Faculty of Economics and Commerce Department of Finance

Les Coleman
Senior Lecturer

Biography

Les Coleman has come recently to academia after a successful career in resources, manufacturing and finance subsidiaries of Anglo American and Mobil Corporations in Australia and overseas. He trained originally as an engineer and his PhD has been published by Springer under the title "Why managers and companies take risks".

Les has three main research interests:

  1. The sources, nature and management of risks with the aim of developing a comprehensive body of knowledge so that risk can be managed strategically (in much the same way as modern engineering and medical practices stem from understanding, respectively, human physiology and the physical sciences).
  2. Non financial indicators of future financial outperformance, especially sustainability. This recognises that most investors are looking at similar financial data and seeks alternative measures that proxy for superior management and strategy formation.
  3. Market efficiency, particularly the rate at which markets incorporate new information and the extent of illegal insider trading.

His papers have been published in numerous journals including Applied Economics,  Applied Financial Economics, International Journal of Managerial Finance, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management and Journal of Gambling Business and Economics. Les is a regular contributor to the media and delivers executive education programs in Australia and overseas; he is a member of the Investment Policy Committee of United Funds Management and a Director of Australian Ethical Investments Limited.

Qualifications

BE (Hons) Melb, BSc (Econ)(Hons) Lond, MEc Syd, PhD Melb

Teaching responsibilities

Mergers and Value Enhancing Strategies, Finance I, Risk Strategies

Research Interests

Risk strategy, expertise, wagering markets, finance and climate change, corporate crises, agricultural and resource finance, and practical applications of academic research.

Professional Affiliations

American Finance Association; Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand; Society of Risk Analysts

Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=373191

Publications

Journal Articles
  1. Les Coleman. 2008. "Review of 'The Risks of Financial Institutions' by Mark Carey and Rene M Stulz (editors), ", Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 1 (16): pp. 65-66.
  2. Les Coleman and Adi Schnytzer. 2008. "Shorting the Bear: A test of anecdotal evidence of insider trading in early stages of the sub-prime market crisis", The Journal of Prediction Markets , 3 (2): pp. 61-70.
  3. Les Coleman. 2007. "Applying Modern Portfolio Techniques to Agriculture", Journal of the Australian Society of Security Analysts,
  4. Les Coleman. 2007. "Measurement of Insider Trading in Wagering Markets", Applied Financial Economics, 4-6 (17): pp. 351-356.
  5. Les Coleman. 2007. "Risk and Decision Making by Finance Executives: A survey study", International Journal of Managerial Finance, 1 (3): pp. 108-124.
  6. Les Coleman. 2007. "Just How Serious is Insider Trading?", Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, 1 (1): pp. 31-56.
  7. Les Coleman. 2007. "A Lot of Hot Air?", Monash Business Review, pp. 10-16.
  8. Les Coleman and Ira Helsloot. 2007. "On the need for quantifying corporate crises", Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 15 (3): pp. 119-122.
  9. Les Coleman. 2006. "Frequency of Man-Made Disasters in the 20th Century", Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 14 (1):
  10. Les Coleman. 2005. "Why Explore for Oil When It's Cheaper to Buy?", Applied Economics Letters, 12 (8):
  11. Les Coleman. 2004. "New Light on the Longshot Bias", Applied Economics, 36 (4): pp. 315-326.
  12. Les Coleman. 2004. "The Frequency and Cost of Corporate Crises", Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 12 (1): pp. 2-13.
  13. Les Coleman. 1989. "Two Indias - Social and Economic Conditions in Pune", Journal of Contemporary Asia, 19 (3): pp. 356-362.
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Books
  1. Les Coleman, 2006. Why Managers and Companies Take Risks
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Book Chapter(s)
  1. Les Coleman and Martin McGrath, 2005. "Biases and insider trading in exotic bets on thoroughbreds" in Information Efficiency in Financial and Betting Markets
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Working Papers

  1. "Carbon Trading: Solution or Chimera?" - Les Coleman,
  2. "What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: Towards an integrated theory of knowledge and corporate risk" - Les Coleman and Mitch Casselman,
  3. "Enterprise Risk Strategy: Managing business risks with modern financial techniques" - Les Coleman,
  4. "Risks from the Moral Hazard Induced by Banking Regulation" - Les Coleman,
  5. "Shareholder Valuation of Hedging" - Les Coleman,
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