The Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 aimed to improve listed companies' financial reporting standards and protect shareholders' interests. However, most of the provisions are perceived to be costly to U. S. issuers and benefits of the Act have continued to be the subject of much debate. This thesis utilises a unique corporate governance dataset that covers both the pre- and post-SOX periods and attempts to first, investigate what changes have there been in corporate governance practices since SOX was implemented, and second, to analyse the consequences of any changes in corporate governance practices post-SOX, and whether these changes are beneficial to shareholders. To achieve these two objectives, the thesis investigates the impact of SOX in four empirical chapters. The main findings of this thesis suggest that companies opted to follow a box-ticking procedure in selecting their corporate governance structures post-SOX. SOX did not achieve its objectives of improving financial reporting quality,but it had, albeit unintentionally, enhanced corporate value for some firms. Overall audit conu-nittee effectiveness decreased during the SOX period, but it increased in the post-SOX period, which indicates, in terms of corporate governance, SOX was beneficial to shareholders because it improved the overall audit committee effectiveness. Finally, earnings informativeness improved after SOX was enacted. However, this improvement may not be attributable to the changes in audit committee effectiveness. The thesis concludes that SOX improved U. S. companies' financial reporting quality, financial account usefulness and audit committee effectiveness. However, the improvements of financial reporting quality and financial account usefulness seemed not to be attributable to the changes in corporate governance practices, but it was more likely to be attributable to other internal control requirements, i. e. Section 404 "Assessment of internal control", Section 302 "Internal control certifications" and Section 201 "Services outside the scope of practice of auditor".

In this study, I empirically examine the valuation and value relevance characteristics of specific consolidation and segment-disaggregated corporate financial information. On the consolidation level, I investigate the relationships (in terms of value relevance and pricing) between the UK firms’ equity market values and the firm-level contemporaneous equity book values, earnings and dividends. The objective here is identify and explore factors and contexts that impact on the value relevance and pricing of consolidated financial statement information reported by UK publicly traded firms over the period from 1987 to 2002. On the segmental level, the study capitalises on the insights gained from the consolidated level findings and investigates (i) whether financial information, on specific geographic and line-of-business segments’ operations of a cross-section of UK multi-segment firms, is associated with the equity market value of the entire firm (i.e., value relevant); (ii) whether such operations are being differentially priced (by the stock market) into the equity market value of the firm; and (iii) how the factors/contexts affecting value relevance and pricing of the firm-level accounting fundamentals impact on the value relevance and pricing of the segment-level results. Additionally, this study provides further empirical evidence on the adequacy of the UK segment reporting accounting standard SSAP 25, and the quality of segment disclosures in the UK. The employed valuation model represents a fusion of valuation frameworks developed in earlier studies [e.g., Edwards and Bell (1961), Peasnell (1981, 1982), Ohlson (1989, 1995), Rees (1997), Garrod and Rees (1998), Wysocki (1998)]. On the consolidated-level, the model expresses the size-deflated equity market value of the firm as a linear function of size-deflated equity book value, earnings for ordinary, dividends for ordinary shareholders and additional control/dummy variables. In the segment-level analysis, the earnings variable is further disaggregated into its segment-level elements. With regard to the firm-level analysis, the study uncovers a range of contexts and factors that affect the value relevance and pricing of specific accounting value drivers. Among these are: the sign of reported earnings and book values; whether the firm trades at a premium/discount to its book value; the economic periods; the dividend status of the firm; diversification profile of the firm; and the industrial affiliation of the firm. In addition, the firm-level analysis indicates that the industrially diversified firms have lower valuation than the focused firms, while the geographically diversified firms have higher valuation than the domestic firms.

Η εργασία χωρίζεται σε τέσσερα κεφάλαια. Το πρώτο κεφάλαιο είναι η εισαγωγή και κάποιες πληροφορίες για τις εταιρείες των οποίων θα κάνουμε την ανάλυση των οικονομικών καταστάσεων. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο αναφέρεται η μεθοδολογία που ακολουθήθηκε που για την εκπόνηση της εργασίας. Δηλαδή ο τρόπος που έγινε η δουλειά. Ακόμη γίνεται αναφορά στους αριθμοδείκτες που θα χρησιμοποιηθούν. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο γίνεται η ανάλυση των οικονομικών καταστάσεων και, προφανώς, η εξαγωγή συμπερασμάτων βάσει των αποτελεσμάτων των αριθμοδεικτών. Τέλος, κάνουμε μία συνολική σύγκριση των υπό μελέτη εταιρειών, σύμφωνα με τα δεδομένα του τρίτου κεφαλαίου, βγάζοντας ένα γενικό συμπέρασμα. / --

Au regard des exigences de transparence et de comparabilité des états financiers, l’évaluation traditionnelle du résultat ne satisfait plus ; elle se voit amendée d’autres composantes estimées essentiellement en valeur de marché pour obtenir le comprehensive income (CI). Le CI, « état de la performance globale » de l’IAS 1 révisée (IAS 1R), fait apparaitre distinctement le résultat net et les other comprehensive income afin de mieux répondre aux besoins d'information financière et aider les groupes d’utilisateurs dans leur prise de décision. Dans ce contexte, la présente recherche se propose d’étudier la valorisation boursière du CI, rendu obligatoire pour les entreprises présentant leurs comptes en IFRS depuis 2009. Les tests empiriques ont porté sur un échantillon d’entreprises françaises cotées au SBF 120 observées sur la période pré IAS 1R (2004-2009) et post IAS 1R (2009-2013) en utilisant les régressions de panel. Les résultats indiquent que les deux mesures de résultats (traditionnel et CI) sont value relevant et donc apportent de l'information pertinente pour apprécier les cours et les rentabilités boursiers. Par ailleurs, les other comprehensive income agrégés semblent valorisés par le marché et fournissent des informations additionnelles par rapport au résultat net. Enfin il semble que la value relevance du CI s’est améliorée de manière significative après l’application de la norme IAS 1R. Ces résultats suggèrent que les éléments de la performance financière sont pris en compte positivement par les utilisateurs de l’information financière lorsqu’ils sont clairement publiés et confortent le normalisateur dans son exigence de transparence dans la diffusion du CI. / From the perspective of the transparency and comparability of financial statements requirements, the traditional evaluation of the outcome is no longer satisfying. It is amended through other components which are mainly estimated at market value to obtain the comprehensive income (CI). The CI, Statement of Financial Performance of the revised IAS 1(IAS 1R) requires the disclosure of both income and other comprehensive income to cater for the needs of users of accounting information and help them in making better financial decisions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the value relevance of CI which became compulsory for companies presenting their financial statements in IFRS since 2009. Empirical tests have focused on a sample of French listed companies over the pre (2004-2008) and post (2009-2013) IAS 1R periods, using panel data. We found that two summary income measures (CI and net income) are significantly associated with price and market returns. We also found that other aggregated comprehensive income provide incremental price-relevant information beyond net income. Finally, it appears that the adoption of IAS 1R had a positive effect on the value relevance of CI. These findings reveal that mandating CI in IFRS regulation improves transparency and enhances the usefulness and quality of the reported CI information thus, likely to be more useful in terms of requirements for transparency.

Οι οικονομικές μονάδες μοιάζουν με τους ζωντανούς οργανισμούς: Δημιουργούνται, αναπτύσσονται, ακμάζουν, παρακμάζουν και πεθαίνουν, μέσα σε ένα αβέβαιο περιβάλλον. Η νομοτελειακή πορεία τους, όμως, από την γέννηση προς τον θάνατο είναι δυνατό να διαφοροποιηθεί ποιοτικά, μέσω της παράτασης των φάσεων της ανάπτυξης και της ακμής. Για να συμβεί αυτό θα πρέπει, στο μέτρο του δυνατού, να προγραμματίζεται η μελλοντική τους δράση, ώστε να εντοπίζονται έγκαιρα, να εκτιμώνται σωστά και να αντιμετωπίζονται αποτελεσματικά οι κίνδυνοι που τις απειλούν, παράλληλα δε να αξιοποιούνται οι ευκαιρίες που πηγάζουν από το ευρύτερο κοινωνικό και οικονομικό περιβάλλον. Είναι αναγκαία, επομένως, η διαρκής και συστηματική καταγραφή, παρατήρηση, ταξινόμηση, αξιολόγηση και αξιοποίηση των κάθε φορά διαθέσιμων δεδομένων, τα οποία εκφράζονται συνηθέστερα ως πιθανότητες κατανομές και σπανιότερα ως μονοσήμαντα μεγέθη. / These entities are like living organisms: Create, grow, flourish, decline and die within an uncertain environment. The deterministic path, however, from birth to death can be changed qualitatively by extending the phase of growth and prosperity. For this to happen should, wherever possible, to plan their future action to be identified in time to properly assess and manage effectively the risks threatening the above and also to exploit opportunities arising from the wider social and economic environment. It is necessary, therefore, the continuous and systematic recording, observation, classification, evaluation and utilization of data whenever available, the most commonly expressed as probabilities and distributions as a uniquely rare sizes.

Orientador : Prof. Dr. Luiz Panhoca / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Contabilidade. Defesa: Curitiba, 2016 / Inclui referências : f. 113-124 / Área de concentração : Contabilidade e finanças / Resumo: O crescimento da importância de questões socioambientais aumentou a necessidade de as organizações comunicarem aos seus stakeholders, de forma consistente e confiável, suas ações relacionadas ao comprometimento destas com aquelas questões. Quando relacionadas às questões socioambientais, essas necessidades podem ser supridas pelas informações da contabilidade por meio de Relatórios de Desempenho Socioambiental (RDS). No entanto, existem algumas dificuldades relacionadas à elaboração desses relatórios, podendo-se destacar a não obrigatoriedade de apresentação e a falta de padronização. Uma tentativa para o equacionamento dessas dificuldades tem sido proposta pela Global Report Initiative (GRI), por meio do seu modelo padronizado de relatório de sustentabilidade, o qual é o mais aceito atualmente. Entretanto, pesquisas anteriores identificaram que as organizações que adotam o relatório proposto pela entidade não o cumprem na íntegra. Dessa forma, pode-se concluir que a Teoria da Contabilidade não está sendo atendida quanto ao seu Enfoque Ético, o qual preconiza que as informações produzidas devem ser fidedignas e isentas de vieses. Com base nisso, e considerando que no Setor Elétrico Brasileiro (SEB) existe a obrigatoriedade de apresentação de um relatório padronizado baseado nos padrões da Global Report Initiative, a presente investigação teve o propósito de descrever como as concessionárias do setor elétrico em seus RDS, referentes ao ano de 2014, atenderam aos padrões da GRI. A análise de dados consistiu da coleta e verificação de 80 relatórios publicados em 2014 pelas concessionárias. Utilizou-se a técnica de análise do conteúdo de 33 indicadores referentes aos Conteúdos Padrão Gerais propostos pela GRI, tendo sido aplicado o teste Kruskal-Wallis para identificar diferenças entre os segmentos. Foi verificado que o segmento de geração (84,5%) foi o que mais atendeu às Diretrizes GRI, seguido pela distribuição (74,7%) e transmissão (63,9%). Adicionalmente, o teste Kruskal-Wallis revelou que as diferenças encontradas entre os índices são significantes sob o ponto de vista estatístico. Constatou-se que o fator segmento da indústria pode influenciar a qualidade da divulgação socioambiental. Também foi verificado que a ANEEL, a agência que regula o setor, falha em fiscalizar as concessionárias e que a Teoria da Contabilidade não está sendo atendida quanto ao seu Enfoque Ético devido às deficiências encontradas quanto ao conteúdo dos relatórios. Palavras-chave: Setor elétrico. Sustentabilidade. Gestão Ambiental. GRI. / Abstract: The growing importance of environmental issues has also increased the need for organizations to communicate consistently and reliably their actions to stakeholders, given that these somehow contribute to the success of these. When related to environmental issues, these needs can be met by accounting information through sustainability report. However, there are some difficulties related to the preparation of reports, being able to highlight not obligatory presentation and lack of standardization. An attempt for solving these problems has been proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and its report template the most currently accepted. However, previous research has found that companies that adopt the report proposed by the entity did not comply in full. Thus, it can be concluded that the Accounting Theory is not being met as to its Ethical Approach, which holds that the information produced should be reliable and free from bias. In this basis, and considering that the Brazilian Electric Sector there is a requirement to present this document, the present study aimed to describe how the power sector utilities in their report, for the year 2014 met the standards GRI. Data analysis is the collection and analysis of 80 reports published in 2014 by the companies. It was used the technique of analyzing the content of 33 indicators for the proposed by the GRI and applied the Kruskal-Wallis test to identify differences between segments. It was found that the generators (84.5%) was the most met the guidelines GRI, followed by distribution (74.7%) and transmission (63.9%). In addition, the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the differences between the indices are significant from a statistical point of view. It was found that the industry segment factor can influence the quality of environmental disclosure. It was also found that ANEEL failure to supervise utilities and the Accounting Theory is not being met as to its Ethical Approach due to deficiencies in the contents of the reports. Keywords: Electric Sector. Sustainability. Environmental management. GRI.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the need to modify the theory of accounting to ensure a standardised and comparable approach when accounting and reporting on intellectual capital. A literature review is used to describe intellectual capital categories and how to measure, recognise and report these assets in the financial statements on an entity. Financial reporting operates around strict requirements that are statement of financial position biased posing significant challenges in recognising and disclosing intellectual capital. The study also uses content analysis of corporate annual reports of the top 40 companies listed on the JSE Ltd in 2009 to determine the extent of intellectual capital reporting by these companies. Measuring and recognising intellectual capital in financial reporting is not limited by the requirements in respect of statutory disclosures, discretionary and contextual disclosures are recommended. Results of the content analysis show that companies use these discretionary and contextual disclosures to communicate information on intellectual capital. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

The main purpose of this study is to examine the need to modify the theory of accounting to ensure a standardised and comparable approach when accounting and reporting on intellectual capital. A literature review is used to describe intellectual capital categories and how to measure, recognise and report these assets in the financial statements on an entity. Financial reporting operates around strict requirements that are statement of financial position biased posing significant challenges in recognising and disclosing intellectual capital. The study also uses content analysis of corporate annual reports of the top 40 companies listed on the JSE Ltd in 2009 to determine the extent of intellectual capital reporting by these companies. Measuring and recognising intellectual capital in financial reporting is not limited by the requirements in respect of statutory disclosures, discretionary and contextual disclosures are recommended. Results of the content analysis show that companies use these discretionary and contextual disclosures to communicate information on intellectual capital. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

Text in Afrikaans / Die primere doelstelling met hierdie studie was om 'n kritiese beskouing van die staat van kontantvloei-inligting (hierna genoem die staat) as element van finansiele verslagdoening te verskaf met die oog op die identifisering van moontlike leemtes, tekortkominge en nut wat die gebruikers van die staat ondervind. Die studie dui daarop dat alhoewel daar 'n aantal leemtes en tekortkominge in die huidige staat is, daar wei 'n behoefte aan die kant van die gebruiker na 'n staat van kontantvloei-inligting as deel van die finansiele state bestaan. Die waarde van sodanige staat is deurgaans in die literatuurstudie sowel as met die empiriese studie beklemtoon. Dit het ook in die studie na vore gekom dat die staat vir gebruikers van groot waarde is in die evaluering van solvensie en risiko in bepaalde ondernemings. Die gebruikswaarde van die staat maak dit dringend noodsaaklik dat daar onverwyld aandag aan die leemtes geskenk moet word. Verskeie aanbevelings vir 'n verbeterde staat van kontantvloei-inligting word dan ook in hierdie studie gemaak en dit sluit 'n moontlike model in. 'n Aantal aanbevelings rondom die praktiese aspekte van die gebruik van die staat word ook gemaak, omdat dit die potensiaal het om 'n onmisbare hulpmiddel vir die gebruiker te word. / The prime objective of this study was to take a critical look at the cash flow information statement (hereinafter named the statement) as an element of financial reporting. It was based on the experience of the users in view of identifying possible gaps, shortcomings and benefits. The study suggests that a definite need occurs from the users side for cash flow information as part of the financial statements. It was also evident from the study that the statement is a very important tool for the evaluation of solvency and risk. The usability of the statement necessitates that attention be given to the gaps. Several recommendations, including a possible model were made for an improvement in the statement. A number of recommendations were also made regarding practical aspects for the use of the statement, since it has the potential to be an indispensable tool for users. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

Text in Afrikaans / Die primere doelstelling met hierdie studie was om 'n kritiese beskouing van die staat van kontantvloei-inligting (hierna genoem die staat) as element van finansiele verslagdoening te verskaf met die oog op die identifisering van moontlike leemtes, tekortkominge en nut wat die gebruikers van die staat ondervind. Die studie dui daarop dat alhoewel daar 'n aantal leemtes en tekortkominge in die huidige staat is, daar wei 'n behoefte aan die kant van die gebruiker na 'n staat van kontantvloei-inligting as deel van die finansiele state bestaan. Die waarde van sodanige staat is deurgaans in die literatuurstudie sowel as met die empiriese studie beklemtoon. Dit het ook in die studie na vore gekom dat die staat vir gebruikers van groot waarde is in die evaluering van solvensie en risiko in bepaalde ondernemings. Die gebruikswaarde van die staat maak dit dringend noodsaaklik dat daar onverwyld aandag aan die leemtes geskenk moet word. Verskeie aanbevelings vir 'n verbeterde staat van kontantvloei-inligting word dan ook in hierdie studie gemaak en dit sluit 'n moontlike model in. 'n Aantal aanbevelings rondom die praktiese aspekte van die gebruik van die staat word ook gemaak, omdat dit die potensiaal het om 'n onmisbare hulpmiddel vir die gebruiker te word. / The prime objective of this study was to take a critical look at the cash flow information statement (hereinafter named the statement) as an element of financial reporting. It was based on the experience of the users in view of identifying possible gaps, shortcomings and benefits. The study suggests that a definite need occurs from the users side for cash flow information as part of the financial statements. It was also evident from the study that the statement is a very important tool for the evaluation of solvency and risk. The usability of the statement necessitates that attention be given to the gaps. Several recommendations, including a possible model were made for an improvement in the statement. A number of recommendations were also made regarding practical aspects for the use of the statement, since it has the potential to be an indispensable tool for users. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)