brokerage firm also provides research information that is not useful for the account generating the commission, because Farnsworth is not paying extra money of the client's for that information. Q-33. David Bravoria, CFA, is an independent financial advisor for a high net worth client with whom he had not had contact in over two year s. During a recent brief telephone conversation, the client stated he wanted to increase his risk exposure. Bravoria subsequently recommended and invested in several high-risk funds on behalf of the client. Bravoria continued, as he had done in the past, to send to his client monthly, detailed itemized investment statements. Did Bravoria most likely violate any CFA Standards? A. No B. Yes, with regard to investment statements C. Yes, with regard to purchasing venture capital funds Solution: C. Bravoria violated Standard III (A) in not exercising Loyalty, Prudence and Care. Bravoria had not updated his client’s profile in over two years thus should not have made further investments , particularly in high risk investments until such time as he updated the client’s risk and return objectives, financial constraints and financial position. Bravoria provided his client with investment statements more frequently than that which is required ; i.e. Quarterly so was not in violation of regular account information. Q-34. Jack Steyn, CFA, recently became the head of the trading desk at a large investment management firm that specializes in domestic equities. While reviewing the firm’s trading operations, he notices clients give discretion to the manager to select brokers on the basis of their overall services to the management firm. Despite the client directive, Steyn would most likely violate Standard III (A) Loyalty, Prudence, and Care if he pays soft commissions for which of the following services from the brokers ? A. Equity research reports B. Investment conference attendance C. Database services for offshore investments C is correct because Standard III (A) Loyalty, Prudence and Care stipulates that the client owns the brokerage. Therefore members and candidates are required to only use client brokerage to the benefit of the clients (soft commissions policy). Because the firm specializes in domestic equity, an offshore investment database service would not benefit clients . Q-35. Chris Rodriguez, CFA, is a portfolio manager at Nisqually Asset Management, which specializes in trading highly illiquid shares. Rodriguez has been using Hon Securities Brokers almost exclusively when making transactions for Nisqually clients, as well as for his own relatively small account. Hon always executes Rodriguez’s personal trades at a more preferential price than for Rodriguez’s clients’ accounts . This occurs regardless of whether or not Rodriguez personally trades before or after clients. Rodriguez should least likely do which of the following in order to comply with the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct? A. Eliminate the exclusive trading arrangement B. Trade client accounts before his own account C. Average trade prices across all trading accounts Solution: C. C is correct because Rodriguez is in violation of Standard IV (A) Loyalty, which requires that, in matters related to their employment, members and candidates must act for the benefit of their employer and not deprive their employer of the advantage of their skills and abilities, divulge confidential information, or otherwise cause harm to their employer. Rodriguez should not accept the special treatment from Hon, and he should seek such favors for the clients of Nisqually, specifically the lower costs Rodriguez has been getting for his transactions. Rodriguez should not average transaction costs because his clients should be given the lower preferential prices according to Standard III (A) Loyalty, Prudence, and Care.
1. create sample 2. create index 3. combine data 1. create sample (1) systematic sample of known # of obs data sasuser.subset; do pickit=1 to 142 by 15; set sasuser.revenue point=pickit; output; end; stop; run; (2) systematic sample of unknown # of obs data sasuser.subset; do pickit=1 to totobs by 10; set sasuser.revenue point=pickit nobs=totobs; output; end; stop; run; (3) random sample with replacement data work.rsubset(drop=1 sampsize); sampsize=10; do i=1 to sampsize; pickit=ceil(ranuni(0)*totobs); set sasuser.revenue point=pickit nobs=totobs; output; end; stop; run; proc print data=work.rsubset label; title 'A Random Sample with Replacement'; run; (4)random sample without replacement data work.rsubset(drop=obsleft sampsize); sampsize=10; obsleft=totobs; do while(sampsize0); pickit+1; if ranuni(0)sampsize/obsleft then do; set sasuser.revenue point=pickit nobs=totobs; output; sampsize=sampsize-1; end; obsleft=obsleft-1; end; stop; run; proc print data=work.rsubset label; title 'A Random Sample without Replacement'; run; 2. create index in data step manage index with proc datasets manage index with proc sql 3. combine data (1) filename statement filename qtr1('add1' 'add2' 'add3'); data work.firstqtr; infile qtr1; input Flight $ Origin $ Dest $ Date: date9. Revcargo: comma15.2; run; (2) infile statement data quarter (drop=monthnum midmon lastmon); monthnum=month(today()); midmon=month(intnx('month', today(), -1)); lastmon=month(intnx('month',today,-2)); do i=mnthnum, midmon, lastmon; nextfile=""!!compress(put(i,2.)!!".dat",' '); do until(lastobs); infile temp filevar=nextfile end=lastobs; input Flight $ Origin $ Dest $ Date: date9. Revcargo: comma15.2; output; end; stop; run; (3)proc append proc append base=work.acities data=work.airports force; run; (4) if-then/else statement data mylib.employees_new; set mylib.employees; if IDnum=1001 then Birthdate='01JAN1963'd; else if IDnum=1002 then Birthdate='08AUG1946'd; else if IDnum=1003 then Birthdate='23MAR1950'd; else if IDnum=1004 then Birthdate='17JUN11973'd; run; (5) array statement data mylib.employees_new; array birthdates{1001:1004} _temporary_ ( '01JAN1963'd '08AUG1946'd '23MAR1950'd '17JUN11973'd ); set mylib.employees; Bithdate=birthdates(IDnum); run; (6)format procedure proc format; value $birthdate '1001'= '01JAN1963'd '1002'='08AUG1946'd '1003'='23MAR1950'd '1004'='17JUN11973'd; run; data mylib.employees_new; set mylib.employees; Birthdate=input(put(IDnum,$birthdate.),date9.); run; (7) match-merge proc sort data=sasuser.expenses out=expenses; by flightid date; run; proc sort data=sasuser.revenue out=expenses; by flightid date; run; datarevexpns (drop=rev1st revbusiness revecon expenses); merge expenses(in=e) revenue(in=r); by flightid date; if e and r; Profit=sum(rev1st, revbusiness, revecon, -expenses); run; data sasuser.alldata; merge revexpns (in=r) acities (in=a rename=(code=dest) keep=city name code); by dest; if r and a; run; (8) sql proc sql; create table sqljoin as select revenue.flightid, revenue.date format=date9., revenue.origin, revenue.dest, sum(revenue.rev1st, revenue.revbusiness, revenue.revecon)-expenses.expenses as Profit, acities.city, acities.name from sasuser.expenses, sasuser.revenue, sasuser.acities where expenses.flightid=revenue.flightid and expenses.date=revenue.date and acities.code=revenue.dest order by revenue.dest, revenue.flightid, revenue.date; quit; (9) many-to-many match proc sql; create table flightemp as select flightschedule.*, firstname, lastname from sasuser.flightschedule, sasuser.flightattendants where flightschedule.empid=flightattendants.empid; quit; data fightemps3(drop=empnum jobcode) set sasuser.flightschedule; do i=1 to num; set sasuser.flightattendants(rename=(empid=empnum)) nob=num point=1; if empid=empnum then output; end; run; (10) summary data and detail data proc means data=sasuser.monthsum noprint; var revcargo; output out=sasuser.summary sum=Cargosum; run; data sasuser.percent1; if _n_=1 then set sasuser.summary(keep=cargosum); set sasuser.monthsum(keep=salemon revcargo); PctRev=revcargo/cargosum; run; data sasuser.percent2(drop=totalrev); if _n_=1 then do until(lastobs); set sasuser.monthsum(keep=revcargo) end=lastobs; totalrev+revcargo; end; set sasuser.monthsum (keep=salemon revcargo); PctRev=revcargo/totalrev; run; (11)index data work.profit work.errors; set sasuser.dnunder; set sasuser.sale200(keep=routeid flightid date rev1st revbusiness revecon revcargo) key=flightdate; if _iorc_=0 then do; Profit=sum(rev1st, revbusiness, revecon, revcargo, -expenses); output work.profit; end; else do; _error_=0; output work.errors; end; run; (12) multidimensional array data work.wndchill(drop=column row); array WC {4,2} _temporary_(-22, -16, -28, -22, -32, -26, -35, 29); set sasuser.flights; row=round(wspeed,5)/5; colunm=(round(temp,5)/5)+3; WindChill=wc{row, column}; run; (13) stored array values data work.lookup1; array Targets{1997:1999,12} _temporary_; if _n_=1 then do i=1 to 3; set sasuser.ctargets; array Mnth{*} Jan--Dec; do j=1 to dim(mnth); targets{year,j}=mnth{j}; end; end; set sasuser.monthsum(keep=salemin revargo monthno); year=input(substr(salemon,4),4.); Ctarget=targets{year,monthno}; format ctarget dollar15.2; run; (14) transpose and merge proc transpose data=sasuser.ctargets out=work.ctarget2 name=Month prefix=Ctarget; by year; run; proc sort data=work.ctarget2; by year month; run; data work.mnthsum2; set sasuser.monthsum(keep=SaleMon RevCargo); length Month $ 8; Year=input(substr(SaleMon,4),4.); Month=substr(SaleMon,1,1)||lowcase(substr(SaleMon,2,2)); run; proc sort data=work.mnthsum2; by year month; run; data work.merged; merge workmnthsum2 work.ctarget2; by year month; run;
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) This chapter discusses the history and current operations of real estate investment trusts (REITs). The resurgence of REITs in the early 1990s is another indication of the extent that real estate has become "securitized." Compared with traditional methods of investing, real estate–backed securities appear to be gaining in importance because of their marketability, the public accountability of management, and numerous other reasons. REITs, which provide a structure similar to that of mutual funds for common stock investors, allow investors to participate in a portfolio of properties that may be geographically diversified and professionally managed. Further, REITs are usually tax-exempt and must pass through as dividends to investors most of the cash flow produced from managing the portfolio. Accounting practices for depreciation and amortization and the resultant effects on net income may allow a portion of the tax on REIT dividends to be deferred. Today, the market value of REITs exceeds $190 billion, and many of the premier real estate operators in the United States are operating within the REIT format, so market research and analysis for individual REITs and the industry are widely available from investment banks and other investment firms.