The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between corporate governance and disclosure of corporate information by listed companies in developing economies. A comparative study was carried out covering listed companies in South Africa, East Africa and Nigeria. The study is based on the agency theory which asserts that enhanced disclosure is one of the fundamental goals of a company's reporting system aimed at reducing agency costs and information asymmetries between shareholders and managers, hence a tenet of any effective governance system. Although corporate disclosure provides a channel through which shareholders obtain valuable information to make investment decisions, prior studies reported mixed empirical evidence on the role of corporate governance in enhancing corporate disclosure. Furthermore, empirical evidence from Sub Saharan Africa and developing economies in general remains scanty. Despite the fact that corporate governance systems have been widely used in strengthening the quality of financial reporting and disclosure, several corporate scandals and failures have continued to occur around the globe and the efficacy of corporate governance on disclosure activities in preventing managers from misappropriating corporate resources remains an empirical question. A comprehensive literature review revealed six corporate governance attributes (CEO non-duality, board size, board composition, composition of audit committees, block and director share ownership) and three control variables (Firm size, leverage, and profitability) that may have a significant influence on corporate disclosure. Corporate disclosure was categorized into disclosure of financial and non-financial information. Data was collected from annual reports of non-financial listed companies on selected securities exchanges in Sub Saharan Africa for the period 2010 to 2013. A comparative panel data analysis was then carried out using STATA MP Version 13, to obtain Random-Effects Regression models which were used to examine the relationship between corporate governance and corporate disclosure. Overall, the findings revealed that CEO non-duality, board size and board composition have a positive significant effect on corporate disclosure, while the effect of block and director share ownership is negative. The study concluded that for effective disclosure of information in developing economies, companies should minimize block and director share ownership, separate roles of chief executive officers and chairpersons of board of directors, increase board size and ensure that there is a higher proportion of non- executive directors on boards.

The purpose of the present thesis is to provide a detailed descriptive account of recent Corporate Internet Reporting (CIR) practices amongst non-financial companies listed on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), and explore the perceptions of both users and preparers of corporate information concerning this phenomenon in Egypt. The investigation involves: (i) a disclosure index analysis of CIR practices amongst the sampled companies at two points in time – December 2010 and December 2011 – in order to determine the extent of such practices and ascertain whether this has changed across time; (ii) interviews with users (private investors and financial analysts) and preparers (company officials) of corporate information, in order to gather the views of those individuals concerning CIR in Egypt; and (iii) a questionnaire survey of a wider sample of users and preparers of corporate information, in order to explore the perceptions of a relatively large number of users and preparers regarding CIR in Egypt and thereby complement the disclosure index and interview results. The results suggest that the extent of CIR practices amongst the sampled companies is still limited and there has been little improvement over the investigated period. The results also report great variations amongst the investigated companies concerning the extent to which they embrace the power of the internet for reporting purposes as the full possibilities of the internet in this regard appear not to have yet been realised. However, the practice is found to have a potentially positive impact on the understandability, relevance and comparability of corporate information disseminated online, while its impact on reliability is still questionable. The results from the interview analysis reveal that: (i) the majority of participants were broadly satisfied with Egypt’s internet infrastructure; (ii) interviewees were intensive users of the internet, including accessing online corporate information; and (iii) notwithstanding the previous point, hard copy reports remain the most important source of corporate financial disclosure in Egypt. Views regarding the future of CIR were mixed; participants highlighted some problems associated with CIR and indicated a belief that such practices in Egypt are still very limited compared to those found in developed capital markets. Nonetheless, CIR practices are seen as potentially having a positive impact on the understandability, relevance, and comparability of accounting information, although this was not the case with regard to reliability. The results of the questionnaire survey indicate that the need to offer an image of modernity and to provide financial information are the most important reasons for engaging in CIR practices in Egypt. The participants were reasonably satisfied with most of the investigated issues, although a significant difference was evident amongst the respondent groups concerning the security and privacy of information disseminated via the internet. The results support those from the interviews in suggesting that hard copy annual reports are viewed as the most important source of disclosure in Egypt, with the respondents viewing CIR practices as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, hard copy reports. Finally, the findings support those from the rest of the empirical work in suggesting that, with the exception of reliability, the respondents saw CIR practices as having a potentially positive impact on the qualitative characteristics of accounting information set out in the IASC Framework (1989); this view was shared by users and preparers alike, in contrast to the interviewees, the questionnaire respondents saw CIR practices as having an impact on the cost of capital and share prices, but this view was not overwhelming.

The objective of this thesis is to explain the behaviour of stock returns around the disclosure of different types of information release by UK companies. Previous literature has documented the existence of both market anticipation and the lagged impounding of value relevant information. The main objective of this research is, therefore, to identify the conditions under which investors choose to be informed in anticipation of and in response to, a corporate disclosure. More specifically, we explain the behaviour of stock returns in terms of the costs and benefits which investors must consider when deciding whether to acquire and interpret information. The results indicate that market anticipation is an increasing function of firm size, the number of years a firm has been trading and the volatility of prior stock returns. However, increased voluntary disclosure by firms would appear to reduce the ability of investors to and anticipate and interpret information. The volatility of stock returns, prior to the disclosure, is nevertheless the main driving force behind the explanation of post-announcement drift. There are also indications that investors' initial reactions to both earnings and non-earnings news are not based on informed judgements, and that bad news is generally associated with greater uncertainty than good news. Bad news would appear to be more difficult to anticipate and interpret, relative to good news. On further examination, however, investor anticipation is shown to be largely based on information as opposed to uninformed trading.

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued International Financial Reporting Standard No. 7 (IFRS 7) “Financial Instruments: Disclosure” in June 2006 as part of its ongoing refinement of existing financial instruments accounting standards. The new standard became effective for periods beginning on or after January 1st 2007 (IASB, 2006). IFRS 7 supersedes the previous International Accounting Standards (IASs): IAS 30/32. IFRS 7 states that information about Financial Instruments (FI) should be prepared in accordance with the management approach. In addition, the standard clarifies the disclosure requirements about FIs across all industries. In particular, the new standard consists of two main types of disclosures, namely: (i) discussion of the significance of FIs for an entity’s financial position and performance; and (ii) the provision of qualitative and quantitative information about exposure to risks arising from FIs based on information provided internally to the entity’s key management personnel. The current thesis uses a decision usefulness theoretical framework to examine the impact of IFRS 7’s adoption on FI disclosure practices and firm value. In particular, the current study has two primary objectives: (i) to assess the impact of IFRS 7 on the FI disclosure policies of Jordanian listed firms in their annual reports for 2007 when the standard became effective; and (ii) to examine the value relevance of FI disclosures. For these objectives, two pieces of empirical work were conducted respectively; a disclosure index technique was constructed and a valuation analysis was performed. A disclosure index analysis was undertaken for a sample of Jordanian listed companies’ annual reports pre- and post- the implementation of IFRS 7. The extant literature and the findings from the disclosure index analysis informed the second part of the empirical work: the valuation analysis. Value relevance analysis was employed in order to assess the usefulness of FI disclosures provided in the companies’ financial statements; indeed, the association between the level of information supplied and firms’ market values was examined. The main findings indicate that the implementation of IFRS 7 had a significant and sizeable impact on the FI disclosure practices of Jordanian companies in 2007 as compared to that provided under International Accounting Standard No. 30 (IAS 30): Disclosures in Financial Statements of Banks and Similar Financial Institutions and International Accounting Standard No. 32 (IAS 32): FIs: Presentation. In particular, the results revealed that the number of companies disclosing information about FIs as well as the level of FI information provided significantly increased after IFRS 7 was implemented. In addition, the analysis of FI disclosure by industry revealed that comparability of financial statement data within and across the sectors examined has improved. In particular, an analysis of Balance Sheet and Fair Value information about FIs revealed no significant differences within and across industries after IFRS 7 became effective. The findings from the valuation analysis revealed that FI disclosure was value relevant over the two periods. However, the regression analysis showed that the FI disclosure provided under IFRS 7 was more value relevant as compared to that supplied under the previous standards. The principal components analysis revealed that some categories of FI information were more influential than others. In particular, Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Fair Value and Risk information about FIs were valued differently as compared to other components of FI disclosures. Indeed, the evidence provided indicates that investors value FI disclosure when making investment decisions. In general, the findings support the decision usefulness approach underpinning the current FI disclosures for Jordanian listed companies. Specifically, In particular, the test of differences in FI disclosure within and across sectors revealed that the implementation of IFRS 7 has enhanced the comparability of the financial statements; no significant differences were noted in FI disclosure (balance sheet and fair value) post-IFRS 7, while this was not the case pre-IFRS 7. In addition, the issue of relevance has been investiagted by testing the association between FI disclosure and firm value. These findings provide a great deal of insight for accounting regulatory bodies (e.g. the IASB) about the current theoretical framework that underpins financial reporting standards. In addition, they provide valuable insights to Jordanian policy makers (JSC and ASE) about the relevance of such standards for Jordanian companies.

O propósito dessa pesquisa é estudar a relação entre a revelação de informação corporativa e o comportamento de uma seleção de empresas com fortes políticas de revelação de informação e alto grau de capitalização do Mercado Acionário da Colômbia, para o ano 2014. Mediante esse estudo, é analisada a microestrutura utilizando informação de alta frequência e notícias corporativas publicadas na plataforma de Bloomberg Professional Services. A metodologia de análise para prover evidência da relação foi o estudo de eventos, testando a significância da diferença entre as médias e medianas pré-evento e pós-evento de alguns indicadores de liquidez, retorno e volatilidade. Os resultados permitem concluir que a disseminação de informação tem um impacto sobre a liquidez e a volatilidade do mercado. Percebe-se que no período posterior à publicação das notícias, o tamanho dos bid-ask spreads e a volatilidade do midquote diminui, os investidores negociam em média menores volumes e quantidade de operações e submetem menor quantidade de intenções de compra e venda. / The purpose of this investigation is to study the relationship between corporate disclosure and the behavior of a selection of companies, with strong disclosure policies and high market capitalization ratio of the Colombian Stock Market, for the entire year 2014. The idea of this investigation is to analyze the market microstructure using high frequency data and corporate information publicized through the Bloomberg professional services platform. The estimation technique to provide evidence of the relationship is the event study, testing the significance of the difference between the pre-event and post-event average and median of some indicators of return, liquidity and volatility. The results prove that the disemintation of information impact the market liquidity and volatility. It is noticed that in the post-event window, bid-ask spreads and volatility of the midquote decreases, traders negociate on average lower volums and number of transactions and submit fewer buy and sell order intentions.

O propósito dessa pesquisa é estudar a relação entre a revelação de informação corporativa e o comportamento de uma seleção de empresas com fortes políticas de revelação de informação e alto grau de capitalização do Mercado Acionário da Colômbia, para o ano 2014. Mediante esse estudo, é analisada a microestrutura utilizando informação de alta frequência e notícias corporativas publicadas na plataforma de Bloomberg Professional Services. A metodologia de análise para prover evidência da relação foi o estudo de eventos, testando a significância da diferença entre as médias e medianas pré-evento e pós-evento de alguns indicadores de liquidez, retorno e volatilidade. Os resultados permitem concluir que a disseminação de informação tem um impacto sobre a liquidez e a volatilidade do mercado. Percebe-se que no período posterior à publicação das notícias, o tamanho dos bid-ask spreads e a volatilidade do midquote diminui, os investidores negociam em média menores volumes e quantidade de operações e submetem menor quantidade de intenções de compra e venda. / The purpose of this investigation is to study the relationship between corporate disclosure and the behavior of a selection of companies, with strong disclosure policies and high market capitalization ratio of the Colombian Stock Market, for the entire year 2014. The idea of this investigation is to analyze the market microstructure using high frequency data and corporate information publicized through the Bloomberg professional services platform. The estimation technique to provide evidence of the relationship is the event study, testing the significance of the difference between the pre-event and post-event average and median of some indicators of return, liquidity and volatility. The results prove that the disemintation of information impact the market liquidity and volatility. It is noticed that in the post-event window, bid-ask spreads and volatility of the midquote decreases, traders negociate on average lower volums and number of transactions and submit fewer buy and sell order intentions.

O propósito dessa pesquisa é estudar a relação entre a revelação de informação corporativa e o comportamento de uma seleção de empresas com fortes políticas de revelação de informação e alto grau de capitalização do Mercado Acionário da Colômbia, para o ano 2014. Mediante esse estudo, é analisada a microestrutura utilizando informação de alta frequência e notícias corporativas publicadas na plataforma de Bloomberg Professional Services. A metodologia de análise para prover evidência da relação foi o estudo de eventos, testando a significância da diferença entre as médias e medianas pré-evento e pós-evento de alguns indicadores de liquidez, retorno e volatilidade. Os resultados permitem concluir que a disseminação de informação tem um impacto sobre a liquidez e a volatilidade do mercado. Percebe-se que no período posterior à publicação das notícias, o tamanho dos bid-ask spreads e a volatilidade do midquote diminui, os investidores negociam em média menores volumes e quantidade de operações e submetem menor quantidade de intenções de compra e venda. / The purpose of this investigation is to study the relationship between corporate disclosure and the behavior of a selection of companies, with strong disclosure policies and high market capitalization ratio of the Colombian Stock Market, for the entire year 2014. The idea of this investigation is to analyze the market microstructure using high frequency data and corporate information publicized through the Bloomberg professional services platform. The estimation technique to provide evidence of the relationship is the event study, testing the significance of the difference between the pre-event and post-event average and median of some indicators of return, liquidity and volatility. The results prove that the disemintation of information impact the market liquidity and volatility. It is noticed that in the post-event window, bid-ask spreads and volatility of the midquote decreases, traders negociate on average lower volums and number of transactions and submit fewer buy and sell order intentions.

Yes / The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate board attributes, ownership structure and firm-level characteristics on both corporate mandatory and voluntary disclosure behaviour. Multivariate regression techniques are used to estimate the effect of corporate board and ownership structures on mandatory and voluntary disclosures of a sample of Libyan listed and non-listed firms between 2006 and 2010. First, the authors find that board size, board composition, the frequency of board meetings and the presence of an audit committee have an impact on the level of corporate disclosure. Second, results indicate that ownership structures have a non-linear effect on the level of corporate disclosure. Finally, the authors document that firm age, liquidity, listing status, industry type and auditor type are positively associated with the level of corporate disclosure. Future research could investigate disclosure practices using other channels of corporate disclosure media, such as corporate websites. Useful insights may be offered also by future studies by conducting in-depth interviews with corporate managers, directors and owners regarding these issues. The evidence relating to the important role that corporate governance mechanisms play in shaping the expectations relating to the level of corporate voluntary and/or mandatory disclosures may be useful in informing investor decisions, as well as future policy and regulatory initiatives. This paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the governance-disclosure nexus relating to both mandatory and voluntary disclosures in both listed and non-listed firms operating in a developing country setting.

Esta dissertação investiga o papel dos incentivos individuais das companhias no compromisso com o atendimento das práticas de convergência ao IFRS, e o impacto da adoção destas práticas no custo de capital e liquidez de mercado no Brasil, um país emergente caracterizado por distinto ambiente institucional e elevadas oportunidades de crescimento. Este trabalho estende o estudo de Daske et al. (2008) ao considerar a observação de Ball (2006), de que a adoção de um padrão contábil superior não necessariamente se traduz em melhor qualidade de divulgação, uma vez que a qualidade dos relatórios contábeis pode ser fortemente moldada não pelas normas contábeis somente, mas também pelos incentivos e pela intensidade das forças políticas/econômicas presentes. Utilizando uma amostra de 148 companhias listadas na Bolsa Valores de São Paulo, o estudo emprega duas medidas para a caracterização da convergência baseadas no (i) Índice de Atendimento às Práticas de Convergência Internacional (IAPC) e na (ii) variação do volume de informação divulgada nos demonstrativos financeiros completos. Estimativas do custo de capital próprio são obtidas a partir de quatro modelos sugeridos pela literatura - Claus e Thomas (2001), Gebhardt et al. (2001), Easton (2004) e Ohlson e Juettner-Nauroth (2005). Para a liquidez de mercado, utilizam-se proxies para o bid-ask spread, turnover da ação e impacto no preço. Os incentivos econômicos estudados são: (i) tamanho; (ii) exposição ao mercado internacional; (iii) necessidade de financiamento externo; (iv) expectativa de oportunidades de crescimento; (v) desempenho; (vi) estrutura de propriedade e controle corporativo e (vii) empresa de auditoria externa. A metodologia da dissertação é subdivida nas seguintes análises: os determinantes do grau de atendimento às práticas de convergência; a heterogeneidade dos efeitos da convergência no mercado de capitais e a análise intertemporal dos efeitos da convergência no mercado de capitais. Em todas as abordagens, concentram-se nos papéis dos incentivos econômicos na análise. Inicialmente, a avaliação preliminar das proxies do estudo permitiu a validação empírica das estimativas do custo de capital próprio e das medidas de liquidez de mercado. Os resultados indicam que os incentivos são importantes determinantes do comportamento das empresas frente ao atendimento das práticas de convergência. Os resultados sugerem que empresas (i) maiores, (ii) menos alavancadas, (iii) com maiores oportunidades de crescimento, (iv) maior rentabilidade, (v) estrutura de propriedade e controle mais difusa e (vi) auditadas por companhias Big Four estão mais propensas a adotar as práticas de convergência de maneira que perfaçam mudanças materiais em suas políticas contábeis. A análise das consequências econômicas evidencia que, mesmo controlando para os incentivos subjacentes, o custo de capital e a liquidez de mercado (com exceção do Impacto no Preço) parecem estar relacionados ao compromisso das empresas com o atendimento das práticas de convergência ao IFRS. Assim, apesar das características emergentes da economia brasileira, os resultados apresentam indícios de que a adoção do modelo contábil internacional pode implicar em melhora no ambiente informacional das empresas independentemente dos efeitos individuais dos incentivos. No entanto, as evidências sugerem que a mensuração desta relação deve ser condicionada à análise dos incentivos subjacentes das empresas, pois eles parecem exercer efeitos interativos no custo de capital próprio e na liquidez de mercado. Por último, a análise intertemporal apresenta apenas fracos indícios de que o IAPC influencia a variação do custo de capital entre os períodos de 2006 a 2009. Nesta análise, os incentivos parecem dominar o efeito individual da norma contábil. Ao contrário, na análise da liquidez de mercado, o efeito individual da norma contábil parece sobrepor o efeito dos incentivos. / The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate whether underlying firm-level incentives influence firms\' compliance with IFRS convergence practices and whether this adoption impact firms\' cost of equity capital and market liquidity in Brazil, a setting with a very distinct institutional environment and high growth opportunities. The study extends the work of Daske et al. (2008) considering Ball\'s (2006) observation that superior accounting standards do not necessarily translate into higher quality reporting, since reporting quality may be largely shaped not by accounting standards alone, but also by firm-level economic incentives and economic/political forces. Using a sample of 148 firms with shares traded in the São Paulo Stock Exchange, the study employs two measures of accounting convergence based on (i) compliance to a 58-item index (IAPC), called the International Accounting Standards Convergence Index and (ii) quantity increase in annual reports disclosure. An implied measure of cost of capital is calculated from four models (Claus and Thomas, 2001; Gebhardt et al., 2001; Easton, 2004; Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth, 2005). Market liquidity is measured by the bid-ask spread, price impact and share turnover. Firm-level economic incentives consider size, exposure to international markets, financing needs, growth opportunities, profitability, ownership structure and corporate control and auditing firm. The methodology is divided in the following analysis: the determinants of the levels of compliance with the IFRS convergence practices, the heterogeneity of IFRS convergence effects on the capital markets and the intertemporal analysis of the IFRS convergence effects on the capital markets. In all approaches, the analyses focus on the roles of economic incentives. Initially, the preliminary assessment of the proxies allowed the empirical validation of the estimates of cost of capital and measurements of market liquidity. The results indicate that firm-level incentives are important determinants in the attitude of companies towards the adoption of IFRS convergence practices. The results suggest that firms that (i) are larger, (ii) are less leveraged, (iii) have greater opportunities for growth, (iv) have greater profitability, (iv) diffuse ownership and control structure and (v) are audited by the Big Four are more likely to adopt IFRS practices by implementing material changes in their accounting policies. The analysis of economic consequence shows that cost of capital and market liquidity (except the impact on price) seem to be related to the companies commitment to the adoption of IFRS convergence practices, even controlling underlying incentives. Thus, despite the emerging characteristics of the Brazilian economy, the results shows signs that the adoption of a superior accounting model can imply improvements to the information environment of companies, regardless of their firm-level incentives, resulting in positive impacts on capital markets. However, evidence suggests that measurement of this relation should be conditional on the analysis of firm-level incentives, since they seem to directly determine the disclosure of corporate financial information and exert interactive effects on the cost of capital and market liquidity. Finally, the intertemporal analysis provides only weak evidence that the IAPC influences the changes in cost of capital from 2006 to 2009. In this analysis, the incentives seem dominate the individual effect of accounting standards. Instead, the analyses of market liquidity shows that individual accounting standards seem dominate the effect of the incentives.

Esta dissertação investiga o papel dos incentivos individuais das companhias no compromisso com o atendimento das práticas de convergência ao IFRS, e o impacto da adoção destas práticas no custo de capital e liquidez de mercado no Brasil, um país emergente caracterizado por distinto ambiente institucional e elevadas oportunidades de crescimento. Este trabalho estende o estudo de Daske et al. (2008) ao considerar a observação de Ball (2006), de que a adoção de um padrão contábil superior não necessariamente se traduz em melhor qualidade de divulgação, uma vez que a qualidade dos relatórios contábeis pode ser fortemente moldada não pelas normas contábeis somente, mas também pelos incentivos e pela intensidade das forças políticas/econômicas presentes. Utilizando uma amostra de 148 companhias listadas na Bolsa Valores de São Paulo, o estudo emprega duas medidas para a caracterização da convergência baseadas no (i) Índice de Atendimento às Práticas de Convergência Internacional (IAPC) e na (ii) variação do volume de informação divulgada nos demonstrativos financeiros completos. Estimativas do custo de capital próprio são obtidas a partir de quatro modelos sugeridos pela literatura - Claus e Thomas (2001), Gebhardt et al. (2001), Easton (2004) e Ohlson e Juettner-Nauroth (2005). Para a liquidez de mercado, utilizam-se proxies para o bid-ask spread, turnover da ação e impacto no preço. Os incentivos econômicos estudados são: (i) tamanho; (ii) exposição ao mercado internacional; (iii) necessidade de financiamento externo; (iv) expectativa de oportunidades de crescimento; (v) desempenho; (vi) estrutura de propriedade e controle corporativo e (vii) empresa de auditoria externa. A metodologia da dissertação é subdivida nas seguintes análises: os determinantes do grau de atendimento às práticas de convergência; a heterogeneidade dos efeitos da convergência no mercado de capitais e a análise intertemporal dos efeitos da convergência no mercado de capitais. Em todas as abordagens, concentram-se nos papéis dos incentivos econômicos na análise. Inicialmente, a avaliação preliminar das proxies do estudo permitiu a validação empírica das estimativas do custo de capital próprio e das medidas de liquidez de mercado. Os resultados indicam que os incentivos são importantes determinantes do comportamento das empresas frente ao atendimento das práticas de convergência. Os resultados sugerem que empresas (i) maiores, (ii) menos alavancadas, (iii) com maiores oportunidades de crescimento, (iv) maior rentabilidade, (v) estrutura de propriedade e controle mais difusa e (vi) auditadas por companhias Big Four estão mais propensas a adotar as práticas de convergência de maneira que perfaçam mudanças materiais em suas políticas contábeis. A análise das consequências econômicas evidencia que, mesmo controlando para os incentivos subjacentes, o custo de capital e a liquidez de mercado (com exceção do Impacto no Preço) parecem estar relacionados ao compromisso das empresas com o atendimento das práticas de convergência ao IFRS. Assim, apesar das características emergentes da economia brasileira, os resultados apresentam indícios de que a adoção do modelo contábil internacional pode implicar em melhora no ambiente informacional das empresas independentemente dos efeitos individuais dos incentivos. No entanto, as evidências sugerem que a mensuração desta relação deve ser condicionada à análise dos incentivos subjacentes das empresas, pois eles parecem exercer efeitos interativos no custo de capital próprio e na liquidez de mercado. Por último, a análise intertemporal apresenta apenas fracos indícios de que o IAPC influencia a variação do custo de capital entre os períodos de 2006 a 2009. Nesta análise, os incentivos parecem dominar o efeito individual da norma contábil. Ao contrário, na análise da liquidez de mercado, o efeito individual da norma contábil parece sobrepor o efeito dos incentivos. / The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate whether underlying firm-level incentives influence firms\' compliance with IFRS convergence practices and whether this adoption impact firms\' cost of equity capital and market liquidity in Brazil, a setting with a very distinct institutional environment and high growth opportunities. The study extends the work of Daske et al. (2008) considering Ball\'s (2006) observation that superior accounting standards do not necessarily translate into higher quality reporting, since reporting quality may be largely shaped not by accounting standards alone, but also by firm-level economic incentives and economic/political forces. Using a sample of 148 firms with shares traded in the São Paulo Stock Exchange, the study employs two measures of accounting convergence based on (i) compliance to a 58-item index (IAPC), called the International Accounting Standards Convergence Index and (ii) quantity increase in annual reports disclosure. An implied measure of cost of capital is calculated from four models (Claus and Thomas, 2001; Gebhardt et al., 2001; Easton, 2004; Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth, 2005). Market liquidity is measured by the bid-ask spread, price impact and share turnover. Firm-level economic incentives consider size, exposure to international markets, financing needs, growth opportunities, profitability, ownership structure and corporate control and auditing firm. The methodology is divided in the following analysis: the determinants of the levels of compliance with the IFRS convergence practices, the heterogeneity of IFRS convergence effects on the capital markets and the intertemporal analysis of the IFRS convergence effects on the capital markets. In all approaches, the analyses focus on the roles of economic incentives. Initially, the preliminary assessment of the proxies allowed the empirical validation of the estimates of cost of capital and measurements of market liquidity. The results indicate that firm-level incentives are important determinants in the attitude of companies towards the adoption of IFRS convergence practices. The results suggest that firms that (i) are larger, (ii) are less leveraged, (iii) have greater opportunities for growth, (iv) have greater profitability, (iv) diffuse ownership and control structure and (v) are audited by the Big Four are more likely to adopt IFRS practices by implementing material changes in their accounting policies. The analysis of economic consequence shows that cost of capital and market liquidity (except the impact on price) seem to be related to the companies commitment to the adoption of IFRS convergence practices, even controlling underlying incentives. Thus, despite the emerging characteristics of the Brazilian economy, the results shows signs that the adoption of a superior accounting model can imply improvements to the information environment of companies, regardless of their firm-level incentives, resulting in positive impacts on capital markets. However, evidence suggests that measurement of this relation should be conditional on the analysis of firm-level incentives, since they seem to directly determine the disclosure of corporate financial information and exert interactive effects on the cost of capital and market liquidity. Finally, the intertemporal analysis provides only weak evidence that the IAPC influences the changes in cost of capital from 2006 to 2009. In this analysis, the incentives seem dominate the individual effect of accounting standards. Instead, the analyses of market liquidity shows that individual accounting standards seem dominate the effect of the incentives.