Capital markets development is an integral part of overall economic growth of any country. Accounting harmonization is aimed to increase the attractiveness of capital markets by creation of synchronized financial reporting environment globally so that the capital is effectively allocated with the lowest costs and increased liquidity. To the date, more than a hundred of countries implemented IFRS into the national accounting frameworks, therefore the need for the assessment of the real impacts on capital markets is obvious. The main goal of this study is to identify whether there is statistical evidence of the relationship between decreased/increased cost of equity capital among Russian listed companies and mandatory adoption of IFRS. Theoretical part includes an overview of the relevant theory, reasons of accounting harmonization as well as potential challenges. There are also described the main findings and real evidences of adoption impacts on the main capital and financial markets. Practical part of this paper is aimed to investigate whether the proposed benefits of IFRS adoption may be similarly observed in an environment of transition economy.

Submitted final thesis aims to map calculation methods for designation of cost of equity capital. It focuses on forward-looking approaches. Its practical part is dedicated to research of risk premium and implied cost of equity capital at the level of PX-TR index representing the Czech capital market

Purpose – The paper aims to study the impact of cultural differences on the ownership structure of international joint ventures in China. It is reasoned that foreign investors, when faced with larger culture-related investment uncertainties, may have the incentive to acquire more control rights to contain the risks by acquiring more equity shares in the joint ventures. Design/methodology/approach – Data on international joint ventures in China were used to test the theory. The data contain 941 observations from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjing, covering a 13-year time span. Pooled ordinary least square is used in the model estimation. Findings – Cultural distance between China and foreign countries was found to increase the foreign equity share in the joint ventures, a finding contrary to traditional view. In addition, it was found that cultural distance in different dimensions does not play an equal role in affecting foreign equity shares. Last, there is significant evidence that the allocation of ownership between foreign and domestic investors in the joint ventures is influenced by the investor’s relative importance in supplying different types of resources. Originality/value – The paper introduces a new perspective into the study of culture and international joint venture. Foreign investors may be able to reduce investment risk by increasing equity shares, which gives them more internal control, in international joint ventures. In contrast, the traditional view is that larger cultural distance tends to discourage foreign equity ownership.

本研究採用Dhaliwal, Krull, Li, and Moser (2005)之實證模型研究投資相關稅負對企業權益資金成本的影響。Dhaliwal et al. (2005)利用股利所得與資本利得最高級距稅率計算股利稅租稅罰，然而，使用最高級距稅率計算而得知代理變數恐無法完全捕捉稅負對資金成本的影響，因此本研究參考許崇源、俞洪昭、洪盈斌與戚務君 （2000），假設在個人董監事等大股東之所得稅率較一般散戶為高的前提下，以個人董監事持股比例做為個人股東邊際稅率之替代變數，再計算股利稅租稅罰之代理變數。 本研究利用台灣經濟新報資料庫（簡稱TEJ資料庫）取得台灣上市櫃公司2000年至2009年之財務資料，進行迴歸分析。實證結果顯示，因股利所得稅率與證券交易所得稅率差異造成的股利稅租稅罰，會使得權益資金成本上升；而且因為機構投資人較一般投資人享有較多租稅優惠，造成其適用稅率較低；而公司的邊際投資人又多為機構投資人，因此機構投資人持股可減輕股利稅租稅罰造成權益資金成本上升的情形。 / This study uses the empirical model proposed by Dhaliwal, Krull, Li, and Moser (2005) to examine the effect of investment tax on the cost of equity capital. Dhaliwal et al. (2005) used the top statutory tax rates on dividends and capital gains to get the variable “penalty”; however, it may not perfectly capture the dividend tax penalty. We follow the assumption that individual directors and supervisors may adopt higher tax rate than other individual stockholders (Hsu, Yu, Hung, and ,Chi 2000), then derive the variable “penalty” by using the rate of shares owned by individual directors and supervisors as the proxy variable of individual stockholder‟s marginal tax rate. This study uses the financial data of listed companies in Taiwan via Taiwan Economic Journal database (TEJ database) from 2000 to 2009 for regression analysis. The empirical results show that the dividend tax penalty resulting from the difference between the tax rate on dividend and capital gain increase the cost of equity capital. Furthermore, institutional investors always receive more favorable tax treatment than individual investors, making them adopt lower tax rate, and a firm‟s marginal investor is more likely to be an institutional investor, therefore the aggregate institutional ownership mitigates the increase of cost of equity capital.

Financial reporting conservatism enjoys a long-standing place of prominence in accounting principles and practices. Its prevailing influence justifies the considerable attention conservatism has, and continues to receive in accounting research. A growing body of recent research suggests that, in time series, financial reporting has become more conservative. Whilst this evidence is intuitive on a number of levels, the notion of conservatism appears to be incongruent with the continual spate of corporate collapses that plague our financial world and the outward rejection of conservatism as a desirable qualitative characteristic of financial reporting by Australian and U.S. standard setters. Existing empirical research indicates that conservatism continues to be evident in accounting and serves a positive function in contracting efficiencies with evidence, inter alia, of conservatism mitigating agency conflicts and therefore reducing the cost of debt and improving corporate governance (Watts 2003a). However, little evidence exists regarding its economic consequences in terms of its impact on the cost of equity capital. This thesis empirically examines the relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital under a framework supported by Signalling Theory rather than Agency (Contracting) Theory, consistent with the theoretical propositions modelled by Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005). The primary research question of this thesis explores the influence of conservatism on the cost of equity capital and thus asks if the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has economic consequences. At the same time, research has seen a plethora of studies that investigate the capital market impacts of the firm’s disclosure policy. Existing empirical research provides evidence in part indicating that the cost of equity capital is reducing in disclosure levels, however, existing empirical research does not provide evidence on how conservatism and disclosure interact. Therefore, the second research question seeks to explore this interaction and investigates the conditional influence of disclosure on the primary relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital. Using a sample of U.S. listed entities for the period 1984 to 1994, this thesis investigates the individual (unconditional) and joint (conditional) impact of conservatism and disclosure on the cost of equity capital. The thesis makes several contributions. First, the findings provide considerable new evidence in support of the prediction that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the level of conservatism. Consistent with the theoretical propositions in Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005), it is argued that by signalling of firm quality through adoption of conservative reporting practices, firms have the ability to reduce non-diversifiable firm-specific information risk and hence will benefit from a resulting decrease in the cost of equity capital. Second, this thesis re-examines the relationship between disclosure and the cost of equity capital with evidence indicating that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the disclosure level as measured by the comprehensive disclosure score. Third, this thesis explores new ground in its investigation of the interaction between conservatism and disclosure and their joint influence on the cost of equity capital. The findings provide considerable support for the prediction that the value of conservatism is diminished in environments of low information asymmetry (high disclosure). It is conjectured that because there is little private information in environments of low information asymmetry, there are no signalling benefits to be gained. Finally, the results provide consistent evidence of an inverse relationship between conservatism and disclosure. The findings suggest that conservatism and disclosure are therefore strategy substitutes in the overall reporting strategy. The findings of this thesis provide considerable support for the benefits of conservatism and provide a further explanation for the continued observation of conservatism evidenced in prior empirical research. Further, the findings provide support for the conjecture that conservatism and disclosure each have a role to play in the financial reporting strategy of the firm. Overall, the findings of thesis provide new evidence indicating that the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has the potential to reap real economic benefit in terms of reduction in the cost of equity capital and that conservatism has a positive role in accounting principles and practices.

This research paper focuses on whether Taiwan's 13 financial holding companies (excluding Waterland Financial Holdings) belongs to the bank's capital management efficiency, using a narrow definition of capital. First, do a preliminary analysis of the capital of the banks first, second, and three types of capital. Secondly, the use of supplementary items in the balance sheet, profit and loss account and balance-sheet and some of the information into the banking book assets and liabilities of the banking book and trading book assets, trading book liabilities, risk assets and market value-added and other programs in order to do all kinds of bank trend analysis of assets and liabilities and capital management. Finally, I would investigate whether the high capital adequacy ratio that their performance is better? The provisions of the Basel ¢º want to improve the bank's risk management capability, however, and set out the statutory capital requirements of the Bank help to keep the emphasis on risk management?

本研究旨在探討不同的市場參與者是否會視公司自願性採用Clawback條款與否，而給予不同的回應。以2007至2011年間納入Russel 3000指數之公司(排除金融服務與保險業)為樣本，本研究發現，與未採用Clawback條款之公司相比，自願性採用Clawback條款之公司，其權益資金成本較低，且信用評等較佳，顯示投資人及信用評等機構皆認為Clawback條款有助於提升公司之財務報導品質，進而降低其所承受之資訊風險。本研究進一步以F-score (Dechow et al. 2011)來衡量公司的事前舞弊風險，並將樣本區分為高舞弊風險組與低舞弊風險組。本研究發現，Clawback條款僅在低舞弊風險組與權益資金成本呈顯著負相關，顯示財務品質較佳之公司確實會透過自願性採用Clawback條款來向資本市場彰顯其信心，而投資人亦會以較低之要求報酬做出回應。然而，本研究亦發現，Clawback條款僅在高舞弊風險組與信用評等呈顯著正相關，這意味著信用評等機構能夠區別Clawback條款對於高舞弊風險公司及低舞弊風險公司的效益，並針對尋求實質改善的公司做出正面回應。最後，本研究使用機構投資人持股比例，將樣本區分為高外部監督與低外部監督(亦即低代理問題與高代理問題)兩組。迴歸結果顯示，僅有在公司所受到的外部監督程度較低時，Clawback條款方會與權益資金成本及信用評等呈顯著相關。 / This study examines whether different market participants react differently to voluntary adopters and non-adopters of clawback provisions. Based on the sample of non-financial firms included in the Russel 3000 index from year 2007 to 2011, the empirical results show that, comparing to non-adopters, firms who voluntarily adopt the clawback provisons have lower cost of equity capital and higher credit rating, suggesting that both investors and credit rating agency regard clawback provisions as a means to reduce information risk and, therefore, enhance firms’ financial reporting quality. This study further uses the F-score (Dechow et al. 2011) to separate the sample into high versus low risk of occuring fraudulent financial reporting groups. The regression results from both groups indicate that the adoption of clawback provisions is negatively related to cost of equity capital only when firms have lower fraud risk. This finding implies that firms with good financial reporting quality tend to adopt clawback provisions to signal their confidence on financial reporting, and investors respond by requiring lower returns. In contrast, the results report that the adoption of clawback provisions is positively related to credit rating only when firms are more likely to incur fraudulent financial reporting, implying that credit rating agency appears to consider the effect of clawback provisions and responds to firms who seek real improvement in their financial reporting quality. Finally, this study adopts institutional investors’ ownership to seperate the sample into high versus low external monitoring (i.e., low versus high agency problem) groups. The regression results from both groups show that the effects of clawback provisions on cost of equity capital and credit rating remain only for firms that are subjected to low external monitoring.

Financial reporting conservatism enjoys a long-standing place of prominence in accounting principles and practices. Its prevailing influence justifies the considerable attention conservatism has, and continues to receive in accounting research. A growing body of recent research suggests that, in time series, financial reporting has become more conservative. Whilst this evidence is intuitive on a number of levels, the notion of conservatism appears to be incongruent with the continual spate of corporate collapses that plague our financial world and the outward rejection of conservatism as a desirable qualitative characteristic of financial reporting by Australian and U.S. standard setters. Existing empirical research indicates that conservatism continues to be evident in accounting and serves a positive function in contracting efficiencies with evidence, inter alia, of conservatism mitigating agency conflicts and therefore reducing the cost of debt and improving corporate governance (Watts 2003a). However, little evidence exists regarding its economic consequences in terms of its impact on the cost of equity capital. This thesis empirically examines the relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital under a framework supported by Signalling Theory rather than Agency (Contracting) Theory, consistent with the theoretical propositions modelled by Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005). The primary research question of this thesis explores the influence of conservatism on the cost of equity capital and thus asks if the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has economic consequences. At the same time, research has seen a plethora of studies that investigate the capital market impacts of the firm’s disclosure policy. Existing empirical research provides evidence in part indicating that the cost of equity capital is reducing in disclosure levels, however, existing empirical research does not provide evidence on how conservatism and disclosure interact. Therefore, the second research question seeks to explore this interaction and investigates the conditional influence of disclosure on the primary relationship between conservatism and the cost of equity capital. Using a sample of U.S. listed entities for the period 1984 to 1994, this thesis investigates the individual (unconditional) and joint (conditional) impact of conservatism and disclosure on the cost of equity capital. The thesis makes several contributions. First, the findings provide considerable new evidence in support of the prediction that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the level of conservatism. Consistent with the theoretical propositions in Gietzmann and Trombetta (2003) and Bagnoli and Watts (2005), it is argued that by signalling of firm quality through adoption of conservative reporting practices, firms have the ability to reduce non-diversifiable firm-specific information risk and hence will benefit from a resulting decrease in the cost of equity capital. Second, this thesis re-examines the relationship between disclosure and the cost of equity capital with evidence indicating that the cost of equity capital is decreasing in the disclosure level as measured by the comprehensive disclosure score. Third, this thesis explores new ground in its investigation of the interaction between conservatism and disclosure and their joint influence on the cost of equity capital. The findings provide considerable support for the prediction that the value of conservatism is diminished in environments of low information asymmetry (high disclosure). It is conjectured that because there is little private information in environments of low information asymmetry, there are no signalling benefits to be gained. Finally, the results provide consistent evidence of an inverse relationship between conservatism and disclosure. The findings suggest that conservatism and disclosure are therefore strategy substitutes in the overall reporting strategy. The findings of this thesis provide considerable support for the benefits of conservatism and provide a further explanation for the continued observation of conservatism evidenced in prior empirical research. Further, the findings provide support for the conjecture that conservatism and disclosure each have a role to play in the financial reporting strategy of the firm. Overall, the findings of thesis provide new evidence indicating that the firm’s decision to adopt conservative reporting practices has the potential to reap real economic benefit in terms of reduction in the cost of equity capital and that conservatism has a positive role in accounting principles and practices.

A contabilidade brasileira, a exemplo do que vem acontecendo em muitos países, promoveu recentemente uma histórica mudança na sua estrutura ao institucionalizar os padrões contábeis internacionais (IFRS) como padrões locais. A adoção compulsória das IFRS pelas empresas brasileiras ocorre concomitantemente com expectativas de vantagens econômicas e não econômicas por parte dos agentes que atuam no mercado de capitais e também por parte de outros usuários e atores envolvidos com a produção de informações contábeis. O fenômeno da migração de padrões contábeis brasileiros para padrões internacionais, por esses motivos, se torna singular e propício a pesquisas que se dediquem a analisar os efeitos que a regulamentação contábil seja capaz de promover no mercado e nas decisões dos agentes. Aproveitando-se da oportunidade, esta pesquisa tem a proposta de avaliar de que forma a adoção compulsória das IFRS tem impactado economicamente o custo de capital próprio das empresas brasileiras listadas na BM&FBovespa. As hipóteses elaboradas para a pesquisa pressupõem que a convergência para as IFRS possa ter aumentado a qualidade das informações contábeis das empresas brasileiras, reduzindo assim a assimetria de informação entre os agentes que negociam as ações no mercado de capitais e, consequentemente, promovendo redução nos custos de capital próprio. Como proxies de custo de capital próprio foram utilizados os modelos Easton (RPEG) e de Gordon. O estudo constitui-se de observações de empresas nacionais listadas na BM&FBovespa adotantes compulsórias das IFRS como grupo de tratamento; sendo outro conjunto de observações de empresas brasileiras adotantes voluntárias de IFRS ou USGAAP utilizado como grupo de controle; e um terceiro conjunto de dados de empresas latino-americanas, não adotantes das normas internacionais, utilizado como segundo grupo de controle. Os dados se estruturam em forma de painel e, para possibilitar a análise comparativa, compreendem exercícios financeiros anteriores e posteriores ao momento da adoção compulsória das IFRS pela contabilidade brasileira (2010). Para testar as hipóteses de pesquisa foram realizadas análises utilizando-se de estatísticas inferenciais, mais especificamente regressões multivariadas com estimadores de diferença em diferenças. Os resultados não apresentam indicativos de que a obrigatoriedade da adoção das IFRS, isoladamente, tenha sido condição suficiente para promover aumento na qualidade das informações contábeis das empresas brasileiras que optaram por adotar compulsoriamente tais normas em 2010 a ponto de promover reduções nos custos de capital próprio. Não há indícios suficientemente fortes de que as empresas adotantes voluntárias de IFRS, em período anterior a 2010, tenham auferido reduções nos custos de capital próprio em menor proporção que as empresas brasileiras que optaram por fazê-lo somente na data em que a regulamentação as tornou obrigatória. / Brazilian accounting, as it has been happening in many countries, recently promoted a historic change in its structure to institutionalize the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as local standards. The mandatory adoption of IFRS by Brazilian companies occurs concomitantly with economic and noneconomic expectations of agents operating in the capital market and of other users and stakeholders involved with the production of accounting information. The phenomenon of migration of Brazilian accounting standards to international standards, for these reasons, becomes singular and conducive to studies engaged to analyze the effects that the accounting rules are able to promote on the market and on agent decisions. Taking advantage of the opportunity, this research has the purpose of evaluating how the mandatory adoption of IFRS economically affects the cost of capital of Brazilian companies listed on the BM&FBovespa. The hypotheses developed for this research assume that the convergence to IFRS may have increased the quality of financial reporting by Brazilian companies, thereby reducing the information asymmetry between the agents who trade shares in the capital market and consequently promoting cost reduction equity. Easton (RPEG) and Gordon models were used as proxies for the cost of capital equity. The study consisted of observations of domestic companies listed on the BM&FBovespa mandatory adopters of IFRS as the treatment group; and another set of observations of Brazilian companies voluntary adopters of IFRS or USGAAP used as a control group; and a third set of Latin American companies, non-adopters of international data standards, used as a second control group. Data are structured in a panel form and, to enable comparative analysis, include preceding and following years of the mandatory adoption of IFRS by Brazilian financial accounting (2010). To test the research hypotheses, analyzes were performed using specifically multivariate regressions with difference in the differences estimators inferential statistics. Results show no indication that the mandatory adoption of IFRS alone was enough to promote an increase in the quality of financial reporting by Brazilian companies that have chosen to compulsorily adopt such standards in 2010 about to promote reductions in the cost of equity condition. There is no enough strong evidence that voluntary IFRS adopters firms in the preceding period of 2010 have obtained reductions in the costs of equity capital to a lesser extent that Brazilian companies that have chosen to do so only on the date on which the regulation has become mandatory.

A contabilidade brasileira, a exemplo do que vem acontecendo em muitos países, promoveu recentemente uma histórica mudança na sua estrutura ao institucionalizar os padrões contábeis internacionais (IFRS) como padrões locais. A adoção compulsória das IFRS pelas empresas brasileiras ocorre concomitantemente com expectativas de vantagens econômicas e não econômicas por parte dos agentes que atuam no mercado de capitais e também por parte de outros usuários e atores envolvidos com a produção de informações contábeis. O fenômeno da migração de padrões contábeis brasileiros para padrões internacionais, por esses motivos, se torna singular e propício a pesquisas que se dediquem a analisar os efeitos que a regulamentação contábil seja capaz de promover no mercado e nas decisões dos agentes. Aproveitando-se da oportunidade, esta pesquisa tem a proposta de avaliar de que forma a adoção compulsória das IFRS tem impactado economicamente o custo de capital próprio das empresas brasileiras listadas na BM&FBovespa. As hipóteses elaboradas para a pesquisa pressupõem que a convergência para as IFRS possa ter aumentado a qualidade das informações contábeis das empresas brasileiras, reduzindo assim a assimetria de informação entre os agentes que negociam as ações no mercado de capitais e, consequentemente, promovendo redução nos custos de capital próprio. Como proxies de custo de capital próprio foram utilizados os modelos Easton (RPEG) e de Gordon. O estudo constitui-se de observações de empresas nacionais listadas na BM&FBovespa adotantes compulsórias das IFRS como grupo de tratamento; sendo outro conjunto de observações de empresas brasileiras adotantes voluntárias de IFRS ou USGAAP utilizado como grupo de controle; e um terceiro conjunto de dados de empresas latino-americanas, não adotantes das normas internacionais, utilizado como segundo grupo de controle. Os dados se estruturam em forma de painel e, para possibilitar a análise comparativa, compreendem exercícios financeiros anteriores e posteriores ao momento da adoção compulsória das IFRS pela contabilidade brasileira (2010). Para testar as hipóteses de pesquisa foram realizadas análises utilizando-se de estatísticas inferenciais, mais especificamente regressões multivariadas com estimadores de diferença em diferenças. Os resultados não apresentam indicativos de que a obrigatoriedade da adoção das IFRS, isoladamente, tenha sido condição suficiente para promover aumento na qualidade das informações contábeis das empresas brasileiras que optaram por adotar compulsoriamente tais normas em 2010 a ponto de promover reduções nos custos de capital próprio. Não há indícios suficientemente fortes de que as empresas adotantes voluntárias de IFRS, em período anterior a 2010, tenham auferido reduções nos custos de capital próprio em menor proporção que as empresas brasileiras que optaram por fazê-lo somente na data em que a regulamentação as tornou obrigatória. / Brazilian accounting, as it has been happening in many countries, recently promoted a historic change in its structure to institutionalize the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as local standards. The mandatory adoption of IFRS by Brazilian companies occurs concomitantly with economic and noneconomic expectations of agents operating in the capital market and of other users and stakeholders involved with the production of accounting information. The phenomenon of migration of Brazilian accounting standards to international standards, for these reasons, becomes singular and conducive to studies engaged to analyze the effects that the accounting rules are able to promote on the market and on agent decisions. Taking advantage of the opportunity, this research has the purpose of evaluating how the mandatory adoption of IFRS economically affects the cost of capital of Brazilian companies listed on the BM&FBovespa. The hypotheses developed for this research assume that the convergence to IFRS may have increased the quality of financial reporting by Brazilian companies, thereby reducing the information asymmetry between the agents who trade shares in the capital market and consequently promoting cost reduction equity. Easton (RPEG) and Gordon models were used as proxies for the cost of capital equity. The study consisted of observations of domestic companies listed on the BM&FBovespa mandatory adopters of IFRS as the treatment group; and another set of observations of Brazilian companies voluntary adopters of IFRS or USGAAP used as a control group; and a third set of Latin American companies, non-adopters of international data standards, used as a second control group. Data are structured in a panel form and, to enable comparative analysis, include preceding and following years of the mandatory adoption of IFRS by Brazilian financial accounting (2010). To test the research hypotheses, analyzes were performed using specifically multivariate regressions with difference in the differences estimators inferential statistics. Results show no indication that the mandatory adoption of IFRS alone was enough to promote an increase in the quality of financial reporting by Brazilian companies that have chosen to compulsorily adopt such standards in 2010 about to promote reductions in the cost of equity condition. There is no enough strong evidence that voluntary IFRS adopters firms in the preceding period of 2010 have obtained reductions in the costs of equity capital to a lesser extent that Brazilian companies that have chosen to do so only on the date on which the regulation has become mandatory.