No description available.

by Kwok Chak Man, Maurice and Lau Wah Ching. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references.

A central consideration in constructing a theory of the firm is the divergent preferences of managers and investors. Managers have incentives to take actions (shirk, consume perquisites) not in the best interests of the firm. Accounting reports are a primary method by which managers make assertions about their actions or the results of their actions. Auditing is a mechanism by which managers can purchase external verification of their disclosures. This dissertation develops the demand for auditing in two multiperiod environments. The first environment allows the manager to disclose with impunity. In such a case the manager's demand for auditing depends on the ability of the manager to obtain the cooperative solution without auditing. The second environment permits the investors to bring suit against a manager suspected of issuing fraudulent disclosures. In that environment, a cooperative solution can be obtained without auditing. The results of 16 experiments designed to test the analytical assertions suggests that there is a demand for auditing, regardless of whether or not legal recourse is present. Both the availability of auditing and the availability of legal recourse induces a higher level of managerial effort. The highest level of managerial effort was seen when both auditing and legal recourse were available, despite the prediction that the presence of a legal system would make auditing useless. The investors tended to overbid and the markets with auditing reduced that tendency. Truthful disclosures were generally only seen when legal recourse was available.

M.Com. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-140). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the incremental information content of the Annual Report to Shareholders (ARS) and the 10-K. The study defines incremental information content as that set of data that has not been previously released to the public, which is contained in the ARS or 10-K, that gives rise to a resetting of equilibrium security prices. The results of the study have two implications. First, a finding of the existence of incremental information content in either the ARS or the 10-K provides evidence that investors may use the incremental data contained in either report to improve their estimates of firms' systematic risk components (Beta). Second, the results of the study may provide feedback value to accounting policymakers for evaluating their prior beliefs concerning the wealth effects of their accounting policy decisions. The study employs the familiar Market Model for generating unexpected returns. Further, the ordinary least squares regression method is used to derive regression parameters (including Beta) for the Market Model. This procedure has been accomplished for the 312 ARS and 159 10-K sample firms for reporting years ending in 1975, 1976 and 1977. The Quandt log-likelihood ratio and the Chow test have been employed to block the two study samples on the basis of stable regression parameters and to determine which weeks in the study period Beta-shifts have occurred for firms in the Non-Stationary ARS and 10-K groups. Two procedures have been employed in the study. The first procedure has been employed to determine if an unusual concentration of Beta-shifts has occurred in conjunction with the release of either report. The second procedure has been employed to detect the existence of any unusual unexpected return activity associated with the release of the ARS or the 10-K. Using the procedures described above, the study concludes that neither the release of the ARS nor the release of the 10-K affects investors' assessments of firms' systematic risk components or return distributions. Thus, the evidence the dissertation provides does not support an hypothesis that either report possesses incremental information content. Finally, the study concludes that the ARS and the 10-K fail to influence investors assessments and that policymakers must rely on their value judgments concerning their prior beliefs for the wealth effects of the ARS and 10-K.

No description available.

Non-financial disclosures are of considerable interest and importance to the reporting world and decision making. However, many companies fail to disclose adequate information on their non-financial matters. The lack of internationally accepted requirements for the presentation of non-financial disclosures is one reason for inadequate reporting of non-financial matters and the reporting differences among companies. The aim of this dissertation was to explore the nature and extent of non-financial disclosure in South African mining companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange. This sector was chosen because of its high risky nature and its significant role in the South African economy. The data were collected from 22 South African mining companies‘ websites and related to the 2004, 2005 and 2006 annual reports. A disclosure index was developed to investigate the extent and nature of non-financial disclosure in the South African mining companies with regards to environmental, social, corporate governance, forward-looking information and Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), and the extent of non-financial disclosure with the JSE Securities Exchange reporting requirements; that is, the King II and the JSE SRI Index. Thereafter, a content analysis of the companies‘ annual reports was carried out using the disclosure index developed for this study. The study found that the non-financial disclosure for all 22 mining companies showed an increasing trend over the years studied. Mining companies were disclosing environmental issues more than any of the other non-financial disclosure items. However, more than half of the companies did not provide information with regard to their non-compliance issues. Generally this means that, although the mining companies face obvious risks, they are better at disclosing positive rather than negative information. The main reason for the increase in the companies‘ adoption of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as a non-financial reporting guideline is King II. The study demonstrates that there was not 100% compliance level of adherence with the reporting requirements of the JSE Securities Exchange on corporate governance and integrated sustainability reporting. Keywords: Non-financial disclosures, mining companies, South Africa, JSE Securities Exchange, environmental, social, corporate governance, forward-looking, MD&A. / Thesis (M.Acc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2005. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 254-269.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Accounting and Information Studies, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 8, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-101). Also issued in print.