This dissertation includes two related chapters that analyze financial condition of firms. In the first chapter, I examine the relationship between the firms' level of cash holdings and governance. The findings show that higher levels of cash holdings are significantly related to strong governance. The results also show that firms with strong governance hold asymmetrically higher levels of cash than firms with weak governance when they have high growth opportunities. Furthermore, I also test the impact of financial constraint status of the firm on the level of cash holdings for both good and poorly governed firms separately. The results suggest that strong governance firms hold higher levels of cash to use as financial slack in order to avoid financial distress. In the second essay I examine if a firm's success in leaving distress is explained by firm characteristics and manager decisions. I proxy the managers' decisions by measuring changes in operating, investing, and financing choice variables. Timely decisions with regard to product refinement, proxied by increased investment in research and development and reduction in capital expenditures, increase the probability of successful turnaround. Further the results show that increased financing through additional sale of equity, acquisitions and sale of assets do not help a firm exit financial distress.

The observed use (and indeed tremendous growth in volume) of forward contracts, futures, options, and swaps as hedges against interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, and commodity price risk indicates that hedging does add value to the firm. The purpose this research was to empirically examine the value of off-balance-sheet hedging. The benefits of off-balance-sheet hedging were found to accrue from reducing (1) taxes, (2) expected financial distress costs, and (3) agency costs. Taxes. Hedging reduces the firm's tax liability by reducing the variability in taxable income. The value of hedging to the firm is a positive function of the convexity of the tax function and the variability of taxable income. Expected Financial Distress Costs. The value of hedging is a positive function of the degree to which hedging reduces the probability of financial distress and the costs of financial distress. Agency Cost. Due to the fact that bondholders and some managers hold fixed claims while shareholders hold variable claims, shareholders desire more risky projects than do bondholders or managers. Hedging reduces this conflict by allowing shareholders to undertake higher risk projects while protecting the holders of fixed claims. Firms can achieve the same benefits of hedging by using alternative strategies. Among the various alternatives to hedging are modifying the firm's capital structure, purchasing insurance, and modifying dividend policy. The amount of off-balance-sheet hedging activity undertaken by a specific firm is therefore a function of the value of hedging to the firm and the degree to which the firm has used alternatives to hedging. Using a regression analysis, this paper provides empirical evidence on the preceding relations. This study provides (1) the first empirical evidence into the reasons for a value-maximizing firm using off-balance-sheet hedging instruments, and (2) empirical insights into the way in which the firm's hedging decision interrelates with the capital structure, dividend, and insurance decisions.

Off balance sheet financing (OBF) is either not visible or only partially visible in financial reporting for a number of reasons. It has attracted controversy in the light of its employment in a number of major corporate scandals. Previous investigations dominated by short works and consultancy papers have focused mainly on the financial aspects of OBF. This academic cross-country research on the use of OBF in the UK and US capital markets was undertaken to extend the published analyses to include a legal perspective by studying its legal implications for directors, financial advisers, auditors and financial regulators. The study’s legal focus prompted relying primarily on the doctrinal approach, which was in turn completed by the use of a modified case study in order to help address the how and why issues of the research phenomenon. The study found that OBF instruments are double-edge financial instruments with good and bad consequences. When corporations used OBF for liquidity enhancement or to realise financial savings, they result in positive outcomes. In contrast, when used for aggressive window-dressing or in the manipulation of financial reporting for fraudulent ends, OBF mechanisms generated serious legal liabilities for directors, auditors, and financial advisers in terms of compensation suits or even criminal sanctions. Financial regulators were nonetheless found to be less likely to face legal consequences as a result of current judicial attitudes on the tort of public misfeasance. However, the extensive applications of OBF in conjunction with other forms of creative accounting have resulted in various regulatory responses. On a comparative note, litigation and enforcement actions were found to be relatively more extensive in the US because of the higher incidence of large corporate frauds and the work of regulatory champions especially in New York using deferred prosecution agreements.

The main objective of this thesis is to offer empirical evidence in support of the hypothesis that differences in firms' balance sheet structures may generate heterogeneous responses to monetary policy innovations. To this end in the second, introductory, chapter we start providing some evidence in favor of a large degree of heterogeneity in the asset and liability side of the balance sheet structure of manufacturing firms belonging to different European countries and different size classes. This static comparison is complemented with a quantitative assessment of the sensitivity of asset and liability items to business cycle conditions.In the third chapter we focus on a specific dimension along which the presence of heterogeneities in the balance sheet structure may induce different responses to a monetary policy action. In particular we address the existence of a channel of transmission of monetary policy, the cost-channel, that operates through the effect of interest expenses on the marginal cost of production. Such a channel is based on an active role of net working capital (inventories, plus trade receivables, less trade payables) in the production process and on the fact that variations in interest rate and credit conditions alter firms' short-run ability to produce final output by investing in net working capital. It has been argued that this mechanism may explain the dimension of the real effects of monetary policy, give a rationale for the positive short-run response of prices to rate increases (the "price puzzle") and call for a more gradual monetary policy response to shocks. The analysis is based on a unique panel, that includes about 2,000 Italian manufacturing firms and 14 years of data on individual prices and interest rates paid on several types of debt. We find robust evidence in favor of the presence of a cost-channel of monetary policy transmission, proportional to the amount of working capital held by each firm and with a size large enough to have non-trivial monetary policy implications. The empirical analysis of chapter three is based on the hypothesis that the type of heterogeneity that produces different firm level responses to an interest rate variation is well defined and measurable. On the contrary, most of the empirical literature that tests for the existence of heterogeneous effects of monetary policy on firms' production or investment choices is based on an ad hoc assumption of the specific firm level characteristic that should distinguish more sensitive from less sensitive firms. A similar degree of arbitrariness is adopted in selecting the number of classes of firms characterized by different responses to monetary policy shocks as well as in the selection of the cutoff points. The objective of chapter four is to apply a recent econometric methodology that building on data predictive density provides a well defined criteria to detect both the "optimal" dimension along which analyze firms' responses to monetary policy innovations and the "optimal" endogenous groups. The empirical analysis is focused on Italian manufacturing firms and, in particular, on the response of inventory investment to monetary policy shocks from 1983 to 1998. The main results are the following. In strike contrast with what is normally assumed in the literature in most of the cases it turns out that the optimal number of classes that is larger than two. Moreover orderings that are based on variables that are normally thought to be equivalent proxies for the size of the firm (i.e. turnover, total assets and level of employment) do not lead neither to the same number of groups nor to similar splitting points. Finally even if endogenous clusters are mainly characterized by different degrees of within group heterogeneity, with groups composed by smaller firms showing the largest dispersion, there also exist important differences in the average effect of monetary policy across groups. In particular the fact that some of the orderings do not show the expected monotonicity between the rank and the average effect appears to be one of the most remarkable aspects.

The goal of this dissertation was to specify duties for company, methods of consolidation, describe conditions and to insight into consolidated financial statement according to czech law and to IFRS. First thing that was needed was to collect necessary documents. At accounting unit was performed straight consolidation in accordance to full method. There were no partial statements assembled. Only one consolidated statement for whole consolidation unit was created. Chosen consolidation unit was composed of main company and three subsidiarit. Main company owns 100% of two subsidiaries and one of subsidiaries was 100% owner of the last subsidiary. There was caused a significant lowering of assets and liabilites by consolidation of financial statement in chosen accounting unit.

Este trabalho, cujo tema é “Uma contribuição à estruturação dos procedimentos e demonstrações contábeis das cooperativas – Aplicação em uma cooperativa de trabalho”, apresenta uma proposta de modificação na estrutura tanto dos procedimentos como das demonstrações contábeis das sociedades cooperativas. Partiu-se do problema que este tipo de sociedade vem enfrentando, ou seja, cálculo de impostos e contribuições com base na receita bruta, receita esta que não pertence à cooperativa, além da apresentação das informações contábeis dessas entidades, que por se tratar de sociedade “sui generis”, em função de seu aspecto doutrinário, não vem recebendo tratamento contábil de forma adequada. Iniciou-se a pesquisa com uma síntese da origem e da evolução do cooperativismo no mundo, seus precursores, a formação e evolução do pensamento cooperativista, de sua doutrina, dos seus princípios e normas, proporcionando assim o entendimento do funcionamento deste tipo de sociedade, seus aspectos doutrinários próprios, que a diferenciam do restante das sociedades, além de se conseguir identificar as transações que ocorrem entre elas e seus cooperados, assim como as transações de cada um separadamente, inclusive com a possibilidade de registrá-las. Posteriormente é realizado um estudo do sistema contábil para que, embasado nesta teoria, se consiga discutir e conceituar as receitas, despesas e custos das cooperativas e dos cooperados, bem como, ao mesmo tempo, definir quais os procedimentos contábeis corretos para estas operações. Com isso, buscou-se referencial teórico para sustentar as propostas de modificação tanto nos procedimentos como, por conseqüência, nas demonstrações contábeis das sociedades cooperativas, que foram realizadas de forma a mostrar as receitas, as despesas e os custos destas e de seus cooperados separadamente, fazendo com que a demonstração de resultado se apresente com o resultado da cooperativa e o patrimônio dela se apresente com sua forma própria, seguindo-se os aspectos doutrinários deste tipo de sociedade. Por fim, as propostas de modificações estudadas teoricamente são testadas e comparadas por meio de sua aplicação em demonstrações contábeis de uma cooperativa do ramo de trabalho. / This research has as theme “A contribution for the structuring of the proceedings and cooperatives accounting demonstrations - applied to a working cooperative” and it shows a proposal of the structure changing not only the proceedings but also the accounting demonstrations of the cooperative society starting from the problem which this kind of society has been going through, that is, the taxation and contribution based on gross revenue, which doesn’t belong to the cooperative, besides the accounting presentation of themselves, that deal with the society “sui generis” related to its indocrinate aspect, it hasn’t been getting an accounting treatment appropriately. The research began with the origin synthesis and the cooperativism in the world and its forerunners, the formation and evolution of cooperative thought, its doctrine, its principles and rules, making possible the understanding of the function of this kind of society, its own doctrine aspects which makes the difference from the rest of the societies, besides getting to identify the transactions which occurs among them and their member of a cooperative, as well as the transaction of each one separatedly, including the possibilities of registering them. Afterwards it is achieved a study of the accounting system so that based on this theory we can think it over and name this revenues, expenses and costs of the cooperatives and their members, not to mention, at the same time define which are the correct accounting proceedings for these operations. With this, people searched for theorical referencial to back up the proposal of the changings in the proceedings as well as, by consequences, in the accounting demonstrations of the cooperative societies, which were achieved in a way to show their revenues and costs and also their members separatedly, making the demonstration of the results show along with the cooperative one and their corporate assets shows with its own way following the doctrine aspects of this kind of society. Finally, the proposal for the changing theorically studied, is tried and compared by means of its application in accounting demonstrations of a cooperative type of work.

The goal is to determine deficiencies that limit the explanatory power of balance sheet and profit and loss, to analyze these shortcomings and develop a proposal of possible solutions to minimize these shortcomings.

The masters thesis on due diligence focuses on the practical use of due diligence. The aim of this thesis is to identify risks for the investor, examples of adjustments to EBITDA, net debt and net working capital and calculate the value of the target company compared to the value offered by the real investor on the market.

We examine net lending/net borrowing and the underlying debt dynamics at the sectoral level in the European Union. Saving and investment patterns indicate that there have been considerable deleveraging efforts since the start of the global financial crisis, particularly in the nonfinancial corporate and household sectors. In many EU countries, however, this decline in credit transactions has not yet led to a significant reduction of sectoral debt-to-GDP ratios. Subdued output growth and low or even negative inflation rates have undermined the deleveraging process and increased real debt burdens in a number of European economies. Since these are often the countries that had experienced strong credit booms prior to the crisis, rebalancing needs are likely to persist and may be a significant drag on the recovery in the near future. Furthermore, most of the ongoing rebalancing - both in terms of debt levels and current account deficits - is based on a sharp decline in investment rather than an increase in saving, which might lead to lower potential growth in the future. Recent developments may even jeopardize the catching-up process of peripheral euro area countries and non-euro area EU Member States in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

The thesis deals with a valuation of solvency balance sheet according to rules set in directive Solvency II, which should have been implemented as of January 1st, and compares the solvency balance sheet with valuation of insurance companies balance sheet according to current Czech legislation and international financial reporting standards IFRS. The thesis defines the concept of insurance contracts both in Czech law and standard IFRS 4 and reporting of liabilities related to those contracts in balance sheet. The result of thesis is illustrated sample of solvency balance sheet including description of how prepare and evaluate it based on default balance sheet prepared according to Czech law.