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Attribution of investment performance: an analysis of Australian pooled superannuation funds

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  • David R. Gallagher

Abstract

This paper evaluates the market timing and security selection capabilities of Australian pooled superannuation funds over the eight‐year period from January 1991 to December 1998. Evaluation of both components of investment performance is surprisingly scarce in the Australian literature despite active investment managers engaging in both market timing and security selection. The paper also evaluates performance for the three largest asset classes within diversified superannuation funds and their contribution to overall portfolio return. The importance of an accurately specified market portfolio proxy in the measurement of investment performance is demonstrated. This paper employs performance benchmarks that account for the multi‐sector investment decisions of active investment managers in a manner that is consistent with their unique investment strategy. Consistent with U.S. literature, the empirical results indicate that Australian pooled superannuation funds do not exhibit significantly positive security selection or market timing skill.

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  • David R. Gallagher, 2001. "Attribution of investment performance: an analysis of Australian pooled superannuation funds," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 41(1‐2), pages 41-62, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:41:y:2001:i:1-2:p:41-62
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-629X.00053
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    Cited by:

    1. Su (Sally) Gan & Richard Heaney & Paul Gerrans, 2015. "Individual investor portfolio performance in retirement savings accounts," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 40(4), pages 652-671, November.
    2. Francis In & Sangbae Kim & Philip I Ji, 2014. "On timing ability in Australian managed funds," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 39(1), pages 93-106, February.
    3. Karen L. Benson & David R. Gallagher & Patrick Teodorowski, 2007. "Momentum investing and the asset allocation decision," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 47(4), pages 571-598, December.
    4. Eduardo Roca & Victor Wong, 2008. "An analysis of the sensitivity of Australian superannuation funds to market movements: a Markov regime switching approach," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(7), pages 583-597.
    5. Humphrey, Jacquelyn E. & Benson, Karen L. & Low, Rand K.Y. & Lee, Wei-Lun, 2015. "Is diversification always optimal?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PB), pages 521-532.
    6. Victor Soucik & David E. Allen, 2006. "Benchmarking Australian fixed interest fund performance: finding the optimal factors," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 46(5), pages 865-898, December.
    7. Chris Bilson & Angela Frino & Richard Heaney, 2005. "Australian retail fund performance persistence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 45(1), pages 25-42, March.
    8. Robert Faff & David R. Gallagher & Eliza Wu, 2005. "Tactical Asset Allocation: Australian Evidence," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 30(2), pages 261-282, December.
    9. Murhadi, Werner-Ria, 2010. "Performance Evaluation Of Mutual Funds In Indonesia," MPRA Paper 25498, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 09 Mar 2010.
    10. James R. Cummings & David Gallagher, 2016. "Effect of fund size on the performance of Australian superannuation funds," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(3), pages 695-725, September.
    11. Burak Pirgaip & Aslıhan Taşdemir, 2017. "Derivative Use of Turkish Investment Funds During the 2008-09 Financial Crisis," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, January.
    12. Le, Anh & Yin, Xiangkang & Zhao, Jing, 2019. "Informed trading around earnings announcements in Australia," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Akshatha Suvarna, 2022. "Timing and Selectivity Performance of Mutual Fund Managers: Application of Conditional Models to Indian Equity Diversified Mutual funds," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 11(1), pages 81-98, June.
    14. Angel Zhong, 2022. "Institutional trading in stock market anomalies in Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 893-930, March.

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