Derivatives have been using widely in the world over the last 30 years as an important risk management instrument. Although theoretical researchers suggest that derivatives usage can enhance value of a firm by alleviating costs arising from several market imperfections, the existing evidence is not quite consistent among empirical studies up to date. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, aims to examine determinants of derivatives use, a relationship between derivatives use, firm value, and exposures for a sample of 881 non-financial firms in eight East Asian countries in the 2003- 2013 period. The analysis is based on a novel and manually collected data. We find that firms in countries with lower corruption have more incentive to use financial derivatives and use derivatives with greater intensity than those firms located in highly corrupt countries. Better governance induces firms to use derivatives to hedge exposure and mitigate costs. Firms in countries with weak governance use derivatives for speculating and/or selective hedging or self-management purposes. Overall, our findings provide strong evidence of the role of countries’ governance quality in driving firms’ derivatives-related behaviors. This macro-based effect on derivatives use is independent from firm-specific factors, which are frequently invoked by hedging theories. Regarding relationship between firm value and derivatives use, using Tobin’s Q as a proxy of firm value, we find that low corruption level of home country (host country) induces the use of financial derivatives and rewards domestic firms and domestic MNCs (foreign affiliates) with higher value; this finding holds after controlling for endogeneity and self-selection bias. Hedging behavior of domestic MNCs outperforms domestic firms and foreign affiliates in terms of firm value. Derivative usage is value-enhancing activity for domestic firms and domestic MNCs, but it does not add value for foreign affiliates. During the crisis, the effect of low level of corruption on alleviating negative impacts of the crisis on derivatives usage is very modest. Yet, low corruption level of home country is positively associated with hedging premiums of domestic firms and domestic MNCs in the post-crisis period. Finally, we measure exposure to home (host) country risks, and provide novel evidence that financial derivatives use of domestic firms and domestic MNCs reduces exposure to home country risks by 11.4% and 13.4% per 1% increase in notional derivative holdings, respectively, while foreign affiliates fail to mitigate exposure to host country risks. The use of foreign currency and interest rate derivatives by domestic firms and domestic MNCs is effective in alleviating firms’ such exposures to varied degrees, but foreign affiliates using derivatives only can lower interest rate exposures. Domestic MNCs have the smallest exposures, and domestic MNCs with derivatives activities reduce exposures in the largest magnitude compared to other firms. The financial crisis weakens the effect of derivative usage on exposures, but it is stronger after the crisis than in pre-crisis period.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of a policy initiative to uplift innovation capabilities among indigenous high-technology small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. As an emerging economy, Malaysia has actively introduced policies to propel economic development. These policies are acknowledged as powerful tools to promote industrialisation and economic diversification. As the country moves towards a knowledge-based economy, this study provides insight into how a policy comprising a financial initiative introduced by Malaysian Government has been used to enhance capabilities of indigenous small and medium enterprises particularly for innovation. This study is exploratory since it seeks to find out how firms developed and enhanced their innovation capabilities in the presence of government policy. The goal is to learn 'what is going on here' and the phenomenon in light of the innovation process and Dynamic Capabilities (DC) concepts. This study adopts an interpretative approach and uses multiple case studies with semi-structured interviews as the main data collection technique. This study relies on this technique to explore the views and experience of the selected Commercialisation of Research and Development Fund (CRDF) recipient about the impact and application of that policy initiative (i.e. the CRDF). Overall, the researcher conducted 13 one-to-one and three group interviews. The interviewees consist of key informants from firms and MTDC personnel. Two additional data collection methods: documentary analysis and observations were utilised; thus, improving the triangulation of the findings. The findings show that the implementation of the CRDF in particular is in line with the specific objectives of the policy which is intended to support commercialisation of research outputs among indigenous small firms. This study also found that this policy initiative tends to affect the latter end of the innovation process (i.e. in particular in the exploitation phase) rather to the innovation process in general. These findings demonstrate how firms have been using funds from the CRDF to support the innovation process, especially for upgrading their capability regarding the new product development process for high technology products. The important dimension that emerged is that the CRDF is enhancing firms innovation and dynamic capabilities, especially those capabilities relating to their ability to carry out innovation. These capabilities are centred on firms’ ability to respond to a changing environment by producing high technology products that meet regulatory requirements as well as customer demand.

The overall objective of this research was to examine phenomenon of management accounting changes in the context of Thailand, through exploring changes of management accounting practices (MAPs) and examining underlying influential factors with the use of contingency theory and diffusion of innovations theory. Furthermore this study aims to shed some light on the interaction effect of MAPs and integrated information systems (IISs) on organisational performance. A mixed method research strategy was adopted including questionnaires survey and one-to-one interviews. The study includes five findings: three mains and two ancillaries. First, MAPs have remained relatively unchanged over the period of 2001-2012, in particular conventional MAPs are still dominant, but there are signs of diffusion of advanced MAPs (i.e. Activity-based Costing (ABC) and Balanced Scorecards (BSC)). Second, using binary logistic regression analyses, results indicate that environmental uncertainty, differentiation strategy and IIS implementation promote MAP adoption whereas a decentralised structure and organisational culture are barriers. Third, MAPs and IISs do not have any interaction effect on organisational performance; however, individually they do have positive direct impacts on organisational performance. Additionally, the considered reasons for adoption or rejection of advanced MAP are unveiled as external consultants, following other Thai lead organisations, a lack of knowledge and resources, and a lack of top management support. Finally, organisational outlook of the top manager groups (culture perspective) influenced the advanced MAP usages. Organisations with top managers reflecting flexibility values tend to use more advanced MAPs than those reflecting control values. This study contributes to the existing knowledge of MAP changes by adding Thai organisational and cultural dimensions. This study also contributes to the inspiration for academics and practitioners to be concerned about the interaction effect of MAP adoption and IIS implementation on organisational performance (including financial and non-financial performance).

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the influence of corporate diversification on firm value and financial management. The first study in the thesis examines whether and how organisational learning from diversification experience affects the crosssectional variation of the value of diversified firms. Three main findings are reported: first, a U-shaped relationship between diversification value and diversification experience is identified; second, greater similarity in industries between diversifications results in a higher diversification value. Finally, the relationship between the value of diversification and the temporal interval between diversifications forms an inverted Ushaped curve. In an extended analysis, external learning from the experience of others is shown to affect diversification value in a cubic pattern. While investigating cross-sectional distribution of diversification value is an increasingly common approach to the topic, research on the average value effect of diversification remain important in the literature. The second study directly investigates the effect of diversification on investor wealth. By adopting a novel portfolio simulation approach, the study shows that investing in portfolios of diversified firms provides a higher return and lower risk than investing in portfolios of specialised firms. Further analysis, however, shows that these benefits from corporate diversification can be better achieved by shareholders’ self-diversified portfolios. This finding implies that corporate diversification may not be necessary for shareholders’ benefit. The final analysis in the study provides evidence that firm diversification is more likely motivated by the managerial risk preferences. The relationship between diversification and firm value may be explained by the diversification effects on firm operations. Researchers often relate diversification discount to wasteful spending by diversified firms. The third study examines financial management in diversified firms by looking at how these firms adjust their cash flows. More specifically, following the findings of Duchin (2010) and Subramaniam, Tang, Yue and Zhou (2011) that diversified firms hold significantly less cash than specialised firms, the study investigates how diversified firms manage their cash flows to achieve this lower cash balance. The study finds that diversified firms have a higher free cash flow (as a result of having similar operating cash flow but lower investing cash flow), and a lower financing cash flow compared to specialised firms. More particularly, it shows that diversified firms issue less debt and pay out more dividends, relative to specialised firms. The study also provides evidence of the active role of internal capital markets in a firm’s financial management. Collectively, three major conclusions can be withdrawn. First, learning from both internal and external diversification experience has a significant effect on the value of diversification. Second, investing in portfolios of diversified firms generates better results than does investing in portfolios of specialised firms. Thus, the conventional wisdom in the literature that diversification destroys shareholder wealth may not be wholly correct. Third, the findings that diversified firms have similar operating cash flow, lower investing cash flow, higher dividends and lower cash holdings do not indicate that such firms have overinvestment problems.

Crowdfunding is a process featuring incremental financial donations from a ‘crowd’ of backers to help fund a project initiated by a creator. In recent years, crowdfunding has generated significant revenue as well as great interest from industry, government, and creative entrepreneurs. However, rate of successful funding for crowdfunding projects remains around 35% for global crowdfunding leader Kickstarter1, and lower yet for other platforms. The identified gap between crowdfunding growth and crowdfunding success rates prompts the overarching question driving this thesis: how does crowdfunding work? This question is explored and answered through the lens of activity, as activity is largely observable, is featured in every project, and has some degree of control for creators. Activity was uncovered using semi-structured interviews, online observation, and daily monitoring of four crowdfunding projects from pre- to post-funding. By cataloguing the specifics of crowdfunding activity, this thesis reveals the breadth of activity common to crowdfunding projects: financial, non-financial, online, and offline. Further, in mapping activity along a timeline, five distinct periods of crowdfunding activity are identified, each with specific aims. Additionally, the relationships guiding activity are assessed through discussion of community within crowdfunding, accentuating both emotional and behavioural investment in a project. The resulting insights are summarised into two categories of contributions. The first is the consolidation of elements of importance to crowdfunding. By making implicit features of crowdfunding explicit, this adds precision to an understanding of the crowdfunding process. The second is the identification of underlying principles and essential steps to crowdfunding, which can be used by project creators to maximise success. This thesis provides a broader understanding of crowdfunding, emphasising the extent to which successful projects engage stakeholder communities with financial and non-financial activity and outcomes over time, as well as across various sites.

The responses of certain organisations, such as Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), to the demands of their institutional environment are central to this study. In today’s economic climate and under the existing political and social conditions, it is inevitable for organisations to consider and/or undergo some form of change and to reform the existing management practices so that to become more efficient and accountable regarding the acquisition and use of the public sector resources thus, adopting the New Public Management principles. In this vein, accounting was expected to play a major role in providing new forms of financial information. This information would then be utilized towards the improvement of the public sector’s performance and accountability in order to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and economy and the presence of the accrual basis accounting system has constituted an important change component. The current study focuses on providing an answer to the question of how HEIs in Greece responded to governmental pressures for accounting reform during the decade of 1998-2008; specifically, it focuses on the extent to which HEIs implement the accrual accounting system and the influence of the isomorphic and intra organizational dynamics on its implementation. The aim of this enquiry is to assist in providing a deep understanding of the external and internal dynamics that influence the adoption and implementation of the Management Accounting (MA) systems, resulting thus, to new daily accounting practices within certain organizations. The current study is not limited in researching the various ways in which the Greek HEIs cope with the management of the change pressures but also aims towards studying the effect of the internal and external institutional environment within which organizations operate. This institutional environment exerts influence on the behavior of the organizations with regard to change. The theoretical framework employed various institutional theory strands and perspectives on change management theories regarding change management processes that consider the ways in which MA practices can undergo change. Consequently, a hybrid institutional approach of MA change derived from the integration of various strands of institutional theory, such as Old Institutional Economics (OIE) and New Institutional Theory (NIS) and perspectives on change management theories. The adoption of a subjectivism interpretive philosophy has been suggested as the most appropriate and a case study research strategy has been adopted for the scope of this study including an in part survey strategy. The Greek higher education system is considered to be the case study under investigation. The complexity of the phenomena under investigation implied the need for a sequential mixed method approach in order to best understand and explain the phenomenon under investigation. The current research aims to contribute to the growing body of literature of MA and change management that combine OIE and NIS perspectives with change management theories and to provide major implications for the successful MA change in certain organizations, such as higher education sector institutions. With respect to this specific research area, twofold objectives have been considered to be achieved via this study concerning theoretical and practical aspects equally. The theoretical objective of this thesis was to develop a valuable theoretical framework by using complementary various theoretical strands and perspectives. The second objective was the empirical investigation of the accrual accounting system implementation in certain organizations such as the Greek HEIs. The findings of the empirical study have been expected to provide organizational actors with a further understanding of the MA change and the influence of isomorphic and intra organizational dynamics in the accounting change process. This thesis has provided evidence of how the intra organizational dynamics have been activated towards the implementation of the new accounting system under the government pressure and the isomorphic forces enacted for. Furthermore, it resulted in that the implementation of the accrual accounting system and the attempted MA change were dependent on the activation and interaction of the isomorphic forces as well as of the intra organizational dynamics which guided the whole process of change from the starting point to its resulting thus to the new daily accounting practices and routines up rising as taken for granted. In particular, based strictly on an investigation of the existing literature and the analysis of the derived findings by the survey structured questionnaire and the face-to-face interviews, it is assumed that isomorphic forces have been insufficiently activated by the external environment in order to push the Greek HEIs forward towards the adoption of the accounting reform demanded by the legislator (Presidential Decree 205/1998). It is also supported that the intra organizational dynamics, activated within each individual HEI that implemented the accrual accounting system, have not resulted sufficiently to the development of new accounting routines, considering them as the positive outcome of the successful accounting change process.

In this research project, I proposed two sets of research questions: 1) What is the role of finance, and the phenomenon of financialisation, in the growing Chinese economy? Furthermore, what role does the trust industry play in the financialisation process? 2) How do Chinese trust companies respond to the conjunctural conditions in the financialising economy that are created by regulation and unexpected internal and external events, such as the 2008 global financial crisis and the rise of discourse on shadow banking in post-crisis bank regulation? I conducted a literature review and presented my theoretical framework under the frame-conjuncture-bricolage framework, since diversification is a form of bricolage in the context of the regulation and reform of Chinese trust companies and the financialisation of the Chinese economy. I adopted a case study research design as an appropriate qualitative approach for this research. My findings support the conclusions that: 1) the financialisation and financial bricolage framework applies to the trust industry and trust companies in China; 2) conjunctural conditions in the financialising economy are created by regulation and unexpected internal and external events; 3) trust companies in China respond to conjunctural opportunities by taking bricolage in product diversification and financial innovation. By addressing both sets of research questions through the integration of the mainstream literature on diversification and the financial innovation framework, this study analyses the financialisation of the Chinese economy, conjuncture and financial bricolage in a non-banking industry (i.e., the trust industry) in an emerging economy (i.e., China) and, thus, contributes to the extension and enrichment of the scope of literature on financial innovation and financialisation. While prior research has not yet applied this framework to studying product diversification and financial innovation of the trust industry in China, my research can fill a gap in literature on the evolution of the Chinese financial system in addition to contributing to mainstream research on product diversification and financial innovation. Furthermore, my research also suggests that, the conjunctural perspective and financial innovation as bricolage could equip managers in financial sectors with more realistic analytical and practical tools.

Empirical studies show that the use of derivative instruments has been increasing during the last decade, making it an important part of the firm’s overall risk management profile. Financial theory suggests that risk management decisions only matter when markets are imperfect. The standard view is that firms will benefit from hedging, because hedging reduces the variability of the costs of financial distress, agency costs, and the expected tax liabilities. This thesis attempts to provide evidence on these hypotheses. This study investigates the determinants of corporate hedging by using a comprehensive dataset of US and UK non-financial firms. The two countries are of particular research interest since they have almost similar legal system for the conduct of business and their market-based financial systems and equity markets are well developed with good investor protection. The study focuses on the decision of whether or not non-financial firms from both countries benefit from corporate hedging during the period 2002-2011. The study is motivated by the idea of whether or not the hedging policies of non-financial firms depend on the financial characteristics of those firms and the strength of their corporate governance. Indeed, our empirical results show that corporate hedging decision is closely associated with firms’ financial characteristics and the strength of their corporate governance. In particular, firms are more like to engage in hedging if they have high expected tax liabilities, high expected cost of financial distress, and high expected agency costs. Firms choose to hedge to reduce the variability of cash flows in order to protect growth opportunities. More interestingly, US firms provide stronger evidence in support of for corporate hedging when the overinvestment problem exists, while UK firms provide stronger evidence for the underinvestment problem. Hedgers tended to be high-rated firms and larger firms which have a cost advantage in hedging due to economies of scale. This finding provides an explanation of why the small firms, which have more volatile cash flows, higher costs of bankruptcy, more growth opportunities, tend not to engage in hedging. We believe that this is very informative as it suggests the costs of hedging and market price dynamics alter the optimal hedging policies of those firms. Hedging is more costly for small firms; so they have different hedging policies and respond differently to hedging. We also find that the board structure influence hedging decisions and a large board tend to be negatively associated with corporate hedging. The tendency to hedge increases as the number of non-executives grows. In addition, firms with strong corporate governance tend to hedge to reduce the variability of cash flows and the costs of financial distress. These results have theoretical and practical implications.

This thesis seeks to investigate the accounting, governance and executive compensation practices of non-profit organizations (NPOs). Specifically, this thesis explores whether UK charities engage in earnings management practices, how they implement governance practice and its effectiveness on financial accountability, and the determinants of CEO compensation in the UK charitable sector. Informed by several theoretical perspectives, namely stakeholder theory (ST), resource dependence theory (RDT) and the social theory of agency (STA), this thesis partially relies on a sample of UK charities (1414 charities in the second chapter and the 250 largest charities in the third and fourth chapters). This study finds that: (i) UK charities use accrual accounting to manage their financial results (earnings management) to a zero level; (ii) the presence of UK charity governance (notably board diversity and the presence of experts on the audit committee) are positively associated with financial accountability; and (iii) while organizational performance is not found to be associated with CEO compensation, elements of the governance structure and CEO characteristics have a significant influence on CEO compensation. As a result, this thesis claims several contributions to the literature, theory and practice. Specifically, this thesis not only documents the practice of earnings management in UK charities, but also asserts the significance of several governance factors to organization accountability, such as the diversity of the board and the presence of experts on audit committees, and suggests several determinants influencing charity CEO compensation (for instance, governance elements, government funding, charity age, size and sectoral factors). The thesis also demonstrates the applicability of ST, RDT and STA in a non-profit context. Lastly, this thesis provides several important implications for academia and practice towards developing theories and regulations/guidelines in relation to accrual accounting practice, governance and CEO compensation in non-profit organisations.

From time to time, large numbers of organisations of all types and sizes throughout the world suffer from large destruction, either as a direct or an indirect consequence of events triggered by Unpredictable Risk (UR); hence, potentially impacting upon the existence of the organisations affected. UR is a risk that occurs at a considerably low-frequency, is sudden, and carries high-impact, due to its low frequency is often considered as the “unknown unknowns”. The aim of this study is to develop a set of guidelines to enable Saudi Arabian Organisations to improve upon their robustness and resilience in the event of URs. To achieve this aim, this study reviewed and examined relevant literature on UR, its philosophies and practice in order to determine the level of understanding of concepts and characteristics of UR. Another objective integral to achieving the research aim is the critical examination of significance and effectiveness of risk management strategies in enhancing robustness and resilience of organisations in managing UR in Saudi Arabia. Impacts of UR identified in existing literature and engagement with experts in Saudi revealed that UR can be severe, extreme and of low frequency, and negatively impact organisations and the society where they occur. Secondary data collected through existing literature on UR, crisis and risk management, indicated that capacity to deal with URs require a combined strategy. The primary data sources which included semi-structured interview with thirteen experts and directors in Saudi Arabia and two focus group sessions with middle level, experienced practitioners in public and private sectors in Saudi, confirmed that there is low knowledge level on the significance and effectiveness of resilience, robustness and risk management strategies in mitigating the impacts of URs in organisations in Saudi Arabia. The research findings led to the development of set of guidelines that can inform practice and management of URs in Saudi Arabian organisations. The result also informed recommendations for future research in this subject area; thereby encouraging further investigation into main findings of this research. Thus, this research contributes to both academic and practice field of UR, crisis and risk management, especially by emphasising the need to improve organisational capacity, resilience and robustness for dealing with future UR events.