This thesis presents a three step analysis of voluntary income increasing accounting changes. We first propose a theory as to why managers would elect to modify their reporting strategy. This theory builds on research on the economic factors motivating accounting choices, since it is assumed that accounting choices are a function of political costs, manager's compensation plans and debt constraints. Specifically, we claim that adversity motivates the manager to effect an income increasing accounting change. Secondly, the thesis proposes a theoretical analysis of the potential market responses to a change announcement. The stock price effect of a change announcement is examined as a function of investors' rational anticipations of the manager's reporting actions and as a function of the level of information about adversity that investors may have prior to a change announcement. An empirical analysis is presented in the third step of this thesis. Our empirical findings are that: 1- Change announcements, on average, have no significant impact on the market. 2- Relative to the Compustat population as a whole, firms that voluntarily adopt income increasing accounting changes exhibit symptoms of financial distress, suggesting that such change announcements are associated with financial adversity. 3- Firms which voluntarily adopt income increasing accounting changes tend to exhibit symptoms of financial distress one or more years prior to the change year, suggesting that change announcements tend not to be a timely source of information conveying distress to the market. 4- There is a significant negative association between investors' proxies for prior information about adversity and the market impact of the change, especially for the subset of firms with above average leverage, suggesting that the information content of the accounting change signal is inversely related to investors prior information about adversity. The empirical results thus support the view that investors, at the time a change occurs, have information about the prevailing state of the world, and that they have rational anticipations with respect to the manager's reporting behavior. In this respect, the accounting change is, on average, an inconsequential signal that adds little to what investors already knew before the change announcement. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Tyrimo objektas – įmonių finansinės apskaitos politika. Tyrimo dalykas – finansinės apskaitos politikos formavimas įmonėje. Darbo tikslas – nustačius apskaitos politikos formavimo įmonėse ypatumus, parengti teorinį įmonės finansinės apskaitos politikos formavimo modelį ir patikrinus jo praktinį pritaikomumą Lietuvos įmonėse, suformuluoti atitinkamas išvadas bei pateikti pasiūlymus apskaitos politikos formavimo metodikai tobulinti. Uždaviniai: 1) ištirti apskaitos politikos reglamentavimą bei įvairių autorių pateikiamą apskaitos politikos sampratą; 2) apibrėžti apskaitos politikos parengimo etapus bei nustatyti apskaitos politikos pasirinkimą sąlygojančius veiksnius; 3) atskleidus įmonės apskaitos politikos konceptualiąj���� esmę sudaryti teorinį finansinės apskaitos politikos formavimo įmonėje modelį; 4) patikrinti parengto teorinio apskaitos politikos formavimo įmonėje modelio praktinį pritaikomumą Lietuvos įmonių pavyzdžiu bei pateikti išvadas ir pasiūlymus apskaitos politikos parengimo metodikai tobulinti. Tyrimo metodai - monografinis, loginė analiz�� ir sintezė, loginis abstrahavimas, anketinė apklausa, ekspertų vertinimo metodas, palyginimo ir apibendrinimo metodai bei loginis ir grafinis modeliavimas. Išanalizavus užsienio bei lietuvių autorių literatūrą bei apskaitos politikos reglamentavimą, darbe pateikiamas apskaitos politikos formavimo įmonėje modelis, kuriame atspindimas ryšys tarp apskaitos politikos pasirinkimą sąlygojančių veiksnių ir apskaitos politikai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The object of the research is a company’s financial accounting policy. The subject of the research is accounting policy formation in a company. The goal of the work is to prepare the theoretical company‘s financial accounting policy formation model, after the peculiarities of accounting policy formation in a companies have been determinated and to settle appropriate conclusions and suggestions for the improving of the methodology of the accounting policy formation, after the adaptation of theoretical company‘s financial accounting policy formation model have been verified. The tasks of the research are as follows: 1) to investigate the reglamentation of accounting policy and the conception of accounting policy given by different authors; 2) to determine the preparation stages of accounting policy formation and ascertain the factors influencing accounting policy choice; 3) to compose the theoretical company’s accounting policy formation model, after conceptual essentiality of company’s accounting policy have been detected; 4) to verify the adaptation of theoretical company’s financial accounting policy formation model in Lithuanian companies and to settle conclusions and suggestions for the improving of the methodology of the accounting policy formation. The research methods include the monographic, logical analysis and synthesis, logical abstracting, questioning interrogation, estimation of experts, comparison and generalization methods and the methods of logical and... [to full text]

M.Tech. (Department of Cost and Management Accountancy, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / General engineering is characterised by its ability to manufacture and service a number of diverse products. Companies that manufacture various products can only measure costs accurately by using a job-order costing system whereby costs such as material, labour and overheads can be recorded. General engineering companies in Southern Gauteng supply precision manufactured components and services to the petrochemical, mining and steel manufacturing industries. When submitting a tender to a prospective client, companies often rely on informal methods such as “hearsay benchmarking”. Traditional costing methods are often ignored. Due to the competitive environment as well as to ensure sustainability, companies have to ensure that their pricing structures are efficient. The review of literature and research seem to indicate that companies often neglect cost accounting and often use methods that are obsolete and no longer relevant to the changing manufacturing environment. The main objective of this study was to explore the extent to which general engineering companies in Southern Gauteng are employing cost accounting methods. The study focused on the current methods and their relevance and effectiveness in providing the information required by the users to maintain a competitive edge in the market and still conduct a sustainable business. The research was conducted on the general engineering companies within Gauteng South. A literature study on cost accounting methods was undertaken, focusing primarily on cost accounting methods used by engineering companies involved in the manufacturing and servicing of diverse products. The empirical study was carried out in two phases: • A case study on a reputable general engineering company. • A survey was done on the cost accounting methods used by other general engineering companies. The study adopted a quantitative approach. The case study was used as a benchmark to draw up the structured questionnaire that was used to survey 91 general engineering companies that were selected using purposive sampling. The questionnaire embodied four sections; A, B, C and D. Section A requested general information and the demographic profile of the respondents. Section B invited views on cost accounting methods applicable to the general engineering environment. Section C gathered information regarding cost accounting methods currently used in the company. Section D examined the relevance and effectiveness of costing methods in decision making. Questionnaires were delivered by hand to owners and managers who are responsible for the costing methods at the designated general engineering companies. The study found that the respondents had a good understanding of the costing methods applicable to the general engineering environment. Although respondents had a good understanding of costing methods, the implementation thereof at their organisations was still wanting in some areas. Significant differences between companies’ views on costing methods their relevance and effectiveness and the methods they currently use were found. When companies were categorised according to their turnover it was evident that turnover did play role in the companies’ views on costing methods and their relevance and effectiveness in decision making. Those with a higher turnover had relatively more costing methods and systems in place.

This thesis describes sales of company - accounting and tax problems, general accounting methods, accounting treatment of the sale of the general method of purchase of the net assets and according to Czech accounting standards and tax consequences under the tax system in the Czech Republic.

Tyrimo objektas – apskaitos politikos formavimas Lietuvos įmonėse. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti apskaitos politikos Lietuvoje pasirinkimą lemiančius veiksnius, pateikti apskaitos politikos formavimo modelį ir patikrinti jo tinkamumą Lietuvos įmonėse. Tyrimo problema: apskaitos politikos pasirinkimą lemiančių veiksnių įtakos apskaitos politikos formavimo modeliui nustatymo Lietuvos įmonėse nepakankamas metodologinis pagrindimas. / The object of the research is a company’s financial accounting policy.The goal of the work is to prepare the factors influence to accounting policy choice in Lithuania and suggest the theoretical company‘s accounting policy formation model, improve the company‘s financial accounting policy formation model adaptation in Lithuanian company’s.

This thesis investigates the question how emissions from land‐use displacement can be assessed and accounted for, using the example of carbon‐leakage accounting in the planned UNFCCC mechanism on ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation’ (REDD). REDD serves here as example of an international forest conservation policy that might be effective locally but could lead to displacement of deforestation to other countries. Although leakage processes within countries are initially considered, the focus of the thesis is on international displacement effects. The first part of the thesis reviews existing accounting methods for land‐use displacement from different research fields and assesses their usefulness to quantify carbon leakage from REDD. Results show that it is very difficult to assess policy‐induced (or strong) carbon leakage due to the requirement to demonstrate causal links between the policy in question and the observed land‐use changes, especially at international scale. Other accounting methods focus on demand‐driven (or weak) carbon leakage, by establishing a link between international demand and consumption patterns and land‐use changes as their  distant effects. Methods to quantify such teleconnections commonly combine land‐use accounting with tradeflow assessments to link international trade streams and consumption with environmental impacts such as land use or land‐use changes arising in the production of traded commodities. A methodological challenge is currently the quantification of emissions from land‐use change generated by distant linkages between production and consumption locations. Responding to this shortcoming, in the second part of the thesis a new method to assess these teleconnections is developed. The ‘land‐use change carbon footprint’ allows quantifying the extent to which landuse changes and associated emissions in a given country are promoted by the production of export goods, and thus are due to international demand for ‐ and consumption of ‐ forest‐risk commodities. The understanding of such distant deforestation drivers can be useful in several contexts, such as the design of conservation policies like REDD, which risk being less effective as globalized deforestation drivers pose a high risk for international leakages; or the planning of demand‐side measures that could complement supply‐side action in decreasing global deforestation levels. Demand‐side measures, such as zero‐deforestation embargos, regulations or certification schemes, could eventually contribute to decrease the risk for international land‐use displacement by addressing global consumption levels and commodity demand as one of the underlying driving forces of land‐use change and deforestation. / Avhandlingen undersöker hur utsläpp av växthusgaser, genererade genom en förskjutning av markanvändning, kan bedömas och redovisas. Detta exemplifieras genom analys av UNFCCC’s mekanism ”Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation ‐ REDD”. REDD betraktas här som ett exempel på en internationell skogsskyddspolicy som kan fungera effektivt på lokal nivå, men som ändå kan leda till förskjutning av avskogningen till andra länder. Den första delen av avhandlingen analyserar befintliga  redovisningsmetoder för förskjutning av markanvändning från olika forskningsområden och bedömer deras användbarhet när det gäller kvantifiering av koldioxidläckage från REDD. Resultaten visar att det är mycket svårt att bedöma policy‐genererat koldioxidläckage på grund av kravet att påvisa orsakssamband mellan policyn i fråga och de observerade förändringarna av markanvändningen. Andra redovisningsmetoder fokuserar på såkallade teleconnections, genom att upprätta en länk mellan internationell konsumtionsmönster och miljöpåverkan (t.ex. effekter på global markanvändning) som uppstår på grund av produktion av handelsvaror. Metoder för att bedöma sådant efterfrågestyrt koldioxidläckage brukar kombinera markanvändnings‐redovisning med bedömningar av handelsflöde för att knyta ihop internationella konsumtion med globala förändringar av markanvändningen. För närvarande är den metodologiska utmaningen att kvantifiera utsläppen från en förändrad markanvändning till följd av teleconnections. Ett förslag på en  metodlösning utvecklas inom den andra delen av avhandlingen. Indikatorn "land‐use change carbon footprint (LUC‐CFP) som kan kopplas med handelsflödesanalys ger möjlighet att kvantifiera i vilken utsträckning en förändrad markanvändning och tillhörande utsläpp i ett visst land främjas av produktionen av exportvaror. Därmed visas hur internationell efterfrågan och konsumtion av produkter fungerar som drivkraft bakom avskogning. Förståelsen för dessa globala drivkrafter kan vara användbar i flera sammanhang. Exempel är utformningen av bevarandepolicies som REDD, vilka riskerar att bli mindre effektiv när globaliserade drivkrafter bakom avskogning utgör en hög risk för internationellt läckage; eller planeringen av policyåtgärder från efterfrågesidan. Genom att ta itu med globala konsumtionsnivåer och efterfrågan på handelsvaror, som är en av de bakomliggande drivkrafterna för avskogning, kan man så småningom bidra till att minska risken för internationellt förskjutning av markanvändning.

The aim of this diploma work is to describe the accounting methods and procedures based on an accrual basis and characterize the effect of these methods on financial statements. In the first part of this diploma work are described the accounting method based on an accrual basis. The work is mainly focused on the following topics: transitional items of assets and liabilities, reserves, correcting the value of property items and deferred tax. In the second part are assessed the correctness of the methods applied in the particular company and evaluated the impact of accounting methods on reported profit of the last five years. Further are written up internal accounting directives based on the accrual basis.

Tyrimo objektas – apskaitos politikos formavimas įmonėje. Darbo tikslas – nustačius veiksnius, sąlygojančius apskaitos politikos pasirinkimą, sudaryti apskaitos politikos pasirinkimo pelno atžvilgiu modelį ir patikrinti jo tinkamumą Lietuvos įmonėse. Uždaviniai: 1) nustatyti pelną didinančios/mažinančios apskaitos politikos pasirinkimą sąlygojančius veiksnius; 2) išskirti ir nustatyti pelną didinančius ir pelną mažinančius apskaitos metodus, kuriuos pasirinkdamos įmonės formuoja savo apskaitos politiką; 3) sudaryti apskaitos politikos pasirinkimo pelno atžvilgiu modelį ir patikrinti jo tinkamumą Lietuvoje veikiančiose įmonėse; 4) patikrinti hipotezes, kurių priėmimas ar atmetimas gali parodyti teigiamą ar neigiamą ryšį tarp įmonės rodiklių ir pelną didinančių/mažinančių apskaitos metodų ir būdų pasirinkimo. Tyrimo metodai – mokslinės ir teisinės literatūros analizė ir sintezė, palyginimo, apibendrinimo, loginis ir grafinis modeliavimas. Išanalizavus lietuvių ir užsienio autorių darbus bei apskaitą reglamentuojančius norminius aktus, sudarytas apskaitos politikos pasirinkimo pelno atžvilgiu modelis, kuriame atsispindi ryšys tarp veiksnių, sąlygojančių apskaitos politikos pasirinkimą, ir apskaitos metodų, kurie lemia pelną didinančios/mažinančios apskaitos politikos formavimą įmonėje. Sudaryto modelio tinkamumas buvo tikrinamas Lietuvos įmonėse. / The object of the research is accounting policy formation in a company. The aim of the research is when the factors which influence the choice of accounting policy will be identified, prepare theoretical model of accounting policy choice in point of income and test this model in Lithuanian companies. Objectives: 1) To assign factors influencing income increasing/decreasing accounting policy choice. 2) To except and assign income increasing and income decreasing accounting methods, with this selection a company can form it’s accounting policy. 3) To make a model of accounting policy choice in point of income, and check how this model fit in Lithuanian companies. 4) To test hypotheses, which can show negative or positive relationship between factors, influencing accounting policy choice, and income increasing/decreasing accounting methods choice? The research methods include science and legislation literature analysis and synthesis, comparison, generalization, logical and graphical modeling. After analysis of Lithuanian and foreign literature and regulation of accounting policy, was made accounting policy choice in point of income model, which shows the connection between factors influencing accounting policy choice and accounting methods, which determine income increasing/decreasing accounting policy formation in a company. This model’s possibilities of adaptation were verified in Lithuanian companies.

The following thesis deals with the development of the accounting of corrections of the accounting errors of previous years and changes in accounting methods from the beginning of financial accounting in the Czech Republic through the processing of many interpretations by the National Accounting Board, up to the current modification, which was an amendment to the Decree No. 500/2002 Coll., which transposed certain provisions of Act No. 563/1991 Coll., which came into force on January 1, 2013. Thanks to this decree, the account Restatements of retained earnings results, in the case of a correction of an error and a change in the accounting method, in a better understanding of the financial statements than it did before the issue was addressed through extraordinary costs or revenues in the current accounting period. In addition as practical part, this thesis composes also of a research from the financial statements of large Czech companies focusing on the frequency of use of the new item in the balance sheet for 2015, the reason of the using and explanation in supplement to the financial statements, including the method of settling the final balance of the account from previous years. The research also dealt with the auditor's response to the found deficiencies. The last part of the thesis is a comparative analysis of research conducted during the years of 2013, 2014 and 2015.

The work is focused on the state accounting reform and its practical application in the town Úvaly. It is divided into theoretical part and practical part. The theoretical part focuses on the status of municipalities in the Czech Republic, on the legal definition of the municipality and compilation of the municipality budget. The following part in the theoretical part engages in reform of the public administration and self administration accounting regarding to the legal aspects. The practical part is then focused on the analysis of the budget and the profit/loss statement of the town Úvaly and their comparison.