Accounting numbers are not only the products of peripheral economic events, but, by and large, can be consciously influenced from the effects of calculated business decisions and the selective applications of alternative reporting procedures. In academic parlance, the term accounting quality, or lack thereof, is often used to describe the extent to which these convoluting influences create a disparity between economic fundamentals and their numerical portrayal. This doctoral thesis speaks to three aspects of accounting quality; (i) Earnings Thresholds: A Re-Examination of the Role of Earnings Management, (ii) Earnings Manipulation and the Investigation of 'Red Flag' Accounting Ratios, and (iii) An Empirical Analysis of Standard and Poor's (S&Ps) Core Earnings metric. Each topic is outlined in a separate research paper.

Motivation: The IASB and the UK ASB have adopted different financial reporting rules for different classes of company. The IASB have IFRS and IFRS for SMEs. In the UK, currently companies follow IFRS (for public companies), UK GAAP (for medium-sized companies) or FRSSE (for small companies). Furthermore, some companies are exempt from audit. It is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of this approach to regulation since the ASB (and IASB) do not specify what consequences should follow. Do they expect public companies have higher accounting quality than medium and small companies? Or do they expect accounting quality to be the same across different groups of companies? Objective: The main objective of this study is to examine accounting quality in order to inform the future policy and discussion about the differential reporting framework. We examine the effects of accounting standards across public, medium and small companies. However, companies also face reporting discipline from market forces, and consequently we also examine the impact of debt-holders on reporting quality across and within medium and small companies. Methodology: We measure accounting quality from different aspects. For the assessment of differential accounting standards, we use: the level of accruals (ratio of cash flows to earnings), earnings smoothing, and target beating. For the assessment of any debt-holders effect, we use aspects that are suited to their needs, namely: earnings conservatism, and earnings persistence. Main Findings: Under the discipline of accounting standards, we find that the financial reporting behaviour of medium sized entities is significantly different from public and small companies. This suggests that accounting standards do not equalise accounting quality. The impacts of debt-holders on accounting quality are generally weak within medium and small companies. This implies that accounting standards are the main discipline for financial reporting for medium and small companies, which is consistent with the suggestions of Ball and Shivakumar (2005). However, we raise a few issues concerning the interpretation of the accounting quality measurements (earnings conservatism and earnings persistence) and provide theoretical and empirical support for the discussion. Recommendations: We suggest the accounting regulations for private companies may need to be further strengthened, especially for medium-sized companies.

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo investigar a existência de heterogeneidade no ganho de qualidade informacional com a adoção de IFRS. A adoção de IFRS está geralmente associada com um aumento de qualidade das demonstrações contábeis. Entretanto, as empresas dentro de um mesmo país provavelmente possuem diferentes incentivos econômicos em relação à divulgação da informação. Nesse sentido, tratar as empresas de forma homogênea, sem considerar os incentivos econômicos atrelados, poderia contaminar a investigação da qualidade informacional. É analisado o caso do Brasil, um país classificado como code-law, cuja legislação fiscal induzia a prática contábil e cuja adoção de IFRS foi mandatória. Em primeiro lugar, as empresas brasileiras listadas na BOVESPA foram separadas em dois grupos, a saber: as empresas que emitiram ADR até a adoção de IFRS e as empresas que não emitiram ADR até a adoção de IFRS. Em seguida, esse segundo grupo de empresas foi agrupado, por meio de uma análise de conglomerados, em dois diferentes subgrupos em função de incentivos econômicos em comum. Com base nos grupos identificados, é testada a qualidade da informação contábil para cada grupo antes e após a adoção de IFRS. Esse trabalho utiliza o reconhecimento tempestivo dos eventos econômicos, a value relevance do lucro contábil e o gerenciamento de resultados como proxies para verificar a qualidade da informação contábil. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que um determinado conjunto de empresas obteve, de fato, um incremento de qualidade da informação contábil divulgada após adoção do padrão IFRS no Brasil. Esse grupo de empresas teria incentivos suficientes para deixar para trás a conformidade contábil-fiscal e apresentar uma qualidade superior no seu conjunto de informações contábeis divulgadas. Além disso, foi verificado um segundo grupo de empresas com qualidade da informação contábil antes e após 2008. Em contrapartida, foi identificado um terceiro conjunto de empresas que não apresentou qualidade da informação contábil seja antes ou após 2008. Esses resultados corroboram o pressuposto de que os incentivos no nível das empresas possuem um papel relevante na qualidade das demonstrações contábeis. Isso não implica afirmar que as normas contábeis não importam, mas de que existem outros direcionadores que moldam a qualidade das demonstrações contábeis e que as normas contábeis deveriam ser vistas como um desses direcionadores. / This work aims to investigate the existence of heterogeneity in the quality of accouting information after the adoption of IFRS. The adoption of IFRS is generally associated with an increased quality of the financial statements. However, companies within the same country probably have different economic incentives regarding the disclosure of information. Accordingly, treat companies evenly, without considering the linked economic incentives, could contaminate the identification of information quality after the adoption of IFRS. It examined the case of Brazil, a country classified as code-law, whose tax laws induced the accounting practice and whose adoption of IFRS is mandatory. First, Brazilian companies listed on the BOVESPA were separated into two groups, namely: companies issuing ADRs to the adoption of IFRS and the companies that have not issued ADR to the adoption of IFRS. Then, this second group of companies were grouped by means of a cluster analysis in two different subgroups based on economic incentives in common. Then, based on the identified groups, the accounting quality information is tested for each group before and after the adoption of IFRS. This work uses the timely recognition of economic events, value relevance of net income and earnings management as proxies for the quality of accounting information. The results suggest that a particular group of companies obtained, in fact, an increase of accounting information quality after adoption of the IFRS in Brazil. This group of companies would have sufficient incentives to leave behind the accounting and tax compliance and provide superior quality to your set of accounting information disclosed. In addition, a second group of companies with quality of accounting information was checked before and after 2008. In contrast, a third group of companies has been identified that did not show quality of accounting information either before or after 2008. These results support the assumption that incentives at the level of companies have an important role in the quality of financial statements. This does not imply stating that accounting standards do not matter, but that there are other drivers that shape the quality of financial statements and accounting standards should be seen as one of those drivers.

Särskilt Betydelsefulla Områden infördes för att öka informationsvärdet i revisionsberättelsen och bidra till en ökad insikt i revisionsbranschens arbete. Det råder dock delade meningar kring vad SBO faktiskt fyller för funktion och det finns därför ett behov av att undersöka hur SBO påverkar förekomsten av resultatjustering, vilket avgör redovisningskvaliteten. Studien visar att resultatjustering är vanligt förekommande på Stockholmsbörsen, men att den minskar vid högre omfattning av periodiseringsrelaterade SBO i revisionsberättelsen. Större andel periodiseringsrelaterade SBO indikerar alltså bättre redovisningskvalitet. / Key Audit Matters was introduced to increase the informational value of audit reports and contribute to an enhanced insight of the audit process. However, there is a difference of opinion regarding the functionality and efficiency of KAM. Therefore, there is a need to investigate how KAM impacts the extent of earnings management, which decide the accounting quality.

IFRS standards are getting acceptance day by day rapidly in all over the world. It is because IFRSs are the global and common language, which are more transparent and comparable for the investors and users residing in different nations. IFRSs are mandatory for all companies listed in capital market within EU from the beginning of 2005. As a member state of EU, Swedish banks also adopted mandatory IFRS from 1 January 2005. However, the banks were already implementing IFRS to some extent as most of the standards in SGAAP (Swedish Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) were already directly translated from IAS. After mandatory period, the banks adopted all new, updated and revised standards in accordance with EU recommendations. Nevertheless, there are little or no material effects of adoption of IFRS standards except some particular standards. Such particular standards are: IFRS3, IAS39, IAS27, EU Occupational Pension Directive, IAS32, and Deferred Acquisition Cost. And the main differences between IFRS and SGAAP are IAS1, IFRS3, financial assets, financial instruments, intangible assets, hedge accounting and tax driven. But, the Swedish GAAP no longer exists now for the companies listed in capital market as mandatory IFRS is into force. Furthermore, I examined transparency & accounting quality, information environment, and cost of equity capital of four sample banks after mandatory IFRS adoption. But, I find the level of transparency and financial reporting quality has not been increased over the years. Regarding accounting quality, I also examined earning management, loss recognition, and value relevance. I find little evidence of less earning management, and find unclear evidence regarding loss recognition and value relevance. In other word, I find little evidence of increased accounting quality, although Sweden is a country with strong regulatory enforcements. Moreover, I also find little evidence of improved information environment but find information cost increased; although I find lower information risks after mandatory IFRS adoption. I, however, find lower cost of equity capital after mandatory IFRS adoption because for banks it will be easy to reach wider investors communities residing in different nations. Nevertheless, the evident advantage of IFRS is that the capital market can use information based on common rules.

International Financial Reporting Standard focuses on principle-based and fair-value, IFRS main assets weigh foundation, regard amalgamating the report form as enterprise main consolidated-report, attention to financial-report information reveal transparency and express so as to business's view. Corporate governance has managed already for the global common understanding on industry, chain of command of risk, system of managing, in order to improve the quality of managing, strengthen the foundation stone of managing physique and international competitiveness, the opportunity and transparency are tall that information is revealed, demonstrate the operation conditions and financial affairs of the company behave and can be supervised. Suitable International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) Open for issue company, control inside system the proclaimed in writing include in there are management, the speciality accounting of International Financial Reporting Standard, reach the operation activity result, express and must stipulate and fill one in accordance with the communique that reveals its dependability through the figure of the financial statement, integrality, saving the regulation, rules and regulations procedure and work rule from damage, depending on to enterprise's assets, carry out implementation. Countries all over the world attention to transparency that enterprise manage more and more, no matter in Corporate governance, Control system or International Financial Reporting Standard information their reveal transparency all for ask usually mainly, International Financial Reporting Standard, Control system, Corporate governance the three and is both as moving closely bound uply in succession, can bring up high-quality enterprises and market culture.

Syfte: År 2010 avskaffades revisionsplikten för de minsta företagen i Sverige. Trots att det har gått fyra år sedan dess, så är Sverige ett av de länder som har de lägsta gränsvärdena för frivillig revision i Europa. År 2013 presenterade EU ett nytt direktiv gällande dessa gränsvärden. Det pågår sedan dess diskussioner kring revisionsplikten och regeringen har startat upp en utredning huruvida EU:s redovisningsdirektiv skall införas i Sverige eller inte. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka effekter en höjning av gränsvärdena för frivillig revision kan få på redovisningen. Syftet med studien är även att visa vilka fördelar och nackdelar som frivillig revision kan medföra. Metod: Studien har en induktiv ansats med en kvalitativ metod. Primärdata har samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer med auktoriserade revisorer, auktoriserade redovisningskonsulter samt anställda på Bolagsverket och Skatteverket. Detta empiriska material har vi sedan analyserat och återkopplat till tidigare studier för att kunna besvara vår frågeställning. Resultat & slutsats: Även om det är svårt att säga vilka exakta effekter en friare revisionsplikt kan få på den svenska redovisningen, visar resultatet av vår studie att höjda gränsvärden kan leda till en försämrad redovisningskvalitet och ett ökat skattefusk. Respondenterna uttrycker ingen särskild oro över att deras arbete kommer påverkas till följd av en friare revisionsplikt, förutom att gällande lagar kommer att behöva förändras om gränsvärdena för frivillig revision höjs. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Eftersom det i dagsläget har visat sig svårt att uppmäta tydliga effekter av frivillig revision skulle en liknande studie med fördel kunna genomföras några år efter att en höjning av gränsvärdena skett, för att få tydligare resultat. Då med ett större urval av respondenter för att få in fler synvinklar och därmed en bredare empiri. Uppsatsens bidrag: Studien har bland annat identifierat fördelar som revision innebär för företag och dess intressenter samt visat vilka effekter en friare revisionsplikt kan få på företagens redovisning. Studien kan därför vara till hjälp för företag som överväger att välja bort revision. / Aim: In the year 2010 Sweden abolished mandatory audit for the smallest companies in the country. After four years Sweden still has the lowest thresholds for voluntary audit in Europe. In the year 2013 the European Union presented a new directive concerning these thresholds. Since this new directive there has been discussions about mandatory audit and the Swedish government has started an investigation, whether the directive from the European Union shall be implemented in Sweden or not. This study aims to examine the impact increased thresholds will have on accounting. The study also aims to show the advantages and disadvantages that voluntary audit may result in. Method: This study has an inductive approach with a qualitative research method. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with authorized auditors, authorized accountants and employees at Bolagsverket and Skatteverket. This empirical data was then analyzed and compared with earlier studies to answer our research question. Result & Conclusions: This study shows that increased thresholds may impact the quality of accounting, making it less reliable and useful, and it will also increase tax evasions. Even though it is complicated to say that these impacts only occur because of increased thresholds. The respondents express no particular concern if the thresholds are to be raised, since this will have very little impact on their work situation, except that existing laws will need to be looked over.   Suggestions for future research: We have determined that since only a short time has passed, it is difficult to see any clear results of voluntary audit. A proposal for future research in this area is therefor to repeat this study a couple of years after the thresholds have been increased to establish more reliable results. Then, by using a larger sample of respondents, being able to present more opinions and thus a wider empirical point of view. Contribution of the thesis: This study has contributed to knowledge that can be of use for those companies that are considering whether or not they should implement voluntary audit. The study has among other things identified benefits of auditing and the impact increased thresholds may have on accounting.

Esse trabalho tem como objetivo investigar a existência de heterogeneidade no ganho de qualidade informacional com a adoção de IFRS. A adoção de IFRS está geralmente associada com um aumento de qualidade das demonstrações contábeis. Entretanto, as empresas dentro de um mesmo país provavelmente possuem diferentes incentivos econômicos em relação à divulgação da informação. Nesse sentido, tratar as empresas de forma homogênea, sem considerar os incentivos econômicos atrelados, poderia contaminar a investigação da qualidade informacional. É analisado o caso do Brasil, um país classificado como code-law, cuja legislação fiscal induzia a prática contábil e cuja adoção de IFRS foi mandatória. Em primeiro lugar, as empresas brasileiras listadas na BOVESPA foram separadas em dois grupos, a saber: as empresas que emitiram ADR até a adoção de IFRS e as empresas que não emitiram ADR até a adoção de IFRS. Em seguida, esse segundo grupo de empresas foi agrupado, por meio de uma análise de conglomerados, em dois diferentes subgrupos em função de incentivos econômicos em comum. Com base nos grupos identificados, é testada a qualidade da informação contábil para cada grupo antes e após a adoção de IFRS. Esse trabalho utiliza o reconhecimento tempestivo dos eventos econômicos, a value relevance do lucro contábil e o gerenciamento de resultados como proxies para verificar a qualidade da informação contábil. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que um determinado conjunto de empresas obteve, de fato, um incremento de qualidade da informação contábil divulgada após adoção do padrão IFRS no Brasil. Esse grupo de empresas teria incentivos suficientes para deixar para trás a conformidade contábil-fiscal e apresentar uma qualidade superior no seu conjunto de informações contábeis divulgadas. Além disso, foi verificado um segundo grupo de empresas com qualidade da informação contábil antes e após 2008. Em contrapartida, foi identificado um terceiro conjunto de empresas que não apresentou qualidade da informação contábil seja antes ou após 2008. Esses resultados corroboram o pressuposto de que os incentivos no nível das empresas possuem um papel relevante na qualidade das demonstrações contábeis. Isso não implica afirmar que as normas contábeis não importam, mas de que existem outros direcionadores que moldam a qualidade das demonstrações contábeis e que as normas contábeis deveriam ser vistas como um desses direcionadores. / This work aims to investigate the existence of heterogeneity in the quality of accouting information after the adoption of IFRS. The adoption of IFRS is generally associated with an increased quality of the financial statements. However, companies within the same country probably have different economic incentives regarding the disclosure of information. Accordingly, treat companies evenly, without considering the linked economic incentives, could contaminate the identification of information quality after the adoption of IFRS. It examined the case of Brazil, a country classified as code-law, whose tax laws induced the accounting practice and whose adoption of IFRS is mandatory. First, Brazilian companies listed on the BOVESPA were separated into two groups, namely: companies issuing ADRs to the adoption of IFRS and the companies that have not issued ADR to the adoption of IFRS. Then, this second group of companies were grouped by means of a cluster analysis in two different subgroups based on economic incentives in common. Then, based on the identified groups, the accounting quality information is tested for each group before and after the adoption of IFRS. This work uses the timely recognition of economic events, value relevance of net income and earnings management as proxies for the quality of accounting information. The results suggest that a particular group of companies obtained, in fact, an increase of accounting information quality after adoption of the IFRS in Brazil. This group of companies would have sufficient incentives to leave behind the accounting and tax compliance and provide superior quality to your set of accounting information disclosed. In addition, a second group of companies with quality of accounting information was checked before and after 2008. In contrast, a third group of companies has been identified that did not show quality of accounting information either before or after 2008. These results support the assumption that incentives at the level of companies have an important role in the quality of financial statements. This does not imply stating that accounting standards do not matter, but that there are other drivers that shape the quality of financial statements and accounting standards should be seen as one of those drivers.

Abstract Since the collapse of the Soviet Union Russia has undergone a number of reforms towards developing market economy. Accounting has encountered dramatic changes over the last two decades. Despite attractive investment opportunities in Russia, investors are often faced with uncertainty, which makes it very important to explore the quality of accounting information published in Russia. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the quality of published accounting information in Russia. The thesis consists of four essays, each of them addressing the question of the quality of accounting information published in Russia by incorporating the specific Russian institutional environment. Special attention is paid to the role of International Financial Accounting Standards (IFRS) and foreign investors. The quality of published accounting information is conceptualized by such accounting constructs as conservatism, earnings management and value relevance. This first essay investigates the earnings quality of both listed and non-listed Russian firms and explores whether foreign ownership affects the quality of earnings published by non-listed Russian firms. The second essay examines whether emphasis on international investors is associated with the adoption of or intention to adopt IFRS in Russian firms. The third essay addresses the question of IFRS and Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) accounting quality by using the methodology proposed by Barth et al. (2008) and by value relevance constructs of accounting quality. The fourth essay investigates the value relevance of firms’ integral environmental impact, i.e. a proxy for environmental performance, following the stream of non-financial information value relevance in accounting research. This thesis provides evidence that the quality of published accounting information published in Russia depends on many factors, the most influential of these being listing on the stock exchange, IFRS and foreign investors. The results of the thesis demonstrate that the institutional characteristics of the country shape accounting numbers and influence the incentives of those preparing financial statements. The findings of the thesis include information valuable for regulators and investors.

Bakgrund: Frivillig revision är ett relativt nytt fenomen i Sverige. Efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten 2010 har flera myndigheter så som Bolagsverket och Ekobrottsmyndigheten, slagit larm om försämrad kvalitet i årsredovisningar och att antalet försenade årsredovisningar ökat. På grund av detta anses relationen mellan revision, inlämningstidpunkt och redovisningskvalitet i Sverige vara värd att studera. Syfte: Denna uppsats syftar till att förklara revisionens och inlämningstidpunktens samband med redovisningskvalitet i små svenska aktiebolag. Metod: Studien utgår från ett deduktivt och eklektiskt angreppssätt där grundläggande ekonomiska och systemorienterade teorier används. Studien utgörs av en kvantitativ databasundersökning där företags årsredovisningar avseende 2015 studeras. Slutsats: Med hjälp av studien kan konstateras att det finns ett samband mellan revision och hög redovisningskvalitet. Något samband mellan tidpunkten för årsredovisningens inlämnade och redovisningskvalitet har inte identifierats. / Background: Voluntary audit is a relatively new phenomena in Sweden. Following the abolition of 2010, several Swedish authorities, such as the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket) and the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten), have warned of a deterioration of quality in annual reports and that a larger number of annual reports arrive late to the registration authority than before. Because of this, the relationship between audit, the annual report submission date and accounting quality in Sweden is considered worth studying. Purpose: This paper aims to explain the audit and submission dates relations to accounting quality in small limited companies in Sweden. Method: The study is based on a deductive and eclectic approach where fundamental economic and system-oriented theories are used. The study consists of a quantitative database survey in which company’s annual reports of the fiscal year 2015 has been studied. Conclusion: The study shows a significant relationship between audit and high accounting quality. A connection between the submission date of the annual report and accounting quality has not been detected.