Submitted by Paulo Tauk (ptauk@hotmail.com) on 2012-10-22T03:42:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertaçãoTaukFinal.pdf: 1910816 bytes, checksum: 78b05279dfcc2dffd529e8ac80e1ce52 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2012-10-22T18:32:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertaçãoTaukFinal.pdf: 1910816 bytes, checksum: 78b05279dfcc2dffd529e8ac80e1ce52 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2012-10-23T18:00:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertaçãoTaukFinal.pdf: 1910816 bytes, checksum: 78b05279dfcc2dffd529e8ac80e1ce52 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-23T18:00:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertaçãoTaukFinal.pdf: 1910816 bytes, checksum: 78b05279dfcc2dffd529e8ac80e1ce52 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-18 / This study aims to identify whether the imposition of spending and borrowing limits by the Fiscal Responsibility Law ans the Transparency act influenced the practice of Earnings Management (GIC) by Brazilian municipalities. The punishment resulting from noncompliance with these standards is considered as sufficient incentive to the practice of the GIC. To identify these practices, the study used a modified version of the t-test, in order to analyze the distribution frequency of the relative difference between the economic value of the parameter studied and the actual value published by municipalities. The database includes the financial data for the year 2010 of 5212 municipalities, and enabled the analysis of six parameters: minimum expenditure on education, minimum expenditure on public health services, maximum consolidated personnel expenditures, maximum expenditures with municipal legislative offices, maximum revenue from credit operations in compared with current revenues and maximum revenue from credit operations compared to capital expenditures. The results showed evidence of earnings management for three of the six studied parameters: minimum expenditure on education, maximum expenditures with municipal legislative offices and maximum consolidated personnel expenditures. As major implications, there is the impact of the GIC in the reliability of information supplied by the Brazilian public sector, in view of the growing appreciation of transparency brought by recent legal innovations, such as the Access to Information Act. / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo identificar se a imposição de limites de despesa e receita de operações de crédito, a partir da vigência da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal e da Lei da Transparência, teve influência na prática do Gerenciamento da Informação Contábil (GIC) por parte dos municípios brasileiros. Considera-se como incentivo suficiente a pratica do GIC a punibilidade decorrente do descumprimento dessas normas. Para identificar tais práticas, utilizou-se o teste t modificado para analisar a distribuição de frequência relativa da diferença entre o valor do parâmetro econômico estudado e o valor efetivamente divulgado pelos municípios. O banco de dados contempla os dados contábeis do exercício de 2010 de 5212 municípios e possibilitou a análise de seis parâmetros: despesa mínima com manutenção de desenvolvimento do ensino, despesa mínima com ações e serviços públicos de saúde, despesa máxima de pessoal consolidado, despesa máxima com o poder legislativo municipal, receita máxima de operações de crédito em relação á receita corrente líquida, e receita máxima de operações de crédito em relação às despesas de capital. Os resultados obtidos apresentaram indícios de gerenciamento da informação contábil para três dos seis parâmetros estudados: despesa mínima com educação, despesa total com poder legislativo e despesa de pessoal consolidado. Como principais implicações, nota-se o impacto do GIC na confiabilidade das informações divulgadas pelo setor público brasileiro, tendo em vista a crescente valorização da transparência, trazida pelas inovações legais recentes, tais como a Lei de acesso à informação.

近二十年來，許多國內外規模大型的上市櫃公司因經濟情況的不穩定受到極大的影響，但為了使帳務好看，所以利用窗飾計巧使得報表美化。導致後續有許多財務報導重編、盈餘虛增等負面消息接連發生。這些訊息使得市場投資者感到不安，且不僅打亂原本資本市場的秩序，也使得社會大眾對整體市場的信任也相對減少，導致投資行為受到改變。過去文獻曾指出班佛法則可用來偵測財務報表數據是否盈餘管理，本研究的目的運用班佛法則針對台灣上市櫃公司之財務比率找出特徵數字，這些特徵數字是否可以偵測財報可能有誤。研究結果發現管理當局偏好於操弄淨利和 EPS 等與盈餘性值相關的會計項目；在損益表中，營業收入相關比率有高估的現象，費用類的有低估的現象；而的確形成紅旗警訊的特徵數字可以用來偵測財報有誤。 / In the last 20 years ago, many public company had larger capital were affected by the economic instability. They wanted to keep the reports in good-looking; thus, they use some skill like window dressing to achieve their purpose. This worst news like many financial reports needed to restate or inflated earnings communicate to public investors, and lead to investors feel anxious. These things result in the original market fall into disorder. General public loss their mind to believe the market and change their investment behavior. In the past, the former research found that they use the Benford’s Law to detect whether the financial reports have earnings management. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the feature figure obtained from using Benford’s Law to measure the financial ratios from public company in Taiwan can detect the misstatement. The result is the managers prefer manipulate the account which has surplus nature like the net income and earnings-per-share. In the income statement, you will note the ratios are relative to income or earnings will be overestimate; on the other hand, the ratios are relative to cost or loss will be underestimate. And the flag made from the feature figure can detect whether the financial report have the misstatement.

Introduction: Prior research, mainly based in USA and Asia, has shown a relationship between ownership structure and earnings quality. Low earnings quality might result in inefficient resource allocation, lower economic growth and unintended wealth transfers. Following these issues, and due to the fact that the Swedish institutional setting differs from other countries, there is a need to explain the relationship in a Swedish context. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain how different ownership structures affect earnings quality. Method: This study is based on a deductive approach where the hypotheses have been deducted from agency theory, alignment effect, entrenchment effect and active monitoring hypothesis. The quantitative data consists of secondary data, namely annual reports. The study has been conducted with a cross-sectional design. Conclusion: The results show a positive relationship between foreign ownership and earnings quality. The result can be explained with agency theory’s type I-problem. Other ownership structures show no significant relationship. / Introduktion: Tidigare forskning, främst i USA och Asien, har hittat samband mellan företags ägarstruktur och earnings quality. Låg earnings quality kan resultera i ineffektiv resursallokering, lägre samhällsekonomisk tillväxt samt omotiverade förmögenhetsöverföringar. Till följd av dessa problem, samt att Sveriges institutionella miljö skiljer sig åt från andra länder, finns behovet att förklara sambandet i en svensk kontext. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara hur olika ägarstrukturer påverkar earnings quality. Metod: Studien utgår från en deduktiv ansats där hypoteser deducerats utifrån agentteori, alignment effect, entrenchment effect, samt active monitoring hypothesis. Kvantitativ data består av sekundärdata i form av årsredovisningar. Studien har genomförts med en tvärsnittsdesign. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att företag med högre andel utländskt ägande tenderar att redovisa högre earnings quality. Resultatet kan förklaras av agentteorins typ I-problem. Övriga ägarstrukturer uppvisar inga signifikanta samband.

The International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) introduced an amendment to the International Accounting Standard 39 – Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement (IAS 39) and to International Financial Reporting Standard 7 – Financial Instruments: Disclosures (IFRS 7) on 13 October 2008. These amendments allowed entities to reclassify non-derivative financial assets from the fair value option to historical cost. The purpose of this study is to explore how Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) applied the amendment to IAS 39 since 2008/2009. The study is guided by four main objectives in which the first two objectives explores how the G-SIBs applied the reclassifications during the allowed period, 2008/2009 and the period beyond 2009 when the application of the standard should have been stopped. The study further investigates if any G-SIBs used restatements to circumvent the requirements of the IAS 39 that does not allow reclassifications into and out of the ‘designated as at fair value' category. Finally, the study explores the impacts of the reclassifications on the G-SIBs' ROE and total regulatory capital with the aim to determine if G-SIBs reaped any long-term benefits from the reclassifications and whether any traces of earning and capital management exist in the way G-SIBs applied the amendment to IAS 39. To achieve these objectives a comparative case study approach, which is qualitative in nature/scope was used with 10 G-SIBS forming part of the units of the analysis of the study. The study finds that: (i) 70 percent of G-SIBs reclassified assets during 2008/2009; (ii) a significant improvement on the reported net income was observed with a slight improvement on the return on equity and regulatory capital during 2008/2009, while the long-term impacts on ROE and total capital are insignificant; and (iii) G-SIBs did not restate comparative figures to evade the prohibition on reclassifications into and out of the ‘designated as at fair value' category. As far as can be reasonably established, this kind of study has not been published before for G-SIBs. As such, the study contributes by including the analysis of G-SIBs and the long-term implications of applying the amendment to IAS 39 to the current literature, as well as adding another possible type of a restatement to the financial restatements' literature. All these aspects are currently lacking in the existing literature.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain how the implementation of IFRS 16 Leaseshas affected how publicly listed firms on the Scandinavian stock exchange markets useearnings management activities. Methodology: This thesis has used a quantitative method using a deductive approach with ageneral positivistic philosophy. The database Datastream, provided via Jönköping University,was used in the data collection. To analyze the data, a Pearson and Spearman’s Rho correlationwas conducted, as well as a multiple linear regression analysis. Findings: The findings suggest that operating leasing has not been used as a substitute to otherkinds of earnings management. Further, Scandinavian public companies show no increasedincentive to use income increasing earnings management via discretionary accruals. Moreover,the findings also show that the implementation of IFRS 16 Leases does not appear to have hadas incremental effects on the Scandinavian public companies as initially expected. Theoretical perspectives: The thesis uses earlier literature within earnings management, aswell as the Agency theory, the Positive accounting theory, and the Signaling theory to enablean explanation to how IFRS 16 Leases has affected how publicly listed firms on theScandinavian stock exchange markets use earnings management activities.

The dissertation deals with the issue of creative accounting of small and micro companies in the Czech Republic. Creative accounting is a phenomenon that gained importance in the 21st century after publicizing of a number of accounting scandals. In the context of economic crisis and budget deficit, the phenomenon of creative accounting, in particular the prevention and detection of financial manipulation, is a topical issue which draws attention of experts specialized in economics as well as of entire countries including the Czech Republic. The research focus on small and micro companies stems from the undeniable importance of this segment for the performance of the economy of the entire country. This dissertation provides a comprehensive view of the issue of creative accounting in terms of theoretical approaches as well as its practical application. Primary research is based on an analysis of the phenomenological paradigm, i.e. it focuses on the understanding of human behaviour on the basis of a reference framework of research participants. The main aim of primary research is to discover the motives, techniques, perception of risk and consequences of creative accounting in the Czech Republic. The main research method used in the research is a case study based on a comparison of four business entities. The consequences of creative accounting are illustrated on a critical case. The main limitation of the dissertation rests in the impossibility of examining a large sample. The research revealed some findings that are contributive in particular to practice in the area of prevention and detection of creative accounting. The research provides findings usable by supervisory bodies to improve detection of creative accounting, and thus to increase the perceived risks. Another contribution of the dissertation is a suggestion of several possible alterations of legislation which will help reduce existing opportunities of creative accounting in relation to the motives to carry out creative accounting. Assistance in directing further research into the issue of creative accounting may also be considered important, in particular for the theory.

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<p>This thesis focuses on three important topics in corporate finance: corporate governance, management efforts to avoid debt covenant violations and the cost of such violations. The thesis adds to these aspects of the finance literature and the findings are reported in chapters two, three and four.</p> <p>The second chapter focuses on the role of corporate governance in determining the interactions between financial leverage and profits and attests to the validity of the trade-off theory of capital structure. It examines management’s financing choice behaviour in distinctly different corporate governance settings to ascertain the effect of governance mechanisms on such behavior. The estimation methodology allows for financial leverage, profits and governance to be determined jointly, using an instrumental variable approach. The results of the paper demonstrate that leverage is increasing in profits when controlled for agency problems, and good governance firms exhibit the results predicted by the trade-off theory of capital structure.</p> <p>The third chapter examines management’s earnings manipulation activities around debt covenant violation through accrual manipulation and real earnings management. Covenant restrictions are expected to influence these activities in the quarters surrounding and the quarter of the violation. Cross-sectional analyses reveal the use of such strategies to report higher earnings in the periods surrounding the covenant violation. The results also show disparity in the use of accrual based and real earnings management techniques.</p> <p>The fourth chapter investigates the relation between debt covenant violation and the cost of new borrowing from three different aspects: the incidence of violation, the timing of violation and the frequency of violation. The results show that there are significant benefits to not violating a debt covenant and violators are penalized by the creditors for not upholding the contractual restrictions.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Denna undersökning syftar till att bidra till den mängd studier som belyst området resultatkvalité samt revisionskvalité. En vanligt förekommande proxy för högkvalitativa resultat är mätningen av diskretionära periodiseringar. En stor mängd diskretionära periodiseringar, oavsett om de är resultathöjande eller sänkningar av resultat, ses som godtycklighet från ledningens sida och kan vara tecken på att företaget försökt dölja fundamental prestation. Flertalet studier undersöker vilken roll val av revisionsbyrå spelar för att upprätthålla resultat av hög kvalité och minska risken för earnings management. Syftetmed studien är att undersöka om företag vars revisor tillhör Big Four-firmor kan upprätthålla en högre resultatkvalité kontra Non-Big Four med hänsyn till mängden diskretionära periodiseringar. Resultatet visade att det inte finns någon signifikant skillnad i resultatkvalité beroende på om företagen granskats av Big Four, respektive Non-Big Four. Det krävs däremot vidare forskning med fler variabler, företag, och år för att kunna fastslå resultatet som ett faktum.