Esta investigación apoya el argumento de que las empresas se benefician de la adopción de políticas y estrategias retributivas para sus directivos cuando las características de las mismas se adaptan o adecuan a los requerimientos de control y motivación de los directivos que, en última estancia, vienen impuestos por la orientación estratégica de la empresa y por las características del entorno en el que opera. En este sentido, y en consistencia con la teoría de la agencia, el concepto de discrecionalidad directiva se ratifica como un elemento crucial en la explicación de las relaciones entre retribución directiva y contexto. La empresa diseña el sistema retributivo del directivo en función del grado de discrecionalidad del que éste dispone. Además, el ajuste entre discrecionalidad y retribución directiva tiene efectos positivos en los resultados de la empresa. / This research supports the arguments of that firms obtain benefits of implementing executives' compensation politics linked to supervision and control requirements which are imposed by firms strategic orientations and environment characteristics. In that way, and consistent to agency theory, executive discretion concept is confirmed as a key element in the explanation of relationships between executive compensation and context. Firm design executives compensation system according to the degree of discretion they dispose. Moreover, adjustment between executive discretion and executive compensation has positive effects on firm performance.

I affärsprocesser flödar information i olika format. Verbal, skriven, dokumenterad, eller i form av databaser. Oavsett format måste informationen lagras men den måste dessutom vara tillgänglig för alla som kan ha nytta av den. När det gäller information i en processorienterad organisation måste den plats där informationen lagras också möjliggöra för flödet av den. Detta examensarbete är baserat på öppna intervjuer genomförda på Tekniska verken i Linköping (hädanefter kallat TvAB) och på Alstom Power i Växjö (hädanefter kallat Alstom). Intervjuerna syftar till att ge oss empiri för undersökningen, och även till att ge en inblick i den vardag som finns på företagen vilket förankrar studien i praktik och teori. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur processägarnas kunskap påverkar informationsflödet och spridningen av masterdata i organisationen. Vår studie visar att beroende på vem som tillfrågas skiljer sig synen på informationsflödet från processägarna. Förklaringen till denna skillnad är att processägarnas förståelse om masterdata skiljer sig från varandra. Somliga hade en grundlig förståelse för masterdata, medan andra aldrig hört ordet. Detta leder till att informationsasymmetri uppstår, ett övertag för den personen med större eller bättre förståelse för begreppet masterdata. / Information in different formats flow within business processes. It can be verbal, written or previously documented information. It can also take the shape of databases. Regardless of the format the information has to be stored but at the same time readily available for those who must use it. When it comes to information in a process oriented organization the storage facility for the information must also allow for the usage and the flow of the information itself. This paper which is based on a study conducted at Tekniska verken in Linköping and at Alstom Power in Växjö, Sweden aims to investigate how a process owner’s view on the information flow can affect the sharing of master data in an organization. Open interviews were conducted both at Tekniska verken and Alstom since no research had previously been done on the specific view of the process owner. The interviews were not solely aimed at gathering empirical data but also to give an insight into the everyday routine of the companies. This principle forms the theoretical and practical base for this study. The study shows the way a process owner views the internal flow of information is completely dependent on how well the process owner understands the term “master data”. This study also shows proof of asymmetrical information in the sense of one person having a greater understanding of master data than another. Thus, the person with the greater understanding can use this to his or her advantage.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the comply-or-explain principle in Sweden to determine if the flexible approach is functioning as in-tended. Research design: This paper scrutinizes the quality of the explanations with respect to the Swedish Corporate Governance Code. A quantitative research with a cross-sectional design has been performed and the data collection covers 241 companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm for the fiscal year of 2014. The secondary data has been gathered from corporate governance reports of the researched companies and analysed by using a tax-onomy of explanations. Findings: The report demonstrates that the comply-or-explain principle in Sweden is effective. A clear majority of the explanations, 71,8%, were deemed as informative, mean-ing that a large proportion of the Swedish firms are utilizing the flexible approach in an effective manner. However, one out of four explanations were classified as insufficient and we have thus provided recommendations in order for the code to become even more effective. Contribution: Our findings provide insights on how the comply-or-explain principle works in a country that is supposed to be a leading example of how the comply-or-explain approach should be implemented. This study should be of significance for policy makers considering that we have outlined how the principle works and provided recommenda-tions on how the Swedish Corporate Governance Code can be improved. Value: Our findings demonstrate that companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm pro-vide high quality explanations that can serve as an inspiration for companies listed in other countries. Furthermore, the results indicate that managers are likely to act within ethically desired norm. Considering the social implications, as Swedish firms are informative in terms of explanations, it minimizes the risk of firms acting dishonestly.

This study is motivated by the numerous reforms to strengthen the efficacy of corporate boards and their oversight committees, in the wake of high profile corporate failures. The empirical question, however, is whether recent proposals would enhance board and their committee effectiveness and in this way, reduce the likelihood of firm`s failure. This study examines whether the composition, structure and functions of corporate boards and their interactions are related to the probability of corporate failure. Prior studies employ agency and resource dependency theories in isolation as theoretical lenses. This study, however, employs these aforementioned theories as theoretical lenses and argues that the board control and resource function affects the relationship between corporate board attributes and corporate failure. This study examines a sample of 358 UK listed firms, consisting of 95 failed firms and 263 non-failed firms during the period 1999-2011. This study also uses a unique hand-collected data set that measures the corporate governance attributes and functions of these 358 firms over a period of five years preceding failure or otherwise, resulting in 1748 firm-years observations. This study reveals that the probability of failure is lower in firms with large board size, former government officials, independent remuneration committee chairman and greater proportion of outside directors as well as effective audit and remuneration committees. This study also finds that the prospect of corporate failure is higher in firms with less than three independent NEDs on both the audit and nomination committees, without audit committee and where audit committee has no one with financial expertise. The results, however, suggest that the possibility of corporate failure is higher in firms whose boards have a female director and where the nomination committee meets often or where its membership is exclusively preserved for independent NEDs. On the interaction effects, the results show that frequency of board meetings as well as its interactions with presence of female directors, audit and remuneration committees effectiveness are positively related to the probability of corporate failure. The results also indicate that a number of interactions between corporate board attributes and functions are unrelated to the likelihood of corporate failure. These include the interactions between board composition measures (i.e. proportion of outside directors, presence of female directors and board size) and the board resource proxy (i.e. former government official). These associations, especially remuneration committee effectiveness, remuneration committee chairman independence, firm size and profitability, are not only statistically and economically significant but also robust to different specifications. Further, the Receiver Operating Curves indicate that the impact of corporate governance measures after controlling for firm size, liquidity, profitability, age, industry effects, and leverage is more profound in two years preceding failure. The implication of this is that corporate governance mechanisms alone are insufficient to rescue the firm on the verge of collapse. The findings are consistent with the idea that failing firms decline in size, managerial performance, corporate board attributes as well as their board`s ability to discharge it`s monitoring and resource roles. This study adds to the debate on the impact of corporate governance on corporate failure by developing, analysing and testing a robust UK corporate failure prediction model which is underpinned by a multi-theoretical framework: agency and resource dependency theories. This study also offers several recommendations for policy makers and firm-level corporate governance strategies in the mix of the numerous corporate governance reforms worldwide, this in particular makes this study unique.

Financial markets have many different key actors, but one of the most important ones are the financial analysts. They are considered as experts in gathering and disseminating the information that firms produce, to those that seek it, such as stock recommendations and reports on firms. Related to this is a growing interest in society toward disclosures in regards of CSR as well as ESG. There has been considerable discussion in academia of whether or not CSR can be considered to be value relevant. This is a question which relate to both institutional and legitimacy perspectives in terms of theory, but also discussions in regards to agency and stakeholder theory as well:   Has value relevance of CSR disclosures increased in stock recommendations for the Nordic markets?   Thereby, the main purpose of this thesis is to find out whether or not there has been a shifting view of CSR over time, which would be evidenced in an increasing legitimization of CSR in terms of an increasing value-relevance to financial analysts. This would also be related to a shifting institutional logic, whereby it would be possible to relate to a shift in the view of the firm and its role in society. This is both looked at purely from the starting point of the dataset to the end point, but also for two different periods of time, so as to test if there is a different view of the issue after the financial crisis. In addition to this main purpose, this thesis furthermore sets out to answer whether CSR is value-relevant or not in different subsegments, such as nations, industries and the different types of recommendations that exist.   To answer the research question, an objectivist and positivist stance is taken, which subsequently leads the authors to utilize quantitative methods and statistical analysis to the data. Here, different panel models are fitted to the data to account effects that exist within it. To explain the findings, a theoretical framework is built upon three different levels: societal, firm and individual level. Here, on the societal level theories such as institutional theory as well as legitimacy theory are dealt with. On the firm level, agency theory and stakeholder theory as well as theoretical views of CSR forms the basis, and the individual level deals with theory related to the financial analyst.   In looking at the results and the analysis, one cannot draw the conclusion that there has been a shifting view of the value-relevance of CSR. Financial analysts appear to not find it value-relevant in issuing their stock recommendations, except for two cases: namely in terms of the industrial sector Basic Materials and the Buy recommendations. In terms of Basic Materials, it appears to be value-relevant in a positive manner. In regards to the Buy recommendation, it appears to have a negative effect on the value-relevance. All in all, this thesis cannot find evidence for a value-relevance of CSR to financial analysts in the Nordic markets. Essentially, the view of it appears to be pessimistic.

Disclosure of accounting information is crucial in facilitating efficient contracts in the publicly listed firm and in reducing information asymmetries in capital markets. A well-known perception in disclosure literature is that, as the separation between managers and owners increases, so does the demand for publicly available disclosure. Many publicly listed firms around the world are controlled by a few large owners that obtain information through their insider positions in the firm. Thus, variations in ownership structures have a considerable effect on how firms’ disclosure practices are resolved. Despite the increased attention paid to the identity of controlling owners and their influence on financial reporting practices, little is known about how owner types and governance mechanisms influence corporate disclosures and capital-market effects. This thesis contributes to the disclosure literature by studying a context in which controlling owners have a large influence on the governance and disclosure practices of firms. This contrasts with the much-studied setting in which management influences the governance and reporting decisions of firms. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to examine the determinants and capital-market effects of Swedish listed firms’ annual report disclosure. This thesis uses a self-constructed disclosure index from manually gathered data from the annual reports of Swedish publicly listed firms during the years 2001 to 2013. This includes information on the notes to the financial statements, corporate governance and strategy. The findings of the four empirical studies show that the ownership structure of firms and the various contractual relationships that firms are engaged in, drive the disclosure practices. Additionally, the results indicate that higher levels of disclosure decrease information asymmetries between capital-market participants and increase trading activity. However, the findings also show that firms with controlling owners are less forthcoming with disclosure, even after a new disclosure reform. Considering the large influence of controlling owners in the studied context, these are important findings in the research field and in regulators’ processes of deriving disclosure regulation. The thesis concludes that the variety in firms’ disclosure incentives and local governance structures are important disclosure determinants to understand in framing international accounting standards.

Problem:      Companies need to maintain a competitive position in the market to financially perform, and in order to do so, the companies need to have a good corporate governance structure. In the latter years, the ethical discussion about gender diversity has gained a lot of attention in society, which influence norms, standards and legislations, and also the business. Today, Swedish and Danish firms are obligated to strive for gender diversity in their corporate boards according to the corporate governance codes in the respective countries. However, the financial aspects should be taken into concern, since a company needs to financially perform to keep its operations. It is not established whether an increased gender diversity is related to financial performance, since studies on the field are contradictive. Due to the different results, it is interesting to see what the relationship looks like in the Nordic countries, especially in Sweden and Denmark where quota-based legislation has not yet been established. This thesis investigates the issue to provide evidence for the companies in similar countries if an increased gender diversity is financially supportable.   Purpose:      The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the gender diversity in the board of directors and its relationship with the financial performance of a corporation. Further, the study will investigate the financial performance dependency on the gender diversity in the board of directors.   Method:       A sample of 104 Swedish and Danish companies was chosen as observation objects. To investigate the relationship between the gender diversity and the financial performance, a Pearson correlation analysis was made. To identify the financial performance dependency on the gender diversity regression analyses were performed. Hypotheses that were built on agency theory, resource dependency theory, upper echelons theory and previous research were tested in the statistical analyses.   Results:        The statistical analyses show that there is no statistically significant relationship between gender diversity and financial performance, neither that the financial performance is dependent on the gender diversity. This evidence implies that increased gender diversity in board rooms should be motivated for other reasons than strictly financial success. Companies should consider these findings in the attaining process of directors and focus on other factors than financial progress in the proceeding involvement of women in the board. Thus, a company cannot increase its financial performance only by attaining more women to the board room. / Problem:      För att prestera finansiellt behöver företag bibehålla konkurrenskraft, och för att göra det är företagsledningen viktig. På senare tid, har den etiska diskussionen kring könsdiversitet fått stor uppmärksamhet i samhället, vilket påverkar normer, standarder och lagstiftning. Svenska och danska företag är förpliktigade att sträva efter könsdiversitet enligt den svenska och danska koden för bolagsstyrning, men även de finansiella aspekterna av könsmångfald bör tas i beaktning eftersom ett företag behöver prestera finansiellt för att kunna fortsätta sin verksamhet. Ännu är det inte fastslaget att en ökad könsdiversitet är relaterat till finansiella framsteg, då studier på området säger emot varandra. Därför är det intressant att se hur denna relation ser ut i de nordiska länderna, speciellt i Sverige och Danmark där kvoteringslagar ännu inte har införts. Denna uppsats undersöker frågan för att skapa bevis för företagen i länderna om en ökad könsdiversitet är finansiellt försvarbar.   Syfte:            Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka könsdiversitet i bolagsstyrelser och relationen till finansiella prestationer av företaget i fråga. Dessutom ämnar studien undersöka de finansiella prestationernas beroendeförhållande till könsdiversiteten i bolagsstyrelserna.     Metod:         Ett urval av 104 svenska och danska företag valdes som observationsobjekt. För att undersöka relationen mellan könsdiversitet och finansiella prestationer görs en Pearson korrelationsanalys. För att upptäcka om finansiella prestationer är har ett beroendeförhållande till könsdiversiteten i bolagsstyrelserna gjordes regressionsanalyser. Hypoteserna som testades baserades på agentteori, resursberoendeteori, och övernivåteori och tidigare empirisk forskning.   Resultat:      De statistiska analyserna visar att det inte finns något signifikant samband mellan könsdiversitet och finansiella prestationer, och inte heller att finansiell prestation har ett beroendeförhållande till könsdiversitet i bolagsstyrelsen. Dessa resultat indikerar att en ökad könsdiversitet i styrelserummen bör motiveras av andra faktorer än strikt finansiell framgång. Företag bör ta ställning till resultaten från denna forskning i tillsättandet av styrelseledamöter och inte förvänta sig en förbättrad finansiell ställning enbart genom att tillsätta fler kvinnor till styrelsen.

Bakgrund: Svenska företag har visat sig vara bland de bästa i världen på hållbarhetsredovisning. Tidigare studier har försökt hitta förklaringsfaktorer för att definiera vilka faktorer som ökar den mängd hållbarhetsupplysningar företag rapporterar frivilligt. Ägarstrukturens påverkan på hållbarhetsredovisning är ett relativt outforskat område och ska därför förklaras i den här studien.   Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att genom en kvantitativ metod förklara hur ägarstrukturer påverkar hållbarhetsredovisning hos Large-Cap- och Mid-Cap företag noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm.     Metod: Ämnet har testats utifrån skapandet av hypoteser och empiriska observationer. En innehållsanalys har gjorts genom granskning av 173 företags års- och hållbarhetsredovisningar, noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. Hållbarhetsredovisningen har studerat dels utifrån det ekonomiska perspektivet och dels utifrån det miljö och samhällsmässiga perspektivet.   Resultat/slutsats: Utifrån vår analys av de olika ägarstrukturerna och deras påverkan på hållbarhetsredovisning har slutsatsen blivit att det inte finns något större samband mellan de två.   Bidrag/framtida forskning: Ägarstrukturens förklaringsgrad visade sig vara låg då få signifikanta samband fanns mellan ägarstrukturer och hur de redovisar hållbarhet. Framtida forskningsförslag är att genom en kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod jämföra skillnader gällande hållbarhet som företag redovisar och deras faktiska hållbarhetsaktivitet.

Corporate governance is a highly discussed topic in financial circles. Recent corporate failures have triggered regulatory reforms where the internal audit was given a stronger position. However, this regulatory evolution also brought challenges to internal audit activity. The growing demands and pressure from stakeholders have placed internal auditors in a difficult position of having to serve several stakeholders and sometimes inconsistent ones with different agendas. That is why the aim of this thesis was to examine how regulations have impacted the internal audit within financial institutions with a special focus on internal auditors’ relations with their stakeholders. In order to achieve the aims of this study, qualitative interviews were conducted as they were considered most suitable in order to uncover a deeper meaning and significance regarding the topic. The findings in this study indicate that internal auditing activity within financial institutions faces a multitude of challenges. Beyond having to deal with traditional duties, these institutions now have to incorporate mandatory audits from regulators within their scope of practise as well. This steers them in a direction where they have to satisfy the needs of yet another stakeholder.

This research is the result of the author’s quest to answer the question whether Corporate Governance is effective in Emerging Markets. Literature on Corporate Governance in the emerging markets of Latin America is limited mostly due to the relatively slower development of capital markets and the late adoption of corporate governance principles. Corporate Governance laws, which largely follow Sarbanes Oxley guidelines, were published and implemented in the mid 00´s and no research has checked their impact on corporate value in Latin America. This research reports compromises two empirical projects. The first project focused on the relationship between boards of directors attributes such size and composition, Corporate Governance law and firm value for Colombia. The second project focused on another Corporate Governance variable, CEO Duality and tested whether it has had any impact in Mexico. This second project also studied whether board attributes such as size and composition and Corporate Governance law were related to firm value. Based on the listed companies from Colombia and Mexico for the years 2001 to 2012 the author found no relationship between board size or composition and firm value. Results from Mexico, where CEO duality is allowed showed that it has no relationship with firm value. These results do not support or contradict either Agency theory or stewardship theory. Results on the impact of the adoption of a Corporate Governance law in firm value are mixed. Results for Colombia contradict previous literature by reporting a positive relationship between Corporate Governance laws and firm results while results from Mexico support previous research by reporting no relationship between these variables. This research is valuable for regulators and policy makers in their quest to assess the impact of the adoption of Corporate Governance laws in emerging markets. . Since effective Corporate Governance is important in easier access to financing it is important for shareholders to know which Corporate Governance mechanisms are positively related to firm value. Similarly, it is also important for investors (both foreign and local) in assessing the risk for equity investments in Colombia and Mexico.