Determinants of bankruptcy protection duration for Canadian firms

The present thesis examines the determinants of the bankruptcy protection duration for Canadian firms. Using a sample of Canadian firms that filed for bankruptcy protection between the calendar years 1992 and 2009, we fmd that the firm age, the industry adjusted operating margin, the default spread, the industrial production growth rate or the interest rate are influential factors on determining the length of the protection period. Older firms tend to stay longer under protection from creditors. As older firms have more complicated structures and issues to settle, the risk of exiting soon the protection (the hazard rate) is small. We also find that firms that perform better than their benchmark as measured by the industry they belong to, tend to leave quickly the bankruptcy protection state. We conclude that the fate of relatively successful companies is determined faster. Moreover, we report that it takes less time to achieve a final solution to firms under bankrupt~y when the default spread is low or when the appetite for risk is high. Conversely, during periods of high default spreads and flight for quality, it takes longer time to resolve the bankruptcy issue. This last finding may suggest that troubled firms should place themselves under protection when spreads are low. However, this ignores the endogeneity issue: high default spread may cause and incidentally reflect higher bankruptcy rates in the economy. Indeed, we find that bankruptcy protection is longer during economic downturns. We explain this relation by the natural increase in default rate among firms (and individuals) during economically troubled times. Default spreads are usually larger during these harsh periods as investors become more risk averse since their wealth shrinks. Using a Log-logistic hazard model, we also fmd that firms that file under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) protection spend longer time restructuring than firms that filed under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA). As BIA is more statutory and less flexible, solutions can be reached faster by court orders.

Morris Norman collection, 1863-1971, n.d.

Morris Norman is a chartered accountant and partner at Norman, Goldberg & Co. LLP, an accounting firm in Toronto. He is an avid collector of Canadiana and generously donates much of the material he acquires to various Archives.

Ivory Victorian Day Planner

The planner has an ivory cover and 6 celluloid pages which fan out. The days of the week were stamped on each page, except Sunday. In this case, the days of the week are faded away and someone has rewritten them and included Sunday on the back cover. The front cover has a metal escutcheon engraved with the letter C and it closes with a metal latch. The front ivory cover is cracked down the middle and the front page is also cracked. R. Band has written on the “Monday” page that this belonged to Dr. Cleveland, this note is dated June 6, 2004. The “Tuesday” page has the title “Julia’s house” and gives the numbers of doors, lights, windows and water closets etc. within the house. On the back of the “Friday” page is the number 4784 and on the back of the Saturday page is the name and address of Dr. Mafarlan [?] of Pennsylvania.

Hardcover recipe book with Welland D. Woodruff

Hardcover recipe book with Welland D. Woodruff, St. Catharines, March 1st, 1881 written in the back cover and Welland D. Woodruff’s name is also on the cover. The book is falling apart and most of the pages are loose. The entries are handwritten. An 1879/80 calendar is glued inside the back cover, 1881.