The commercial banking industry is oft en criticized on the grounds that there is a high concentration of market power in the hands of a few firms. However, the appropriate measure of market power is Lerner's index of monopoly power, the elasticity of demand, not concentration ratios. The theoretical model developed in the paper is designed to permit the estimation of demand and supply elasticities in the banking industry. Specifically, two assets (loans and state and local funds) and one liability (time deposits) are investigated. The empirical model focuses its attention on the demand and supply conditions. If the bank is a profit maximizer , then the banker adjusts the portfolio of assets and issues of liabilities in accordance with the Euler first order maximization conditions of the expected profits function. In this function administrative costs are expressed as a proportion of total assets. Default risks are ignored. At the optimal solution of the Euler first order conditions transaction costs generated by deposit-liability fluctuations are treated as scalers. These simplifying assumptions permit the estimation of the slope of the loan demand, of the demand for state and local funds, and of time deposit supply, which can be used to estimate the elasticities of the respective functions. The empirical results are based on cross-sectional data for 7.89 standard economic areas in those states where there is an absence of extensive branch banking. The observations are categorized into eight bank classes by per capita income level, by hank density per capita in the standard economic area, and by economic base (agricultural or nonagricultural) in the area. It is assumed that the demand and supply functions are identical for all banks within a bank class. Using, the first order maximization conditions as behavioral equations the slopes of the supply and demand functions are estimated. These estimates are used to calculate elasticities of loan demand, state and local funds demand, and time deposit supply. In general, it is concluded that those banks from low income areas have a lower elasticity of demand for loans than banks in high income areas. These banks have more monopoly power in the loan account. The elasticity of deposit supply is low for all classes of banks. This could be due to monopsony power, but it is more likely due to the legal ceiling on interest rates paid on time deposits. The analysis does not lead to any conclusions for the structural preconditions for the existence of monopoly power, but it does indicate that banks in certain markets may have some degree of monopoly power.

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This paper examines the relative valuation of alternative methods of tax avoidance. Prior studies find that firm value is positively associated with overall measures of tax avoidance; I extend this research by providing evidence that investors distinguish between methods of tax reduction in their valuation of tax avoidance. The impact of tax avoidance on firm value is a function of tax risk, permanence of tax savings, tax planning costs, implicit taxes and contrasts in disclosures of tax reduction in the financial statements. My empirical results suggest that tax avoidance resulting from stock option tax benefits is positively associated with firm value, accelerated depreciation is not associated with firm value and deferral of residual tax on foreign earnings is negatively associated with firm value. Prior studies that find the positive association between firm value and tax avoidance is attenuated in poorly governed firms suggest the discount results from investor concern of managerial opportunism. Self-serving managers conceal diversion of tax savings from investors under the pretext that aggressive tax positions must be hidden from tax authorities in the financial statements. Under this theory transparent tax reduction methods that are clearly supported by the law should not be discounted by investors of poorly governed firms. However, I find that tax avoidance resulting from transparent stock option tax deductions is discounted in poorly governed firms, while tax avoidance derived from opaque deferral of the residual tax on foreign earnings is not, inconsistent with investors believing that managers are exploiting the compromised information environment associated with complex tax transactions. / Ph. D.

Understanding architecture through a contemporary context of the transformations of art and technology was the springboard for this thesis. Identifying folding as a basic transformation became the focus for developing an Old town, Alexandria, Virginia law firm building. Folding is conceptually used in the spatial and inhabitable forms of the building as well as the materials, textures, and finishes of the walls, ceilings, and floors. Folding is structurally investigated by taking once planer and flimsy elements and creating folded, rigid, and load-bearing elements. Architectural concepts of day lighting, shading, rain runoff, partitioning, vertical circulation, horizontal circulation, library stacks, file storage, solar energy collection, gardening, building services, furnishings, reading, and inhabitation are all thought of in terms of folding. Designing a law firm for Old town, Alexandria, Virginia was chosen from a random number generating process cross referenced with the Alexandria, Virginia phone book. I interviewed a local law firm and based the programmatic spaces on their office needs and relationships. / Master of Architecture

Yes / This study aims to contribute to the relevant accounting, corporate gover-nance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature by examining thevalue relevance of mandatory CSR disclosures in China. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) research design and a sample based on propensity scorematching (PSM) over the period from 2003 to 2020, our findings suggest thatmandatory CSR disclosures are negatively associated with firm' values. We alsofind that firms with a high level of institutional ownership and leverage experi-ence a relatively lower drop in firms' values as a result of the mandatory CSRdisclosures. These findings remain robust to alternative sampling design, use of market to book value as an alternative measure of firms' market-based performance, and a parallel test to validate our DID analysis. Our findings have useful implications for managers, regulators, policy makers and other stakeholders.

As a result of crisis and scandals, a lot of criticism has been emphasized against an auditor’sindependence and profession. In order to re-establish confidence in financial statements, theEuropean Commission introduced a Green Paper that above all included a proposal of mandatoryaudit firm rotation aiming to enhance an auditor's independence. The aim of this thesis istherefore to describe whether an auditor’s independence may be affected by the new lawregarding Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation, by contributing with more information regarding auditfirm rotation based on Swedish companies from the Swedish market. The study is based on a quantitative approach using a multivariate logistic regression in order tocompile and analyze the results. Six hypotheses have been tested in order to determine whetherchosen variables may affect an auditor's independence and their statements. Based on our results,we accepted four hypotheses, showing that four variables have an influence on qualified opinion,with rotation as a reference variable. The four variables are leverage, size, specialist and losswhich showed a statistically significance using a 5% significance level. The results imply thataudit firm rotation may enhance an auditor's independence.

Forskningsproblem: Det har uppmärksammats en ökad oro bland Big 4-byråerna över den tilltagande konkurrensen på revisionsmarknaden och tendensen att bolag väljer att byta revisionsbyrå mer frekvent. Det finns ett behov i att förklara varför bolag väljer att frivilligt byta revisionsbyrå. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att förklara varför bolag frivilligt väljer att byta revisionsbyrå. Metod 15 hypoteser härleds utifrån befintlig forskning och teori inom området för revisionsbyråbyten. Dessa prövas genom en kombinerad enkät- och dokumentstudie av totalt 100 bolag för perioden mellan 2010-2014. Resultat: Av studiens totalt 100 bolag visade det sig att 33 bolag (33 %) bytt revisionsbyrå under perioden mellan 2010-2014. 14 av studiens 15 hypoteser förkastas i hypotesprövningen. Kunskapsbidrag: I den statistiska analysen visas variablerna revisionskostnad, byte av ledning, bristfälligt samarbete och tredje parts påtryckningar bli signifikanta i att förklara ett byte av revisionsbyrå. Endast variabeln bristfälligt samarbete uppvisar dock ett korrekt förutspått samband, där ett ökat bristfälligt samarbete mellan revisor och bolagsledning ökar sannolikheten för ett byte av revisionsbyrå. / Problem: Increased concern regarding an enlarged competition and more frequent audit firm switching behavior has been noticed among the Big 4-audit firms. There is a need to explain why companies voluntarily choose to switch audit firm. Purpose: The aim of the study is to explain why companies voluntarily choose to switch audit firm. Method: 15 hypothesis are derived from existent research and theory in the area of audit firm switching. They are tested through a combined survey- and document study of 100 companies during the period of 2010-2014. Results: The study showed that 33 out of 100 companies (33 %) switched their audit firm during the period of 2010-2014. 14 out of 15 hypothesis are rejected in the study. Contribution: The statistical analysis showed that the variables audit fee, change in management, inadequate working relationship and third party influences are significant in explaining an audit firm switch. However, the only variable to show a correctly predicted relationship is inadequate working relationship, which implicates that an increased inadequate working relationship between the auditor and management leads to an increased probability of an audit firm switch.

Bakgrund: I Sverige finns lagstiftning kring att publika och privata aktiebolag ska genomgå revision. Syftet med revision är att granska ett bolags räkenskaper och den förvaltning som sker av styrelse och verkställande direktör. I ämbetet som revisor ska denne agera oberoende gentemot bolaget och just oberoendet ifrågasattes av EU-kommissionen efter den finanskris som bland annat drabbade Europa mellan 2007 och 2009. Ifrågasättandet ledde till en ny lag för publika aktiebolag som tvingar dem att byta revisionsbyrå. Genomförandet av en byrårotation kan för både privata och publika aktiebolag ske frivilligt eller ofrivilligt. Enstaka studier har tidigare undersökt området byrårotation med en kvalitativ ansats, vilket delvis motiverar studiens syfte.    Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad som är av betydelse då ett företag byter och väljer ny revisionsbyrå, och om det skiljer sig åt mellan publika och privata aktiebolag. Genom studien vill författarna bidra till en ökad förståelse för vad som ligger till grund för de ageranden och val företagen gör gällande byrårotation.    Metod: För att skapa en djupare kunskap om hur företag resonerar vid en byrårotation har ett abduktivt tillvägagångssätt tillämpats. Inledningsvis har tidigare forskning studerats för att skapa en bild av vad som tidigare konstaterats varit av betydelse för företag vid deras byte av respektive val av ny revisionsbyrå. Tre huvudsakliga kategorier kommer fram i form av företagets egenskaper, revisorns egenskaper och själva revisionen. Därefter har intervjuer med sex företag genomförts som legat till grund för uppkomsten av teori i form av två nya faktorer.   Slutsats: Den tydligaste skillnaden som går att utröna mellan publika och privata aktiebolag i denna studie är att vid en byrårotation ser privata aktiebolag i större grad relationen till revisorn som viktig, och publika aktiebolag lägger större vikt vid revisorns kompetens. Studien visar även att det är en kombination av olika faktorer har betydelse vid processen av en byrårotation och inte en enskild sådan. Alla fallföretag har haft unika processer vid byrårotationen. Vidare har två nya faktorer påträffats i form av lagen om obligatorisk byrårotations påverkan på företagen, och vilken betydelse beslutsfattarnas erfarenhet har på byrårotationen. Intervjuer med representanter för företagen har även möjliggjort nya förklaringar av vissa begrepp. / Background: Legislation in Sweden force listed and private companies to undergo an audit with the purpose to examine the books of the company and the management of the board and the chief executive officer. The auditor must act independently of the company being audited. The matter of independence has been questioned by the European Commission following the financial crisis that struck the world economy in 2007 to 2009. This questioning resulted in a new law regarding listed companies, forcing them to undergo an audit firm rotation. Both listed and private companies can do either a voluntary or non-voluntary audit firm rotation. Occasional studies have investigated the matter of audit firm rotation with a qualitative approach, which partly motivates the purpose of this study.     Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate what could be of importance when a company switches to a new audit firm, and if this differs between listed and private companies. By means of this study the authors want to contribute with an enhanced understanding on what basis the companies make their acts and choices regarding audit firm rotation.     Method: An abductive approach has been used to create a profound knowledge regarding how companies reason about an audit firm rotation. Earlier research has been studied to create an image of what aspects that earlier have been of importance  to companies in their decision to switch and choose a new audit firm. Three main categories arise, the company characteristics, the auditors characteristics and the audit itself. Thereafter interviews have been conducted with six companies which have been the foundation for new theory as two new factors.       Conclusion:The most distinct difference between listed and private companies in this study is that listed companies regard the auditors competence as more important than the private companies do. The private companies values the relation to the auditor higher than the listed companies. This study shows that a combination of different factors is of importance in the process of an audit firm rotation and not only a single one. All of the companies had unique processes regarding the audit firm rotation. Two new factors have emerged concerning the regulation of mandatory audit firm rotation, and what affects the experience of the decision makers of the audit firm rotation has. Interviews with delegates of the company has enabled new explanations of certain concepts.

Using firm-level data of manufacturing sector during the period 1989-2010, this thesis explored the export behavior of firms in Turkey. Up to date, Turkey&rsquo / s export performance has been analyzed from macro perspective extensively. However, far too little attention has been paid to firm-level analysis contrary to ongoing and growing empirical literature. The preliminary analysis revealed the superiority of exporting firms. Both self-selection and learning-by-exporting are found to be valid explanation for the source of this observed export premium. Dynamic discrete choice model results provide supportive evidences for the existence of sunk-costs. Besides, it is observed that sunk-costs varied during the crises. Sunk-costs not only shape export decision but also affect timing decision. The exit and entry dynamics of the firms has been studied using duration analysis. Results showed self-selection of less profitable firms into export markets and importance of non-price competition for the survival of exporters. Impact of crises on export behavior has been examined by regarding extensive and intensive margins of exports separately. The findings implied that for 1994 crisis increase in extensive margins, for the case of 2001 crisis increase in intensive margin and for 2008 crisis decline both in extensive and intensive margins of exports dominated. This thesis makes several noteworthy contributions to the existing literature. First, it contributed to the ongoing and growing empirical literature using Turkish data. Secondly, unlike, existing studies that investigate single feature of the export behavior, in this thesis, using different approaches the issue has been analyzed extensively. Moreover, using advantage of the data set and Turkish economy, the impact of different types of crisis on export behavior has been analyzed and contributed to the literature that studies the impact of shocks on export behavior.