Os mecanismos de proteção aos acionistas e credores surgiram prometendo às empresas que realizam investimentos em governança corporativa obter valorização da organização. Isto se daria porque os financiadores estariam menos expostos à expropriação do seu capital por meio de mecanismos de governança corporativa que assegurassem os seus direitos, o que facilitaria a comercialização de suas ações e títulos, o acesso ao mercado de capitais e uma redução do custo de capital, levando, assim, à valorização da empresa. Dentro deste contexto, este trabalho busca analisar a relação entre governança corporativa e o custo de capital próprio em empresas brasileiras de capital aberto. O presente estudo investiga se as empresas que adotam práticas de governança corporativa, medida pelos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa da Bovespa, possuem um menor custo de capital próprio associado quando comparadas às empresas que não adotam tais práticas. Para o cálculo do custo de capital próprio foram utilizados o CAPM e o Modelo de Três Fatores com o intuito de verificar se a relação com as práticas de governança independe do método adotado. Utilizou-se a regressão linear múltipla para as análises estatísticas tendo como variável dependente o custo de capital próprio e as variáveis independentes de governança corporativa, grau de alavancagem financeira, grau de alavancagem operacional, os setores, o grau de intangibilidade da empresa e o tempo que a empresa está presente na Bovespa. Foi encontrada uma relação positiva do custo de capital próprio, medido pelo CAPM, com as empresas que adotam qualquer um dos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa, ou seja, o custo de capital próprio é maior para empresas que aderiram a tais práticas. Nas demais análises, a governança corporativa não foi significativa. Dentro deste contexto, não se confirma a hipótese apresentada de menor custo de capital próprio associado à governança corporativa. Assim sendo, a valorização das empresas poderia se dar pelo incremento do fluxo de caixa esperado e não pela diminuição do custo de capital próprio. Pode-se considerar também que a adoção das práticas de governança corporativa estaria relacionada às empresas que possuem um maior risco associado, e que pretendem reduzi-lo adotando medidas de proteção ao acionista minoritário, ou ainda que o beta da empresa que representa o CAPM estaria mostrando um desempenho superior da empresa com relação ao mercado e dentro deste contexto não estaria sinalizando o risco associado, mas sim um melhor comportamento da ação da empresa se comparada ao mercado. / Protection mechanisms to shareholders and creditors were created promising that companies that invest in corporate governance would be appreciated. This would be possible because investors would be less exposed to the expropriation of their own capital by means of corporate governance mechanisms that ensure their rights and, accordingly, this would facilitate the sale of their shares and securities, the access to the capital market and a decrease in the cost of capital, appreciating thus the company. In this context, this paper has the purpose of analyzing the relationship between corporate governance and the cost of capital in Brazilian publicly-traded companies. This study determines whether the companies that adopt corporate governance practices, measured by Bovespa\'s (São Paulo Stock Exchange) corporate governance different levels, have a lower cost of capital when compared to companies that do not adopt these practices. To calculate the cost of capital, the CAPM and the Three-factor model were used to verify whether the relationship with corporate governance practices depends or not on the method adopted. The multiple linear regression was used to analyze statistics and the dependent variable was the cost of capital and the independent variables were the degree of financial leverage, the degree of operating leverage, the industries, the company\'s degree of intangibility and the time the company is listed on Bovespa. A positive relationship between the cost of capital, measured by the CAPM, and companies that adopt any of the corporate governance different levels was found, namely, the cost of capital is higher for companies that adhered to these practices. In the other analyses, the corporate governance was not significant. In this context, the hypothesis determining that a lower cost of capital is related to corporate governance is not confirmed. Therefore, the companies could be appreciated by increasing the expected cash flow and not by decreasing the cost of capital. We may also consider that corporate governance practices would be adopted by companies subject to a higher risk and that intend to reduce it by adopting protection measures to the minority shareholder, or that the company\'s beta that represents the CAPM would show a higher performance in relation to the market and, in this case, this would not highlight the risk, but a better performance of the company\'s shares when compared to the market.

Integrated Reporting is an initiative that encourages companies to analyze their business model in a holistic way. This process includes active consideration of financial and non-financial perspectives in order to understand all the capital generated, maintained and destroyed by the company over time. It allows companies to understand their activities, considering all factors used or affected, as well as the organization\'s entire context, causing the concept of Integrated Thinking to be ingrained in the company culture. Based on the Systems Theory, the integrated analysis of financial and non-financial aspects - as proposed by - can lead to different conclusions than with separate analyses because of the connections and interrelations between those two aspects. Application of the Integrated Thinking concept may result in two main advantages for the company: 1) an improvement in its management processes, especially with respect to non-financial capitals; and 2) a decrease in information asymmetry. Therefore, based on the Voluntary Disclosure Theory, these two factors may result in economic benefits for the organization. Thus, this research investigates how the cost of equity and cost of debt relate to the Integrated Reporting disclosure, and what is the impact of institutional factors on that relationship. A global sample of 25,311 firm-year observations, from 2010 to 2017, was analyzed employing a method that considered two dimensions: 1) Treatment: voluntary adopters of Integrated Reporting compared to a control group selected by a PSM (Propensity Score Matching) procedure; and 2) Time: both groups were compared in the periods before and after the adoption. Results indicated that the Integrated Reporting disclosure is negatively related to the cost of equity. The results are robust after controlling for several firm-level and country-level factors, and by industry. Further analyses showed that this negative effect is more prevalent for companies with high enforcement environments and revealed that companies in a Shareholder Oriented environment achieved a greater reduction in the cost of equity, when compared to companies in a Stakeholder Oriented environment. Evidence also showed that debtholders and equity holders respond differently to the Integrated Reporting disclosure. Despite the difference in cost of equity for companies adopting Integrated Reporting, limited evidence of a relationship between cost of debt and disclosure was found, even when subsamples were analyzed in view of institutional factors. Further investigations on the effect of assurance in the relationship between cost of debt and disclosure were conducted, uncovering that companies in a High Enforcement environment that assure their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) information showed a lower cost of debt. This study contributes to the literature of Integrated Reporting by showing how it relates to cost of equity and cost of debt, considering a global sample of voluntary adopters. The study also analyzed the impact of institutional factors in this relationship, employing a robust method of analysis that differentiates it from other studies. / Relato Integrado é uma iniciativa que encoraja as empresas a analisarem seu modelo de negócio de uma forma holística. Esse processo inclui a consideração ativa das perspectivas financeiras e não financeiras para entender todo o capital gerado, mantido e destruído pela companhia ao longo do tempo. Isso permite que as empresas entendam suas atividades, considerando todos os fatores usados ou afetados, e também todo o contexto da organização, levando ao enraizamento do conceito de Pensamento Integrado na cultura empresarial. De acordo com a Teoria de Sistemas, a análise integrada de aspectos financeiros e não financeiros, como proposto pelo , pode levar a conclusões diferentes das análises separadas, devido às conexões e interações entre eles. Aplicar o conceito de Pensamento Integrado pode resultar em duas vantagens para a empresa: 1) melhoria nos processos de gestão, especialmente ao que diz respeito aos capitais não financeiros; e 2) redução da assimetria de informação. Assim sendo, baseando-se na Teoria de Disclosure Voluntário, esses dois fatores podem resultar em benefícios econômicos para a organização. Logo, esta pesquisa investiga como os custos de capital próprio e de terceiros se relacionam com a divulgação do relato integrado e quais os impactos de fatores institucionais nessa relação. Analisou-se uma amostra global de 25.311 observações, de 2010 a 2017, empregando um método que considera duas dimensões: 1) Tratamento: adotantes voluntários de Relato Integrado comparados a um grupo de tratamento selecionado pelo procedimento de PSM (Propensity Score Matching); e 2) Tempo: ambos os grupos foram comparados nos períodos anterior e posterior a adoção. Os resultados indicaram que a divulgação de relato integrado é negativamente relacionada com o custo de capital próprio. Os resultados são robustos após controlar por diversos fatores em nível de firma e país, e ainda por setor. Análises adicionais mostram que esse efeito negativo se concentra em empresas num ambiente de alto enforcement e revelou que companhias em ambientes orientados aos investidores (Shareholder Oriented) verificaram uma redução maior do custo de capital, quando comparadas a companhias em um ambiente orientado aos Stakeholders. Entre os achados também destacou-se que os credores respondem à divulgação de relato integrado de diversas maneiras. Apesar da diferença encontrada no custo de capital próprio relacionado à divulgação de relato integrado, foram encontradas evidencias limitadas da relação entre o custo da dívida e a divulgação de relato integrado, até mesmo quando subamostras foram analisadas frente a fatores institucionais. Conduziu-se investigações mais aprofundadas sobre o efeito de asseguração na relação entre custo de dívida e divulgação do , e identificou-se que as companhias num ambiente de alto enforcement que asseguram suas informações de RSC (Responsabilidade Social Corporativa) apresentam um custo de dívida menor. Este estudo contribui para a literatura de relato integrado mostrando como os custos de capital próprio e de terceiros se relacionam à essa iniciativa, considerando-se uma amostra global de adotantes voluntários. Analisou-se o impacto de fatores institucionais nessa relação e empregou-se um método robusto, diferenciando este de outros estudos.

企業透明度高低對投資者與企業都有一定影響，對於透明度高企業，投資者比較不會因為資訊不對稱而遭受損失，且能夠有效監督管理者可能有的自利行為；而企業若是透明度較高，也能夠降低在市場募集資金的成本，因此本研究試圖找出對公司透明度能有一定反映程度的指標，藉此作為評價企業透明度參考依據，進一步對研究企業透明度與資金成本的關係有所助益；此外，以我國市場為研究對象，找出會影響本研究找出透明度衡量指標因素，探討可能影響我國企業透明度因素。 本研究以系統風險和一般股價評估模式推論認為系統風險應該對於企業透明度有一定解釋能力，因此本研究以系統風險做為透明度衡量指標，並探討可能影響其因素，可能影響因素則包括研究發展費用比率、公司規模、外資法人持股比率、營業費用比例以及家族企業等因素；由於過去文獻指出系統風險會受營運槓桿與財務槓桿影響，因此本研究將其做為控制變數，此外，股權集中度或許會影響股價的波動，進而影響系統風險，因此本研究也將此做為控制變數。 本研究採用迴歸分析方法研究，研究結果指出，研究發展費用比率以及家族企業對系統風險也就是公司透明度會有所影響，與預期相同，而營業費用比率則無相關，至於外資法人持股比率和公司規模則與預期方向相反，綜觀其原因或許是因為外資在台灣可能以短線進出為主，而規模較大公司又是外資青睞對象而使此兩個指標與預期相反。

Submitted by Maykon Nascimento (maykon.albani@hotmail.com) on 2015-12-14T18:37:06Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Essays on life cycle voluntary disclosure and the cost of capital of brazilian companies.pdf: 1743467 bytes, checksum: 506c8fe8bffb13d82c87125c7dd355fb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Morgana Andrade (morgana.andrade@ufes.br) on 2016-01-07T11:31:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Essays on life cycle voluntary disclosure and the cost of capital of brazilian companies.pdf: 1743467 bytes, checksum: 506c8fe8bffb13d82c87125c7dd355fb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-07T11:31:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Essays on life cycle voluntary disclosure and the cost of capital of brazilian companies.pdf: 1743467 bytes, checksum: 506c8fe8bffb13d82c87125c7dd355fb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / CAPES / Esta dissertação investiga como os estágios do ciclo de vida impactam no disclosure voluntário, no custo de capital próprio e também na relação entre eles. Utilizando uma amostra de empresas não-financeiras entre 2008 e 2014, e seguindo o modelo de Gebhardt et al. (2001) para desenvolver o Custo de Capital Implícito (ICC), usando a base de dados I/B/E/S, da Thomson Reuters®, encontra-se que, em média, as empresas são beneficiadas com a redução do custo de capital por meio da melhora no nível de evidenciação voluntária. Usando a métrica de ciclo de vida de Dickinson (2001), encontra-se que o nível de disclosure voluntário cresce até atingir o estágio de maturidade e então esse nível decresce. Ainda, o ICC se difere significativamente entre os estágios de ciclo de vida. Contudo, não são encontradas diferenças significativas entre os estágios de crescimento, maturidade e shake-out, embora o nível de ICC diminua depois de sair do estágio inicial e ele cresça novamente no estágio de declínio. Finalmente, encontra-se que a melhora no nível de disclosure voluntário nos estágios de crescimento e maturidade é mais bem compensada com uma redução maior no nível de custo de capital. Os resultados para o disclosure voluntário são robustos usando uma série de testes de sensibilidade, muito embora os resultados não tenham se mantido para o custo de capital usando proxies diferentes. / This thesis investigates how life cycle stages impact on voluntary disclosure, cost of equity capital and also on the relationship between them. Using a sample of non-financial Brazilian listed firms covered by analysts between 2008 and 2014, and following the model by Gebhardt et al. (2001) to develop the Implied Cost of Capital (ICC) using I/B/E/S database, from Thomson Reuters®, I find that companies on average are benefitted by the reduction of the cost of capital via improvement in voluntary information level. Using Dickinson’s (2001) life cycle measure, I find that voluntary disclosure level grows until reaching the maturity phase and then it declines. Moreover, the ICC significantly differs across life cycle stages. However, I do not find differences among growth, maturity and shake-out, although the level of the ICC fades out after leaving the initial stage and it increases again in decline stage. Finally, I find that the improvement of voluntary disclosure level in growth and maturity stages is better compensated with more reduction in cost of capital. The results for voluntary disclosure are shown to be robust using a series of sensitivity tests, however the expectation about cost of capital did not hold using different proxies.

Os mecanismos de proteção aos acionistas e credores surgiram prometendo às empresas que realizam investimentos em governança corporativa obter valorização da organização. Isto se daria porque os financiadores estariam menos expostos à expropriação do seu capital por meio de mecanismos de governança corporativa que assegurassem os seus direitos, o que facilitaria a comercialização de suas ações e títulos, o acesso ao mercado de capitais e uma redução do custo de capital, levando, assim, à valorização da empresa. Dentro deste contexto, este trabalho busca analisar a relação entre governança corporativa e o custo de capital próprio em empresas brasileiras de capital aberto. O presente estudo investiga se as empresas que adotam práticas de governança corporativa, medida pelos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa da Bovespa, possuem um menor custo de capital próprio associado quando comparadas às empresas que não adotam tais práticas. Para o cálculo do custo de capital próprio foram utilizados o CAPM e o Modelo de Três Fatores com o intuito de verificar se a relação com as práticas de governança independe do método adotado. Utilizou-se a regressão linear múltipla para as análises estatísticas tendo como variável dependente o custo de capital próprio e as variáveis independentes de governança corporativa, grau de alavancagem financeira, grau de alavancagem operacional, os setores, o grau de intangibilidade da empresa e o tempo que a empresa está presente na Bovespa. Foi encontrada uma relação positiva do custo de capital próprio, medido pelo CAPM, com as empresas que adotam qualquer um dos níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa, ou seja, o custo de capital próprio é maior para empresas que aderiram a tais práticas. Nas demais análises, a governança corporativa não foi significativa. Dentro deste contexto, não se confirma a hipótese apresentada de menor custo de capital próprio associado à governança corporativa. Assim sendo, a valorização das empresas poderia se dar pelo incremento do fluxo de caixa esperado e não pela diminuição do custo de capital próprio. Pode-se considerar também que a adoção das práticas de governança corporativa estaria relacionada às empresas que possuem um maior risco associado, e que pretendem reduzi-lo adotando medidas de proteção ao acionista minoritário, ou ainda que o beta da empresa que representa o CAPM estaria mostrando um desempenho superior da empresa com relação ao mercado e dentro deste contexto não estaria sinalizando o risco associado, mas sim um melhor comportamento da ação da empresa se comparada ao mercado. / Protection mechanisms to shareholders and creditors were created promising that companies that invest in corporate governance would be appreciated. This would be possible because investors would be less exposed to the expropriation of their own capital by means of corporate governance mechanisms that ensure their rights and, accordingly, this would facilitate the sale of their shares and securities, the access to the capital market and a decrease in the cost of capital, appreciating thus the company. In this context, this paper has the purpose of analyzing the relationship between corporate governance and the cost of capital in Brazilian publicly-traded companies. This study determines whether the companies that adopt corporate governance practices, measured by Bovespa\'s (São Paulo Stock Exchange) corporate governance different levels, have a lower cost of capital when compared to companies that do not adopt these practices. To calculate the cost of capital, the CAPM and the Three-factor model were used to verify whether the relationship with corporate governance practices depends or not on the method adopted. The multiple linear regression was used to analyze statistics and the dependent variable was the cost of capital and the independent variables were the degree of financial leverage, the degree of operating leverage, the industries, the company\'s degree of intangibility and the time the company is listed on Bovespa. A positive relationship between the cost of capital, measured by the CAPM, and companies that adopt any of the corporate governance different levels was found, namely, the cost of capital is higher for companies that adhered to these practices. In the other analyses, the corporate governance was not significant. In this context, the hypothesis determining that a lower cost of capital is related to corporate governance is not confirmed. Therefore, the companies could be appreciated by increasing the expected cash flow and not by decreasing the cost of capital. We may also consider that corporate governance practices would be adopted by companies subject to a higher risk and that intend to reduce it by adopting protection measures to the minority shareholder, or that the company\'s beta that represents the CAPM would show a higher performance in relation to the market and, in this case, this would not highlight the risk, but a better performance of the company\'s shares when compared to the market.

Introduktion En anledning till att företag vill ge ut frivillig redovisning kan vara för att erhålla positiva ekonomiska effekter så som minskad kapitalkostnad. Tidigare forskning finner blandade resultat gällande den frivilliga redovisningens påverkan på kapitalkostnaden. Forskningen indikerar att olika innehåll i den frivilliga redovisningen kan ge varierande effekter på kapitalkostnaden. Därför är det intressant att göra en mer detaljerad analys av innehållet i den frivilliga redovisningen relaterat till kostnaden för eget och lånat kapital. Syfte Studiens syfte är att förklara hur innehållet i den frivilliga redovisningen påverkar kostnaden för eget och lånat kapital. Metod Studien har en deduktiv ansats och utgår ifrån en kvantitativ strategi med kvalitativa inslag. Genom en tvärsnittsdesign genomförs en innehållsanalys av den frivilliga redovisningen i 44 börsnoterade bolags årsredovisningar för att kvantifiera innehållet. Slutsats Resultatet visar på att mer frivillig redovisning i form av information om risk och information av icke-finansiell karaktär leder till minskad kostnad för eget kapital. Mer aktierelaterad information, information av historisk, framåtriktad, kvantitativ, icke-kvantitativ och icke-finansiell karaktär leder till minskad kostnad för lånat kapital. Även mer frivillig redovisning totalt sett minskar kostnaden för lånat kapital. Resultatet bör dock endast ses som indikationer på hur sambanden kan se ut på grund av studiens begränsningar. / Introduction A reason for companies to publish voluntary disclosure can be to receive positive economic effects such as reduced cost of capital. Previous research find mixed results regarding the impact of voluntary disclosure on the cost of capital. Research indicates that different content of voluntary disclosure can affect the cost of capital differently. Therefore, it is of interest to conduct a more detailed analysis of the content of voluntary disclosure related to the cost of equity and debt capital. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain how the content of voluntary disclosure affects the cost of equity and debt capital. Method This is a quantitative study with qualitative elements that has a deductive approach. Through a cross-sectional design, a content analysis of the voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of 44 listed companies is conducted to quantify the content. Conclusion The results show that more voluntary disclosure in the form ofinformation about risk and information of a non-financial nature leads to a reduced cost of equity. More share-related information and information of a historical, forward-looking, quantitative, non- quantitative and non-financial nature leads to a reduced cost of debt capital. More voluntary disclosure in total also reduces the cost of debt capital. However, due to the limitations of the study, the results should only be seen as indications of the nature of the relationships.

En gestion des entreprises, l’audit est un mécanisme clé de gouvernance en contribuant notamment à améliorer la qualité du reporting financier et réduisant, par là-même, l’asymétrie d’information entre les parties prenantes. Pour assurer un tel dessein, l’audit doit être de bonne qualité, c’est-à-dire, diligenté par des auditeurs à la fois compétents et indépendants. Au plan académique, depuis les travaux fondateurs de Watts et Zimmerman (1979), et DeAngelo (1981), la difficulté d’opérationnalisation de la qualité de l’audit reste présente, compte tenu du caractère inobservable de cette procédure. Fort de ce constat, cette recherche doctorale propose un cadre analytique de l’audit utile à l’étude empirique de ses conséquences économiques pour les parties prenantes de l’entreprise. En premier lieu, dans un contexte institutionnel dit d’audit implicite – l’UEMOA – et à partir d’un échantillon constitué de banques, au cours de la période 2006-2010, nous montrons qu’un audit de qualité s’avère complémentaire aux mécanismes de gouvernance traditionnels. Dans un second temps, dans un contexte institutionnel dit d’audit explicite – la France –, nous proposons une mesure originale de l’indépendance de l’auditeur afin d’étudier ses conséquences économiques pour les sociétés cotées. A partir d’un échantillon constitué de sociétés cotées au CAC All-Tradable, pour la période allant de 2006 à 2013, nous concluons que le renforcement de l’indépendance des auditeurs, aussi bien individuelle que collective, impacte significativement (1) la qualité des états financiers divulgués à travers une amélioration de la qualité des résultats, (2) le comportement des investisseurs à travers le coût du capital et (3) les prévisions des analystes financiers dans le contexte particulier des tests de dépréciation du goodwill. / In business management, audit seems to be a key element of corporate governance which contributes to improve the quality of financial reporting. For this purpose, it plays an essential role in reducing the information asymmetry between stakeholders and in ensuring the credibility of accounting numbers disclosed. Firms must be audited by competent and independent auditors. In this academic area, since the seminal studies of Watts and Zimmerman (1979), and DeAngelo (1981), the operationalization of audit quality remains critical for researchers, because of its unobservable character. This thesis, hereby, proposes an analytical framework for audit and empirically examines the economic consequences of this procedure for stakeholders. On the one hand, focusing on an institutional context of implied audit (i.e. WAEMU), and based on a sample made of commercial banks over 2006-2010, we find that audit quality through mandatory joint audit is complementary to traditional corporate governance mechanisms. On the other hand, under an explicit audit context, we test an original proxy for audit quality and study its economic consequences for French listed companies over the period 2006-2013. Our results suggest that the higher single and joint auditor independence are, (1) the better earnings quality is, (2) the less implied cost of equity is, (3) the higher disclosure on goodwill impairment testing is, which leads financial analysts to greater earnings forecast revisions.

In this doctoral thesis is suggested the methodics for determination the risk structure depending on the corporate life cycle with considering the sector sensitivity to the economic cycle. The share of the operational and financial risk is calculated using the beta coefficient, in which the selected measuring quantities are included. The phases of the corporate life cycle are identified according to the quadrants of the Boston matrix and the sector sensitivity to the economic cycle is determined using the Spearman´s rank correlation coefficient describing the relation between the gross domestic product and sales of the sector. The methodics is applicable for both managers and investors.

本研究的目的在於探討企業的財務結構決策是否攸關市場價值。根據加權平均資金成本與企業評價模式相關文獻基礎，產生下列三個假設：(1)資本結構與平均資金成本存有關聯性；(2)最適資本結構必須存在，以使平均資金成本達到最低；(3)平均資金成本與企業價值也存有關聯性。故本研究之實證議題探討：(1)平均資金成本與資本結構的關聯性以及最佳資本結構是否存在(2)加權平均資金成本、權益資金成本與企業價值的關聯性(3)資本結構與平均資金成本之關聯性對企業價值的影響。 本研究使用民國80年至88年台灣證交所股票上市公司作為樣本資料，主要的實證結果如下。財務結構與平均資金成本具有顯著的負向關係，故實證結果並不支持M-M 的槓桿無關論。在十八個產業中，大約半數的產業存在最適資本結構。此外，相對於平均資金成本而言，權益資金成本與股價報酬呈現顯著的負向關係，且具有較高的解釋力；這個結果強調了權益資金成本在解釋股價報酬上的重要性。 本研究亦發現，企業經理人無法透過財務結構的調整來極大化企業的價值，經理人應該考量其他方式來極大化公司的價值。 / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether financial structure decisions of a firm are relevant to its market value. Three assumptions underlie the literature on weighted average cost of capital and firm valuation models. First, the linkage exists between the capital structure and the average cost of capital. Second, in order to minimize the average cost of capital, the presence of optimal capital structure is required. And third, the relationship exists between the average cost of capital and firm values. The empirical issues explored in this thesis therefore include: (1) The relationship between the average cost of capital and the capital structure and the presence of optimal capital structure; (2) The association between weighted average cost of capital, cost of equity capital and firm values; and (3) The influence of capital structure-average cost of capital relationship on firm values. Using the listed companies on Taiwan Stock Exchange over the period of 1991 to 1999 as the sample, major empirical findings are as follows. The empirical evidence indicates that financial structure is significantly negatively associated with the average cost of capital, which in turn may imply the M-M leverage irrelevance proposition is not supported by the sample firms examined. About half of the 18 industries examined in this study suggest the presence of optimal capital structure. Furthermore, compared to the average cost of capital, the cost of equity capital is found to be significantly and negatively associated with stock returns and has better explanatory power. This emphasizes the importance of the cost of equity capital in interpreting the behavior of stock returns. In addition, this thesis also finds that managers’ influence of maximizing firms’values through adjusting their firms’financial structures is limited. Managers may have to find avenues other than financial structure decisions to maximize the values of their firms.

本研究旨在探討管理當局自願性盈餘預測與權益資金成本之關聯性，檢視管理當局發布盈餘預測頻率之影響是否反應於權益資金成本上，並進一步檢視管理當局之聲譽是否為影響權益資金成本的因素之一。 在本研究的實證分析結果中，發現管理當局發布自願性盈餘預測之頻率與權益資金成本呈顯著負相關，表示管理當局發布盈餘預測的次數越多時，權益資金成本越低。 在管理當局聲譽對於權益資金成本的影響，本研究實證分析結果發現，管理當局之聲譽與權益資金成本亦呈顯著負相關，管理當局聲譽以管理當局預測誤差和分析師預測誤差來衡量，當管理當局的盈餘預測誤差小於分析師盈餘預測誤差時，投資人認為管理當局對盈餘的預測有效且值得信賴，此時管理當局聲譽提高，投資人認為取得有用的資訊，進而降低企業權益資金成本。 / The primary objective of this thesis is to explore whether the frequency of management forecasts is related to the cost of equity capital. In addition, I further examine whether the association is stronger when management has better reputation. Basing on a sample of S&P 500 listed firms during 2000-2009, I find that, consistent with my prediction, cost of firm’s equity capital decreases with the frequency of management earning forecasts after controlling for other determinants well-documented to be related to cost of equity capital. Second, I find that cost of equity capital is negatively related to the reputation of management; however, I do not find that the association between cost of equity capital and the frequency of management systematically vary with the reputation of management.