The Centre for the Analysis of Investment Risk (CAIR), launched in the summer of 2005, is located within the Manchester Accounting and Finance Group at Manchester Business School. CAIR's mission is to incorporate:

  • traditional capital markets research analysing the determination and measurement of investment risk premium
  • studies of risk assessment and the management of issues relating to internal and external financial accountability
  • work on corporate governance (including auditing, corporate financial reporting and financial communication)
  • analysis of investment risk arising from the quality of accounting information
CAIR encompasses research relevant to the professional needs of private, institutional and corporate investors in both domestic and international financial markets. Its research output combines theoretical rigour with practical policy relevance in promoting its research agenda. Professor Mike Bowe and Professor Massimo Guidolin are the co-directors of CAIR.

Context

Investment risk is a global concern. Institutions including the IMF, the World Bank, the BIS and the European Union express and promote interest in issues relating to the appropriate policy and regulatory architecture for risk management, and the promotion of democratic exchange and enhanced understanding of the issues involved. Corporate investment and the regulation of the activities of investment professionals provide a continuing focus of attention for public policy debate.

Extensive discussion continues regarding the appropriate structure of investment relationships between shareholders, the financial markets and other stakeholders, as well as professional investment managers. Broader concerns are also being expressed about the auditing, accounting and regulatory framework surrounding the management and supervision of international business and cross-border investment. Finally, there is a continuing challenge in analysing issues relating to the appropriate legal and institutional framework for overseeing investment in an increasingly globalised financial market.

Location

The Centre is based in the Manchester Accounting and Finance Group, a division of Manchester Business School. The Group has a world-class reputation, affirmed by the maximum possible scores, denoting scholarship of the highest international standard, in the last two Research Assessment Exercises. Investment risk provides an excellent focus for the interdisciplinary work undertaken in the Group because of the opportunity to share theoretical concepts and empirical insights derived from allied disciplines.

This enables CAIR to forge close research links with other departments in the University, in particular Economic Studies in the School of Social Sciences and Mathematics. CAIR is also establishing links with the Institute for Political and Economic Governance (IPEG), the ESRC-sponsored Centre for Socio-Cultural Change and the research group Methodological and Empirical Advances in Financial Analysis (MEAFA).

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