This study uses an institutional theory perspective to examine whether significant changes to the audit work and engagement practices required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) lead to improved audit quality in nonprofit hospitals. Unlike their for-profit counterparts, nonprofit organizations have been subject to audits of internal controls over financial reporting and program compliance for decades under Circular A-133 of the Single Audit Act of 1984, as amended. Circular A-133 audits represent the primary accountability tool over the billions of grant dollars awarded annually by the federal government. Despite the enormity of these awards and the substantial informational effect of the audit reports, prior empirical research suggests that the quality of these audits is problematic. Using the archival data of nonprofit hospital Circular A-133 audits and related hand-collected financial data from IRS Form 990s, bivariate and multivariate analyses are conducted on a cross-sectional sample of 875 audits for 141 nonprofit hospitals with audits during both pre-SOX (2001-2004) and post-SOX (2008-2011) periods. Audit quality is inferred from discretionary accruals (Modified Jones model) and auditor-reported internal control deficiencies (reportable conditions and material weaknesses). The results indicate support for improved audit quality from the pre- to the post-SOX period for all measures of audit quality. The results are different for the measures of audit quality used to examine the association between audit firm size and audit quality. Non-Big 4 audit firms experienced a significant improvement in audit quality when discretionary accruals are used as a proxy for audit quality. Conversely, Big 4 audit firms experienced a significant improvement in audit quality when internal control deficiencies are proxies for audit quality. In the post-SOX period audit firms provide approximately the same level of audit quality regardless of firm size when discretionary accruals or material weaknesses are the proxy for audit quality. When reportable conditions are the proxy, non-Big 4 firms have higher audit quality than Big 4 firms post-SOX. Client characteristics, specifically hospital size and the interaction of leverage and risk, are attributable to differences in post-SOX audit quality. Finally, the study fails to support the hypothesis that large audit firms self-select low risk clients.

Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to examine the link between CSR and EM in the EU manufacturing sector. The former is measured by ESG scores whereas the latter is approximated by discretionary accruals. Moreover, the corporate governance theories of stakeholder and agency are used as starting points. Method: Accruals are calculated using the so-called Modified Jones model. A linear regression equation with five variables is used to calculate the effect of CSR scores on the levels EM. In order to capture the difference, if any, regarding the link between CSR and EM between companies with high CSR scores and those with lower scores, three models are developed – the top 30 percent (model 1), the bottom 70 percent (model 2) and all companies (model 3). Findings: The results indicate CSR scores negatively affect the levels of EM. The causation is statistically significant. Implication: The findings of this study imply CSR practices are not used to hide weaker earnings in the manufacturing sector of the EU. Value: The study contributes to the literature on the link between CSR and EM by focusing on a specific sector that is often scrutinized for its negative environmental footprint. The choice of using three models is also seen to be of additional value.

No description available.

本研究主要採用Francis et al.（2005）所提出之應計品質衡量模型作為應計品質的衡量指標，以2003-2007國內上市櫃公司為研究對象，探討應計品質與公司現金持有間之關聯性。本研究另將應計品質拆為裁量性應計品質與非裁量性應計品質，分別探討其對公司現金持有之影響。 　　本研究實證結果顯示，應計品質與公司現金持有率呈顯著負相關。亦即公司應計品質越高，越能有效降低公司及投資者之間的資訊不對稱，進而使公司籌資成本降低，而可持有較少的現金。此外，裁量性應計品質、非裁量性應計品質與公司現金持有率之間均呈顯著負相關，且非裁量性應計品質對公司現金持有率之影響大於裁量性應計品質。 　　根據上述結果，本研究建議管理階層應重視公司之應計品質，並利用裁量性應計項目來提升盈餘數字的品質，以作為公司績效的適當指標。亦即管理階層應使盈餘數字更能可靠、更即時的反映公司的經營績效，並避免以投機目的使用裁量性應計項目。換言之，公司可藉由應計品質之提升，降低資訊不對稱的程度，進而改善公司的現金管理、減少資源閒置及增進投資的效果。 / This study mainly uses the accruals quality measurement model proposed by Francis et al. (2005) to empirically examine the effect of accruals quality on cash holdings of the sampled listed companies at the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) and the Gre Tai Securities Market (GTSM) from 2003 to 2007. This study also distinguishes between accruals quality driven by economic fundamentals (Innate AQ) versus management choices (discretionary AQ) and assesses their individual effects on corporate cash holdings. The empirical results show that accruals quality is negatively associated with cash holdings. That is, the firms with good accruals quality may reduce the negative effect of information asymmetry and adverse selection and, therefore, reduce their level of cash holdings as a result of lower cost of raising capital. In addition, discretionary accruals quality and innate accruals quality are significantly negatively related to cash holdings, and, on average, the innate component of accruals quality has a significantly larger effect on cash holdings than the discretionary component of accruals quality. Our findings suggest that management should be concerned about accruals quality because a higher accruals quality may help firms to improve their cash management, reduce unproductive cash levels, and increase their investment effectiveness.

Nuvarande redovisningsregler och principer under IFRS är till viss del öppna för subjektiva bedömningar om hur kostnader och intäkter ska redovisas. Denna subjektivitet går stundom under benämningen resultatmanipulering och innebär då att företagets resultat antingen justeras i positiv eller negativ riktning beroende på bakomliggande incitament. De subjektiva valen kan delas in i operationella åtgärder eller diskretionära periodiseringar, beroende på om de påverkar kassaflödet eller ej. Denna studie fokuserar på hur redovisningsreglerna kan användas för att uppnå resultatmanipulering och inriktas därför på de diskretionära periodiseringarna. Forskning har påvisat att möjligheten till resultatmanipulering är särskilt påtaglig i samband med att företag byter vd. Det baseras på teorierna om horisontproblemet och stålbad, att vd:n i varje given situation ämnar uppnå maximal personlig vinning. Då tidigare studier sällan undersökt den svenska marknaden avser vi uppnå kontribution om hur teorierna om resultatmanipulering är applicerbara under svenska regelverk och normer, från dess att IFRS infördes till dags dato. Via syftet att undersöka sambandet mellan ett byte av vd och resultatmanipulering har vi för avsikt att hjälpa investerare till att bättre förstå marknaden och till förbättrade investeringsbeslut. Via kvantitativ analys av årsredovisningar har vi med hjälp av den modifierade Jonesmodellen tagit fram ett mått på företags diskretionära periodiseringar. Måttet har likställts med resultatmanipulering och ställts i relation till företags vd-byten. Kopplat till horisontproblemet har nivån på resultatmanipulering jämförts mot vd-byte som sker efterföljande räkenskapsår. Teorin om stålbad har i sin tur testats genom att undersöka om resultatmanipulering nyttjas under en vd:s första verksamma år, alternativt i något av de efterföljande två räkenskapsåren. Resultaten påvisade att den svenska marknaden skiljer sig mot både bakomliggande teori och tidigare forskning. Förekomsten av horisontproblemet eller stålbad kunde inte bevisas, däremot fann studien att resultatet skrivs upp via resultatmanipulering i de två efterföljande åren efter att ett byte av vd skett. Anmärkningsvärt bevisades även att resultatminskande åtgärder utförs året innan ett rutinmässigt vd-byte inträffar. Sett till orsakssambanden bevisades därutöver att sannolikheten för att ett vd-byte kom att inträffa ökade vid användning av negativ resultatmanipulering samt när företagets lönsamhet var lägre än marknadsgenomsnittet. Studien belyser att kausalitetsproblem föreligger mellan resultatmanipulering, vd-byte och företagets lönsamhet. De exakta orsakssambanden kan studien inte förmå förklara utan vi påvisar att ytterligare forskning behöver genomföras för att klargöra det sanna orsaksförhållandet. Avslutningsvis renderar studien teoretiskt bidrag då den påvisar att teorierna om horisontproblemet och stålbad i samband med vd-byte inte stämmer in på den svenska marknaden.

Submitted by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2017-03-30T11:54:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1621815 bytes, checksum: b23db6cd8d6f29f38f0e3c56fdda248b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-30T11:55:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1621815 bytes, checksum: b23db6cd8d6f29f38f0e3c56fdda248b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-07 / The objective of this paper was to analyze how the relation between the simultaneity of proxies of the earnings quality. It was sought to achieve this goal through the formulation of an empirical model of structural equations based on evidence presented by the review of literature about the earnings quality. The sample used in this study included the firms that traded shares in the US capital market from 1985 to 2015. It was used as proxies for earnings quality consolidated according to Dechow, Ge and Schrand (2010), which was earnings management used by Paulo (2007), quality of accruals (DECHOW; DICHEV, 2002) and value relevance by the model of prices (COLLINS; MAYDEW; WEISS, 1997), while for firms chacarteristics were used total debt and firm size. The initial results obtained by multiple linear regression showed, in general, that for the proxies quality of the accruals and value relevance the relations of the characteristics of the firms were presented according to the evidences of the literature (DECHOW; GE; SCHRAND, 2010); While for earnings management, the firm size relationship was positive, contrary to the literature. Regarding the measurement of the quality of information as a latent variable, that is, incorporating all the dimensions analyzed, the relationships corroborated the evidence pointed out in the literature, that is, the management of results reduced the quality of the accounting information and the quality of accruals and value relevance increased, whereas size was positively related to the earnings quality, while debt negatively impacted the quality of accounting information. Regarding the quality of the adjustment statistics, they did not meet the satisfactory statistical requirements, according to Marôco (2010), for validation of the tested model. Thus, measuring the earnings quality simultaneously by structural equations produces the effects capable of explaining the quality of accounting information as a latent variable when realigned with the characteristics of firms. / O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar como se dá a relação entre a simultaneidade das proxies da qualidade da informação contábil. Buscou-se alcançar este objetivo através da formulação de um modelo empírico por equações estruturais baseado nas evidências apresentadas revisão da literatura acerca da qualidade da informação contábil. A amostra empregada neste estudo contou com as firmas que negociaram ações no mercado norte americano de capitais no período de 1985 a 2015. Utilizaram-se como proxies da qualidade da informação contábil variáveis consolidadas conforme Dechow, Ge e Schrand (2010), as quais foram o gerenciamento de resultados pelo modelo de Paulo (2007), qualidade dos accruals (DECHOW; DICHEV, 2002) e value relevance pelo modelo de preços (COLLINS; MAYDEW; WEISS, 1997), enquanto que para a característica das firmas utilizou-se o endividamento total e o tamanho das firmas. Os resultados iniciais realizados por regressão linear múltipla apontaram, de modo geral, que para as proxies qualidade dos accruals e value relevance as relações das características das firmas apresentaram-se de acordo com as evidências da literatura (DECHOW; GE; SCHRAND, 2010), ao passo que para o gerenciamento de resultados, a relação do tamanho da firma se mostrou positiva, contrariando a literatura. No que diz respeito a mensuração da qualidade da informação como variável latente, isto é, incorporando todas as dimensões analisadas, as relações corroboraram as evidências apontadas na literatura, ou seja, o gerenciamento de resultados reduziu a qualidade da informação contábil e a qualidade dos accruals e o value relevance a aumentaram, ao passo que o tamanho se relacionou positivamente com a qualidade da informação contábil, enquanto que o endividamento impactou negativamente a qualidade da informação contábil. No que diz respeito as estatísticas de qualidade do ajustamento, elas não alcançaram os requisitos estatísticos satisfatórios, de acordo com Marôco (2010), para validação do modelo testado. Sendo assim, mensurar a qualidade da informação contábil de forma simultânea por equações estruturais, produz os efeitos capazes de explicar a qualidade da informação contábil como variável latente quando relacionados com as características das firmas.

Esta pesquisa buscou investigar a anomalia dos accruals nos retornos de cinco países da América Latina (Argentina, Brasil, Chile, México e Peru), bem como observar se os aspectos institucionais impactaram nos retornos anormais de accruals dos países. Para tanto, foram analisadas séries temporais para cada país, agrupadas em carteiras de accruals e carteiras de setor, para os modelos CAPM, 3-fatores e 4-fatores, incluindo o fator accruals e observados os retornos anormais das séries, avaliando-os por meio da estatística GRS e pelas estatísticas de teste do procedimento de Fama e MacBeth. Em seguida, foram construídos modelos de dados em painel para o período de 2004 a 2017, em que as variáveis dependentes foram os retornos anormais de accruals, resultantes das séries temporais mensais de cada uma das empresas, e as variáveis independentes foram os fatores institucionais característicos dos países e as variáveis a nível de empresa. O estudo esperava que, se confirmados os retornos anormais de accruals nas séries temporais da América Latina, os fatores específicos de cada país contribuiriam para explicar as diferenças de retornos anormais existentes entre eles. Os resultados confirmaram a presença de retornos anormais em todos os países da amostra, em todos os modelos e o comportamento dos accruals explicou parte dos retornos. Além disso, as variáveis institucionais dos países estudados impactaram os retornos anormais de accruals. Por fim, esta pesquisa fornece evidências quanto a generalização da anomalia dos accruals, enriquecendo a literatura sobre países ainda pouco explorados e de importância econômica crescente, além de prover indícios sobre os efeitos dos aspectos institucionais na anomalia dos accruals na América Latina. / This research aimed to investigate accrual anomaly of returns from five countries in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru), and to observe whether institucional factors impacted the accruals abnormal returns in these countries. For that purpose, time series for each country were built, and grouped in accruals and industry portfolios for Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), 3-factor and 4-factor models, including the accrual factor (ACC). Abnormal returns were detected through the GRS statistics and the Fama and MacBeth procedure. Then, panel data models were used considering the period from 2004 to 2017, in which the dependent variables was the accrual abnormal returns resulted from the individual monthly series for each analyzed company; and the independent variables were the country-specific institutional factors and the company-level variables. Considering previous literature, in this study, it was expected that, if the accrual abnormal returns were confirmed in the time series from Latin America, the specific factors from each country would contribute to explain the differences between the returns. The results confirmed the presence of abnormal returns in every country from the sample and in all models, plus, the behavior from accruals partially explains returns. Furthermore, the institutional variables of countries influence the accruals abnormal returns. Finally, this research provides evidence over the generalization of accruals anomaly, contributing to literature on poorly studied, but economically relevant countries, besides providing signs regarding effects of institutional factors effects on the anomaly in Latin America

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:39:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisco Carvalho Costa Neto.pdf: 762917 bytes, checksum: 44113e152debcb26d594697c9c12e312 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-06-16 / With the evolution of markets, mainly after globalization, investors started to demand more detailed information about the financial reality of organizations. To the extent that the accounting information is introduced in the process of decisions, it starts to have important economic implications to the several agents. This aspect is particularly crucial when one is dealing with an investor who considers investing resources in stock portfolio. The aim of this paper is to identify, through statistical techniques, the possibility of evidence on the existence of Discretionary Accruals concerning the financial statements presented to the Stock Exchange Comission of Brazil (CVM) to those 56 companies listed in São Paulo Stock Market (Bovespa) during the year of 2007. The reference to the Discretionary Accruals were worked on according the techniques developed by Kang and Sivaramakrishnan (1995), aiming at establishing whether such accruals can be found. The levels of Bovespa s Corporate Governance (NM, N1GC e N2GC), in which each company s stock was listed in the Initial Public Offering, were considered, with the goal of investigating if this indicator can have been a decisive factor to the results of Discretionary Accrual. The present study is limited to the public information obtained in CVM website through the program DivEx. The statistical work was developed through the software SPSS. The result of emphirical test shows that possibly Discretionary Accruals could be used by management as positive and negative, and, also, that the accounting treatment is given by different ways for the three levels of Corporate Governance / Com a evolução dos mercados, principalmente a partir da globalização, os investidores passaram a demandar informações mais detalhadas sobre a realidade financeira das organizações. Na medida em que a informação contábil insere-se no processo de decisões, ela passa a ter importantes implicações econômicas para os diversos agentes. Esse aspecto é particularmente crucial quando se está lidando com investidor que cogite investir recursos numa carteira de ações. Este trabalho tem por objetivo identificar, através de técnicas estatísticas, evidências da possibilidade da existência de Acumulação Discricionária com relação às demonstrações contábeis apresentadas à Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) para aquelas 56 empresas que foram listadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo durante o ano de 2007. A referência às Acumulações Discricionárias foi trabalhada de acordo com as técnicas desenvolvidas por Kang e Sivaramakrishnan (1995), com o objetivo de constatar se tais acumulações podem ser encontradas. Considerou-se os níveis de Governança Corporativa da Bovespa (NM, N1GC e N2GC) em que a ação de cada empresa foi listada quando da abertura de capital, com o objetivo de verificar se este indicador pode ter sido um fator decisivo para a os resultados da Acumulação Discricionária. O estudo é limitado às informações públicas obtidas no site da CVM, através do programa DivEx. Os trabalhos estatísticos foram desenvolvidos através do software SPSS. O resultado dos testes empíricos demonstra que possivelmente, a Acumulação Discricionária pode ter sido utilizada pelos gestores tanto de forma positiva como negativa, e adicionalmente, que o tratamento contábil é dado de forma diferenciada para os três níveis de Governança Corporativa

<p>Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur förekomsten av resultatmanipulering ser ut i företag med olika ägarstrukturer noterade på de svenska börslistorna under åren 2005-2008. Vi har valt att definiera tre grupper av företag: familjeägda företag, företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag. För att identifiera skillnader i resultatmanipulering väljer vi att jämföra medelvärden på godtyckliga periodiseringar hos de olika företagsgrupperna genom ett oberoende t-test, sedan utförs regressioner för att försöka förklara potentiella skillnader. Studiens resultat visar i likhet med tidigare forskning att förekomsten av resultatmanipulering är lägre i familjeföretag i jämförelse med övriga företag. Vårt resultat tyder även på att det inte existerar någon signifikant skillnad mellan företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag vad gäller förekomsten av resultatmanipulering.</p>

Syftet med denna studie är att jämföra hur förekomsten av resultatmanipulering ser ut i företag med olika ägarstrukturer noterade på de svenska börslistorna under åren 2005-2008. Vi har valt att definiera tre grupper av företag: familjeägda företag, företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag. För att identifiera skillnader i resultatmanipulering väljer vi att jämföra medelvärden på godtyckliga periodiseringar hos de olika företagsgrupperna genom ett oberoende t-test, sedan utförs regressioner för att försöka förklara potentiella skillnader. Studiens resultat visar i likhet med tidigare forskning att förekomsten av resultatmanipulering är lägre i familjeföretag i jämförelse med övriga företag. Vårt resultat tyder även på att det inte existerar någon signifikant skillnad mellan företag ägda av investmentbolag och övriga företag vad gäller förekomsten av resultatmanipulering.