The backdrop of this dissertation is one ubiquitous element of everyday life: the stock market. Traditionally, accounting and stock markets are logically coordinate entities and this thesis analyzes how accounting supports private investors in their role as shareholders – as investors in shares and owners of companies. This analysis is carried out in four independent essays. The first two essays analyze the privatization of Telia, a former state-owned Telecommunication Company in Sweden that went public in 2000. The field material for the two essays consisted of newspaper articles, government bills and interviews. Qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrate how accounting is used among different actors to realize the privatization. Theoretically, the first two essays lend themselves to the governmentality debate as introduced to accounting research by Miller and Rose (1990). The third and fourth essays are analyses of annual general meetings (AGMs). The field material was generated from a study of participants at 36 AGMs during the spring of 2004. The choice of these two seemingly unrelated cases was done deliberately. Both cases are stock market events that typically involve an audience of a large number of non-professional investors. In the privatization of Telia over 1 million people took part in the offer. The AGMs are typically seen as the single event by which non-professional investors have an opportunity to meet with top management. Thus, each event represents an instance in which accounting is confronted by a predominantly non-professional audience. The contribution of this study is two-fold. First, earlier work inspired by the Miller and Rose framework (1990) has favored an analysis of the programmatic. This study develops the technological aspect of the theoretical framework by means of a rich empirical description. In addition the two essays on the privatization of Telia contribute with an analysis of how once a specific technology translates to become and becomes understood at the site of intervention. Second, the two studies of AGMs contest earlier criticism against the meeting as a corporate governance mechanism detached from the overall corporate governance system. The argument here is that the AGM offers a valuable setting for private investors to discuss stewardship issues. That this opportunity is taken advantage of is suggested by the present field material.

This study deals with market reaction to public information. The sample studied concerns six different famous European football clubs that are regularly involved in European competitions. These clubs are AS Roma from the Italian championship Calcio Serie A, FC Porto from the Portuguese championship Super Liga, Ajax Amsterdam from the Dutch championship Holland Casino Eredivisie, Galatasaray and Besiktas Istanbul from the Turkish championship Super Lig, and Celtic Glasgow from the Scottish championship Premier League.               Palomino et al. (2009) is the main source of inspiration for this study. Most of the findings are in lines with their results. There are two main contributions in this research. Firstly, our sample is composed by clubs from 5 different European countries: Italy, Scotland, Turkey, Portugal and Netherlands. Secondly, the ten years period of the study includes the financial crisis period. The results obtained for the financial crisis period have contaminated most of our results, justifying the choice to focus mainly on the results of the period 2002-2012 without the 2007-2009 period, which is the period associated to the financial crisis.               This research is divided into four parts. We firstly find evidence that the release of public information during the on-season has more influence than the one of the off-season. Indeed, the abnormal volumes calculated during the on-season are greater than the abnormal volumes computed during the off season. Likewise, we observed similar results as for the volatility. Secondly, this study demonstrates that the games’ results have a positive or a negative impact on the shares’ clubs returns depending on the game outcome. Indeed, the abnormal returns’ results are negative for losses and positive for wins. Moreover, we demonstrate that the stock market absorbs negative events (e.g. defeats) faster than the positive events (e.g. victories). Thirdly, we found that the losses that occur at the end of the season have more impact in terms of magnitude on the abnormal returns. On the contrary, the investors do not seem to react differently regarding the wins. Then, we were unable to find relevant findings regarding the unexpected results’ impact on the clubs’ share price. Surprisingly, we found that there is a surprise effect concerning victories whereas there is no surprise effect regarding the defeats.               Most of the findings of the study prove that public information concerning game results does influence investors’ behavior and thus have a significant impact on the share price of the famous European clubs.

Taiwan has an ageing population, with more people in the concern of not having sufficient income stream during retired life. This study investigates the ageing issue through socioeconomic perspectives. It is recommended that apart from low interest-bearing term deposits, Interest-Sensitive Annuity is the most suitable solution for countering longevity risk. Through case studies, it has been found that 1, due to Annuity Puzzle sentiment, term depositors will continue to invest in Interest-Sensitive Annuities, regardless of the low interest rate environment. 2, Interest-Sensitive Annuity investors are as risk-averse as term depositors, implying that they do not necessarily choose the surrender option upon expiry. 3, due to customer sentiment, the Interest-Sensitive Annuity policy fees charged are inversely correlated to customers¡¦ willingness to invest. 4, by selling low-commission products, namely one- and two-year Interest-Sensitive Annuities through bancassurance channel, insurance companies enjoy the benefit of low cost capital and are able to reduce interest spread risk through efficient investments. Moreover, customers have their retirement needs covered while insurance salespeople of different channels are able to meet respective sales targets. It is therefore shown that Interest-Sensitive Annuities have the following benefits. For investors, it is the product type that best meets their needs. For insurance salespeople, they enjoy a diverse and complete product portfolio and for insurance companies, it maximizes operation efficiency. Unfortunately, after the termination of one- and two-year Interest-Sensitive Annuities on the market, insurance company capital costs have been negatively impacted, with retirement and longevity risks unsatisfied and insurance salespeople having less products to choose from. It is suggested that the regulator considers re-introducing one- and two-year Interest-Sensitive Annuities, using Risk-Based Capital as a complement in monitoring insurance companies.

In this paper, we use a Fama-French model and Markov regime-switching model to capture time series behavior of many financial variable. Alternatively, classification by cluster analysis help to learn the different characteristics of the sample between stock returns and risk factors. This empirical result shows that the excess return in the low volatility state tends to be greater than that in the high volatility state. The stock returns in each regime have a higher probability of remaining in their original state, especilly in low volatility state. This article also found the influence of risk factors affecting the stock returns is not symmetrical. In the state of low volatility, market factors and momentum effect have a significant influence in stock returns, and in the high volatility state, except the size effect, market and behavior factors have a significant influence in stock returns. Markov-switching models have proved to be useful for modeling a range of economic time series in the stock market. The regime-switching model has a superior performance in capturing the risk sensitivities of the stock return beyond the findings based on the Fama-French models. At last, we find the cluster analysis is feasible for the multi-factor model. The returns of mature companies have a primarily impact of market risk premium, while the major factor affecting returns with characteristics of growth companies is a investor sentiment. In addition, it is found that small companies¡¦ returns are vulnerable to investors sentiment. In this case, investors will invest based on stock's past performance, so the momentum effect significantly affect the stock returns.

Investment and wealth management are more important to customers than before. Bankers make the most of the market of wealth management. Relationship marketing plays an important role in this kind of situation. Relationship marketing is also the key factor of bankers¡¦ differentiation. According to literatures, this paper is to study the effect of ¡§the attributes of investor¡Bthe attributes of consultant¡Brelational selling behavior and corporate image¡¨ on the relationship quality. Refer to the paper of Morgan and Hunt (1994), the Key Mediating Variables Model describe that ¡§commitment and trust¡¨ are the key factors of success in the relationship marketing. So this paper adopts the concept of Key Mediating Variables Model, and uses ¡§commitment and trust¡¨ to discover the relationship quality between customers and consultants. This paper also discovers the effect of relationship quality on the customer satisfaction. Study Discovery: The customers¡¦ amount of investment and risk preference are not found to affect relationship quality significant effects. The expertise of the consultant has significant and positive effects on the relationship quality. Contact frequency and disclosure have significant and positive effects on the relationship quality. Corporate image is not found to affect relationship quality significant effects. Relationship quality has significant and positive effects on the customer satisfaction.

In this dissertation, I use a unique data set to address three questions related to the timing of loss realizations by institutional investors. The data include clienteles and quarterly holdings of investment advisers, whom I classify as "tax-sensitive" if their clients are primarily high net-worth individuals and as "tax-insensitive" if their clients are primarily tax-exempt entities or individuals with tax-deferred accounts. Prior empirical studies attribute abnormal stock return patterns around calendar year-end (the "January effect") to individual investors' tax-loss-selling and to institutional investors' window-dressing. In chapter two, I examine whether investment advisers contribute to the January effect via tax-loss-selling rather than via windowdressing. I find that tax-sensitive advisers' year-end sales of loss stocks (but not those of tax-exempt client advisers whose detailed disclosures to clients provide more incentive to window-dress) are associated with abnormally low (high) returns at the end of December (beginning of January). These results suggest that investment advisers contribute to the January effect via tax-loss-selling rather than via window-dressing. In chapter three, I examine whether tax-sensitive advisers respond to holding period incentives at year-end. Under U.S. tax law, net short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income, while net long-term gains are taxed at a lower rate. Prior studies find little or no response to holding period incentives by individual investors. In contrast, tax-sensitive advisers are more likely to sell stocks with short-term losses the larger the difference between the current short-term loss deduction and what the long-term loss deduction would be. In chapter four, I examine whether, like individual investors, tax-sensitive advisers realize their losses at year-end because they exhibit the "disposition effect," or the tendency to realize gains at a quicker rate than losses, earlier in the year. I compare the likelihood of advisers' realizations of "losers" (stocks the cumulative return of which over the prior nine months is negative) to the likelihood of their realizations of "winners" (stocks the cumulative return of which over the prior nine months is positive) by calendar quarter. Tax-insensitive, but not tax-sensitive, advisers exhibit the disposition effect, suggesting that tax incentives combined with investor sophistication prevent the disposition effect. / text

Not available / text

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka investerares förståelse angående hur olika finansiella instrument som emitterats av samma bolag skiljer sig åt. Inledning: Den ökade utvecklingen av de finansiella marknaderna har skapat ett ökat utbud av finansiella instrument. Flera företag har även emitterat flera olika finansiella instrument, vilket innebär att investerare står inför ett val av vilket instrument de vill exponera sig emot. Tidigare forskning är oense angående hur dessa instrument skiljer sig åt, då resultaten från tidigare studier har visat sig vara beroende på var studierna genomförs. Metod: Tidigare studier har använts som grund vid skapandet av studiens hypoteser, vilket innebär att studien är av en deduktiv karaktär. Studiens syfte innebär att stora mängder data analyseras vilket medför att studien är kvantitativ. Studien genomfördes på svenska bolag som emitterat minst två stycken finansiella instrument. Genom att skapa olika jämförelseportföljer som innehåller respektive tillgångsslag kunde vi analysera skillnaderna mellan portföljerna och därmed svara på studiens frågeställning. Resultat: Resultatet visar att det existerar skillnader mellan olika finansiella instrument som emitterats av samma bolag. Vilket innebär att investerare måste noggrant utvärdera sina valmöjligheter innan de genomför en investering, då risken är högre för finansiella instrument som har en högre rösträtt.  Nyckelord: Risk, avkastning, riskjusterad avkastning, finansiella instrument, investerare / Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation is to enhance investor’s understanding about the differences between various financial securities that are issued by the same company. Introduction: The development of the financial markets has created an increased range of financial securities. Same companies have also issued various financial securities, which means that the investors face the dilemma of choosing between the options. Previous researches disagree on how these various securities differ from each other, because their results have shown to be dependent on the location of investigation. Method: Previous studies have been used as the basis for the formulation of this study’s hypothesis, which means that it has a deductive character. The purpose of the study requires large amounts of data to be analyzed, which entails that a quantitative method has been used. The study has analyzed Swedish companies that have issued at least two different securities. By creating various portfolios that contain each security class we have been able to analyze the differences and to answer our research question. Conclusion: The result shows that there are some differences between various financial securities issued by the same company. This means that investor must carefully evaluate their options before implementing an investment, since the risk is greater for securities with superior voting power.  Key Words: Risk, return, risk-adjusted return, financial securities, investors

This dissertation investigates the immediate effects of securities analysts' statements on shareholders. Two of the most important questions posed in research on capital markets are when and how analysts matter. A time at which analysts might matter is when they make pronouncements regarding a firm or industry; ways in which they might matter is through their word choices and the context of their words in these pronouncements. The question, "Do analysts matter?," has been explored before and has been answered in terms of the securities analysts' quantitative earnings forecasts and their effects on the capital markets. I investigated the discourse used in these earnings forecasts and other statements regarding the focal firm or industry in analyst reports. Therefore, I answered the question, "Do analysts matter, as defined by their words used, and do they change investors' judgments about a firm's future prospects?" The study employed content analysis of analysts' language to determine whether the words they use in their statements cause a response in the market. The study also investigated how the analysts' language differs based on their affiliations. To examine this question, I drew on the efficient markets theory from finance. Data sources included the Chicago Centre for Research on Security Prices (CRSP) tapes and First Call analyst reports. The research applied quantitative computer text analysis, the event study methodology, and regression to test the hypotheses. By studying statements from the All-American Team analysts, the present work shows that investors do consider the pronouncement of analyst statements significant. The results demonstrate support for the idea that analyst statements have an impact on the stock market. Moreover, the statement characteristics have an incremental effect on the market response. The key findings illustrate that words in the analysts' report matter. The analyst characteristics were instrumental in deciding the words that the analysts use in their reports. Finally, analysts use words to signal information to investors when they are pressured from investment banking relationships. / text

This dissertation consists of three essays on the role of social values in financial markets. Chapter 1 uses geographic variation in religious concentration to identify the effect of people's gambling behavior in financial market settings. We argue that religious background predicts people's gambling propensity, and that gambling propensity carries over into their behavior in financial markets. We test this conjecture in various financial market settings and find that the predominant local religion predicts variation in investors' propensity to hold stocks with lottery features, in the prevalence of broad-based employee stock option plans, in first-day returns to initial public offerings, and in the magnitude of the negative lottery-stock return premium. Collectively, our findings indicate that religious beliefs regarding the acceptability of gambling impact investors' portfolio choices, corporate decisions, and stock returns. In Chapter 2 I examine the impact of social norms against holding certain types of stocks (e.g. "sin stocks", or stocks with lottery features) on trading decisions and portfolio performance. I argue that trades which deviate from social norms are likely to reflect stronger information. Consistent with this hypothesis, I find that the most gambling-averse institutions earn high abnormal returns on their holdings of lottery stocks, outperforming the holdings of the most gambling-tolerant institutions. An analysis of institutions' sin stock holdings provides complementary evidence using another dimension of social norms, supporting the hypothesis that trades which deviate from norms reflect stronger information. In the third essay, we conjecture that people feel more optimistic about the economy and stock market when their own political party is in power. We find supporting evidence from Gallup survey data and analyze brokerage account data to confirm the impact of time-varying optimism on investors' portfolio choices. When the political climate is aligned with their political preferences, investors maintain higher systematic risk exposure while trading less frequently. When the opposite party is in power, investors exhibit stronger behavioral biases and make worse investment decisions. Investors improve their raw portfolio performance when their own party is in power, but the risk-adjusted improvement is economically small. / text