Η έρευνά μας συμβάλει στην αντιμετώπιση του πιστοληπτικού κινδύνου της εισηγμένης σε ενιαία μορφή, συνυπολογιζομένης της μη-γραμμικής υποτιθέμενης σχέσης μεταξύ κινδύνου και χρηματιστηριακής αξίας της μετοχής, μιας και η ενδεχόμενη θέση της σε Επιτήρηση/Αναστολή αυξάνει δραματικά τις πιστοληπτικές επιπτώσεις στους πιστωτές, ιδιαίτερα σε όσους κατέχουν μετοχικό ενέχυρο, δημιουργώντας μια μη-γραμμική σχέση μεταξύ αξίας δανείων και αξίας μετοχής. Συνέπεια λοιπόν των επιταγών της Βασιλείας ΙΙ είναι και η κατηγοριοποίηση που διενεργούμε εμείς στο δείγμα των επιχειρήσεων που έχουν εισηγμένη μετοχή στο χρηματιστήριο, μιας και αναμένουμε να διαφοροποιείται ο κίνδυνος πτώχευσης και κίνδυνος από την έκθεση σε κίνδυνο και ζημιά από πτώχευση στην περίπτωση θέσης των μετοχών σε αναστολή ή Επιτήρηση. Πιστεύουμε ότι με αυτόν τον τρόπο συνεισφέρουμε στην εκτίμηση του κινδύνου που πηγάζει από την συστηματική αυτή εξάρτηση της εταιρίας και του πιστοληπτικού της κινδύνου από την έκθεση των μετοχών της στο χρηματιστήριο. / Our research contributes in the credit risk estimation for a listed company in an integrated framework, incorportating the assumed non-linear relationship between credit risk and stock-market performance deriving from a potential Stock Exchange trading Suspension/Supervision which modifies dramatically counterparty creditworthness and at the same time stock collateral held in a non-linear fashion. As a result of Basle II Accord's integrated credit risk estimation approach, we categorize the sample of listed enterprises according to their modified credit risk based on the potential Stock Exchange Supervision/Suspension. Our overall methodology of credit risk estimation stemming from a systematic dependence of credit and stock collateral risk contributes to the overall risk assesment of listed companies.

La tesi analizza come le relazioni tra banche e imprese influenzino la capacità di aziende in difficoltà di rinegoziare il loro debito. Dopo una rassegna della teoria, con particolare attenzione ai fallimenti di mercato che ostacolano la rinegoziazione (primo paper), la tesi approfondisce i problemi di coordinamento tra più banche in presenza di multiaffidamento (secondo paper). Un modello a giochi ripetuti viene utilizzato per descrivere la situazione di banche che si incontrano ripetutamente per discutere su numerose imprese in difficoltà. In tale contesto, il coordinamento è raggiunto seguendo una classica ,'trigger strategy', che prevede la punizione dei comportamenti opportunistici. All’aumentare del numero di banche, altre strategie possono essere utilizzate, come l’esclusione dei creditori considerati inaffidabili (‘ostracismo’), migliorando così la probabilità di cooperare. L’ultimo paper affronta questi temi empiricamente: le banche ristrutturano più facilmente aziende il cui debito è prevalentemente di origine bancaria, più grandi e con una migliore situazione economica e finanziaria prima della crisi. Al crescere del numero di banche la probabilità di ristrutturare e il credito concesso dopo la crisi aumentano fino ad una soglia, stimata tra tre e quattro banche, oltre la quale trovare un accordo diventa più difficile. Questo risultato può aiutare a spiegare la diffusione del multiaffidamento. / The thesis analyses how bank-firm relationships affect firms facing financial distress and their capability to renegotiate outstanding debt. The first paper reviews the theoretical contributions on this process and the market failures that hinder it. The second paper studies coordination problems among multiple banks. Banks have more than one distressed firm to face and, therefore, they come across repeatedly and behave strategically. This setting is modelled as a repeated game, wherein coordination is improved by following a classical trigger strategy, which threatens a punishment in case of free riding behaviours. As the number of lending banks increases, different strategies can be adopted, such as ostracism against untrustworthy players, thus improving the likelihood of cooperation. The last paper analyses empirically the issue: banks tend to restructure those firms they are more involved in, larger and with a better economic and financial situation before the distress event. A higher number of banks and more dispersed debt increase the restructuring probability, the new credit granted after the distress event and the survival probability, up to a threshold estimated between three and four banks, beyond which reaching an agreement becomes harder. This result gives a new rationale to multiple banking relations.

本研究首先從經營績效、公司特性及公司治理角度探討財務主管之異動行為，並分析財務主管異動與後續經營績效及財務危機之關聯性。相關實證結果發現，前期經營績效不佳與內部治理愈差之公司會傾向更動財務主管，且當公司經營績效及財務狀況逐期惡化時，財務主管異動會較頻繁，但未發現控股結構複雜度與財務主管異動有關。此外，財務主管異動後之公司經營績效並無改善之跡象，符合惡性循環假說。財務主管異動與財務危機之研究結果發現，財務主管異動頻率與財務危機呈正向關係惟並不顯著，但若以下市或全額交割定義財務危機時，實證結果顯示，財務主管異動較頻繁、公司內部治理較差之公司，發生下市或全額交割之可能性愈高。 / This thesis examines the determinants of chief financial officer (CFO) turnover behavior and whether CFO turnover signals the operating performance of subsequent period. In addition, the association between CFO turnover and financial distress is also investigated. The empirical findings show that CFOs of firms with poor operating performance and weak internal governance environment are more likely to have turnovers. Deterioration in operating performance and financial conditions leads increase in frequency of the CFO turnover. Moreover, the CFO turnover tends to precede a poorer subsequent operating performance. While there is no association between the frequency of CFO turnover and occurrence of financial distress, it is found that higher the frequency of CFO turnover and poorer the internal governance environment, higher the probability of delisting of firms.

本研究以1998年至2003年曾發生財務危機之上市櫃公司為研究樣本，採配對樣本研究設計，依McKeown et al. (1991)之樣本分類方法，將樣本公司區分為四類：(1)失敗/財務危機公司(FS)、(2)非失敗/財務危機公司(NFS)、(3)失敗/非財務危機公司(FNS)及(4)非失敗/非財務危機公司(NFNS)，探討不同分類下之公司其盈餘操縱行為是否存在差異。其次，針對台灣證券交易所及櫃檯買賣中心近期修訂之危機預警指標，分析其偵測財務危機之能力。最後則綜合證交所及櫃買中心之預警指標，並參考相關文獻指標及實務作法，建立財務危機預測模型。 實證結果顯示，除FNS公司與NFNS公司僅部分變數有差異外，其他各組樣本之間在各類盈餘操縱變數上都具有顯著差異，代表財務危機公司在發生危機之前，確實有操縱盈餘之行為。對投資人而言，這些存在顯著差異的變數可能代表曾被危機公司所操縱而在事前沒有顯現異常之會計科目。 針對證交所及櫃買中心之危機預警指標，實證結果顯示相較於正常公司，危機公司在稅後損益及稅前損益之表現上惡化的程度較嚴重，有較高的長期負債到期還款疑慮，在預付款項上有較異常的變動情形。不過，在現金及約當現金佔資本額比率上，危機公司並無較正常公司惡化之情形，顯示多數的危機公司在發生財務危機前，通常不會列示較高的現金餘額。另外，本研究所發展之其他預警指標發現，危機公司在發生危機之前，有較正常公司顯著不足支應下期日常營運支出之情形；危機公司董監事持股質押比例，以及控制股東之董監席次控制權與盈餘分配權之偏離程度，顯著高於正常公司，代表危機公司的內部治理環境較差。 本研究所建立之實證模型顯示，綜合考量證交所及櫃買中心指標後，各指標惡化程度越高、董監事質押比例越高、董監席次控制權與盈餘分配權偏離程度越大之公司，發生財務危機的機率越高。分析結果亦顯示，危機發生前流動性及償債能力越弱、營運報酬能力越差之公司，發生財務危機之可能性較高。 / This thesis focuses on a group of firms listed in Taiwan Securities Exchange (TSE) and Over the Counter (OTC) experienced financial distress over the period of 1998 to 2003, by applied to a control sample design approach. Based on the pre/after criteria employed in McKeown et al. (1991), this thesis classifies the sample into four subgroups: (1)failure/distress (FS), (2)nonfailure/distress (NFS), (3)failure/nondistress (FNS), and (4)nonfailure/nondistress(NFNS). This thesis first examines the difference in earnings manipulation behavior between the four subgroups. The detecting ability of the precaution indices recently amended by the TSE and OTC is also investigated. Finally, an empirical model is proposed by this research by inclusion of the precaution indices, governance structures and variables employed by the practice communities. The empirical findings indicate that with exception of FNS and NFNS firms, significant differences in all variables are found, representing that the distress firms manipulate earnings before the crisis taken place. The results may imply that these variables might be manipulated by distressed firms to cover the financial failing signals ex ante. For the precaution indices proposed by the TSE and OTC, the empirical findings indicate that compared to healthy firms, the distress firms are found to have worse after-tax/pretax earnings, higher doubt of repaying long-term debts, and unusual fluctuation in prepaid items. The results show that distressed firms have less cash before the occurrence of crisis. As to the indices proposed in this thesis, the analysis shows that distressed firms usually cannot generate adequate cash flow to pay the operation expenses necessary for the next year. It is also found that the distressed firms have higher pledge ratio of share held by the board members and larger deviation in control right from cash flow right. The empirical results of the proposed model show that firms with worse situation indicated by the indices suggested by TSE and OTC, higher share pledge ratio by the board member, larger deviation between control right and cash flow right, have higher probability of experiencing financial crisis. Firms are weak in liquidity, cash imbursement ability and operating return would have relatively higher possibility to face financial distress.

我國股市參與者向來以自然人為主，自然人所佔之比例約80%，即是一般俗稱的「散戶」。但散戶往往對於財務報表、業績、獲利能力等基本面資訊之依賴性極低，且無法使用及消化過於複雜之資訊，導致多數散戶投資者僅是抱著投機的心態盲目跟進，極容易成為公司內部人與市場中炒手不當得利的犧牲者。故本研究擬站在小額投資人之立場，嘗試由較為小額投資人熟知、容易瞭解且能直接反映企業營運優劣之「利潤」觀點出發，藉由分析損益表及現金流量表關鍵的財報資訊，可幫助投資人判讀企業體質好壞，進而能投資具成長性之企業，同時更能有效降低因投資失敗企業而遭受重大之損失之風險。 　　本研究以我國股票上市、上櫃、興櫃及公開發行公司為研究對象，探討所篩選出之損益與現金流量項目，對於評估企業經營績效與預測財務危機的效用，即判斷篩選的損益與現金流量項目是否對企業經營績效具有評價攸關性及對企業財務危機具有預測攸關性；並以獨立樣本t檢定、迴歸分析及Logistic分析，對假說進行檢定。 　　經過實證結果，獲致以下的結論： 1.損益與現金流量項目對企業經營績效之評價攸關性：本研究所選取之關鍵損益與現金流量項目均對企業短期、中期及長期經營績效具有顯著的解釋能力； 2.損益與現金流量項目對企業財務危機之預測攸關性：本研究所選取之關鍵損益與現金流量項目均對企業爆發財務危機前3年度內，區分出財務危機公司與正常公司之顯著差異，顯示所採取的變數具有差異性價值。 / The individual investors account for 80% as compared to 20% institutional investors, which characterized Taiwan’s stock market. Individual investors lack the capability to comprehend financial statements. They seldom rely on fundamental analysis of corporate performance to make investment decisions. In a stock market with the characteristics as Taiwan the individual investors are usually the victims of insider trading and market speculation. The purpose of this study is to identify certain financial items from income statement and the statement of cash flows which are easy to understand by the individual investors and are valuation relevant as well as possessing the capability to predict the financial distress of listed companies. Nine financial items from income statement and the statement of cash flows were selected for test and the results indicate that: 1.All selected financial items are valuation relevant in distinguishing short term, mid-term and long term operating performance. 2.All selected financial items are capable of predicting financial failure of enterprises three years preceding the financial distress emerge.

Submitted by Renan Kenji Oshiro (renan.oshiro@gmail.com) on 2016-03-14T17:17:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 OSHIRO - Estruturas de governança corporativa e financial distress.pdf: 1792395 bytes, checksum: 0816d14d773c954b257c5ad3f90312d1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-03-14T17:20:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 OSHIRO - Estruturas de governança corporativa e financial distress.pdf: 1792395 bytes, checksum: 0816d14d773c954b257c5ad3f90312d1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-14T17:42:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 OSHIRO - Estruturas de governança corporativa e financial distress.pdf: 1792395 bytes, checksum: 0816d14d773c954b257c5ad3f90312d1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-15 / In this master’s thesis it was analyzed if there is a significant relationship among governance structures (structure and board composition) and financial distress. This essay focused on this issue because academic studies in corporate governance and its relation to financial distress are still largely unexplored. In addition, the topic has relevance in the corporate world, since understanding which board structures and its compositions would be more efficient to avoid financial distress is attractive for many stakeholders, mainly for shareholders and creditors. To check the existence of this relationship, it was used data from Brazilian public companies and logit models of financial distress were developed. With financial distress as response variable and starting from a base model with financial control variables, new determinants and combinations of these variables were added step by step to set up intermediate models. At last, the final model included all relevant explanatory variables. The variables can be classified into governance structure variables (DUA, GOV and COF), board quality (QUA) and ownership structure (PRO1 and PRO2). The following base models were used: Daily and Dalton (1994a) and an own model, which was developed to model better financial distress and its relation to the governance structure variables. In several tested models, significant relationships were found in the percentage of dependent directors (GOV), percentage of education’s elite directors (QUA), percentage of discriminated stock (PRO1) and percentage of relevant state stock ownership (PRO2). Hence, the hypothesis that more dependent directors, less education’s elite directors and less concentrated ownership structures contribute to a future financial distress situation cannot be rejected. On the other hand, in dummy variables as duality (DUA) and supervisory board (COF) were not found statistical significance / Nesta dissertação foi analisada se há uma relação significante entre estruturas de governança (estrutura e composição de conselho) e financial distress. Este trabalho focou neste tema porque os estudos acadêmicos em governança corporativa e sua relação com financial distress ainda são pouco explorados. Além disso, o tema tem relevância no mundo corporativo, pois entender quais estruturas e composições de conselho seriam mais eficientes para evitar financial distress é interessante para diversos stakeholders, principalmente para os acionistas e os credores. Para verificar a existência dessa relação, foram utilizados dados de empresas brasileiras de capital aberto e foram desenvolvidos modelos logit de financial distress. Sendo a variável resposta financial distress, partiu-se de um modelo base com variáveis financeiras de controle e, por etapas, foram adicionadas novos determinantes e combinações dessas variáveis para montar modelos intermediários. Por fim, o modelo final contou com todas as variáveis explicativas mais relevantes. As variáveis de estudo podem ser classificadas em variáveis de estrutura de governança (DUA, GOV e COF), qualidade do conselho (QUA) e estrutura de propriedade (PRO1 e PRO2). Os modelos base utilizados foram: Daily e Dalton (1994a) e um próprio, desenvolvido para modelar melhor financial distress e sua relação com as variáveis de estrutura de governança. Nos diversos modelos testados foram encontradas relações significativas no percentual de conselheiros dependentes (GOV), percentual de conselheiros da elite educacional (QUA), percentual de ações discriminadas (PRO1) e percentual de ações de acionista estatal relevante (PRO2). Portanto, não se descartam as hipóteses de que mais conselheiros dependentes, menos conselheiros da elite educacional e estrutura de propriedade menos concentrada contribuem para uma situação de financial distress futura. Entretanto, as variáveis dummy de dualidade (DUA) e de conselho fiscal (COF) não apresentaram significância estatística

This study examines the divide between finance theory and practice by analysing the significance of the determinants of capital structure choice among 123 listed firms on the JSE, to determine whether these firms follow the trade-off theory or the pecking-order theory. Data obtained from McGregor’s Bureau of Financial Analysis database was analysed using standard multiple regressions, stepwise regressions and ANOVA techniques to test for financing behaviour. The results indicated that the trade-off model has both cross-sectional and time-series explanatory power for explaining the financing behaviour, while tests on the pecking-order model were weak. The results further revealed a significant positive correlation between debt financing and financial distress, and a significant negative correlation between debt financing and the collateral value of assets during the period under study (1995-2005). These findings suggest a divergence between finance theory and practice for JSE listed firms and manifest conflicting ideologies between finance practices of developed and developing economies. / Business management / M. Com. (Business Management )

Efter flertalet revisionsskandaler under åren har det blivit populärt att kritisera revisorn och ifrågasätta kvaliteten på den utförda revisionen. Revisorn har ett ansvar att informera om det finns väsentliga osäkerheter kring ett företags förutsättningar för fortsatt drift och att utfärda en fortlevnadsvarning innebär en hel del tuffa beslut och bedömningar. Dock finns det faktorer som kan påverka revisorns agerande så som revisorns närhet till klienten, byråtillhörighet och risken för rättsliga åtgärder. Tidigare studier har även visat på att det finns skillnader i revisionskvaliteten mellan män och kvinnor. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur olika faktorer påverkar revisorns utfärdande av fortlevnadsvarning och därmed se vad det har för påverkan på revisionskvaliteten. Syftet är även att undersöka eventuella skillnader som finns i den svenska kontexten jämfört med tidigare studier i andra länder. För att undersöka sambandet genomfördes en kvantitativ studie där årsredovisningar och revisionsberättelser från svenska konkursdrabbade företag studerades. Studiens resultat visar på att det finns ett samband mellan finansiell stress och revisorns utfärdande av fortlevnadsvarning men dock gick det inte att påvisa något samband för variablerna kön, byråtillhörighet och ålder på företag. Resultatet visar även att revisionskvaliteten och utfärdandet av fortlevnadsvarningar i Sverige skiljer sig från andra länder. / After a numerous audit scandals over the years, it has become popular to criticize the auditor and question the audit quality. The auditor has a responsibility to inform if they have significant doubts about the continuity of a company. The issuing of a going-concern involves a lot of tough decisions and assessments for the auditor. However, there are factors that may affect the auditor’s actions such as the auditor’s closeness to the client, audit firm and the risk of legal action. Previous studies have also shown that there’s a difference in audit quality between men and women. The purpose with this paper is to study how different factors affect the auditor’s issuance of a going-concern and thus see how it affects the audit quality. The purpose is also to study any differences that exist in the Swedish context as compared to previous studies in other countries. To examine the relationship between going-concern and the variables, a quantitative study was conducted in which annual reports and audit reports from Swedish bankrupt companies were studied. The results of the study indicate that there is a relation between financial distress and a going-concern, but it was not possible to detect any relation to variables such as gender, audit firm and the age of the client. The result also shows that the audit quality and the issuance of a going-concern in Sweden differs from other countries.

Submitted by Matthias Sustek (matthias.sustek@gmail.com) on 2018-08-01T19:40:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v27.pdf: 753836 bytes, checksum: eaf4a9729cf351ada8c3919e04f85c26 (MD5) / Rejected by Josineide da Silva Santos Locatelli (josineide.locatelli@fgv.br), reason: Bom dia Matthias, Por favor, veja abaixo o que precisa corrigir no seu trabalho e poste novamente: Página 1: Nome da FGV não tem acento em Getulio; Página 2: Faltou o nome no início da página, em “Knowledge Field” deve ser colocada a linha de pesquisa do seu orientador: INTERNACIONALIZAÇÃO DE EMPRESAS, coloque a cidade e o ano no fim da página; Página 3: A Ficha Catalográfica deve ficar no fim da página; Página 4: Falta o seu nome no início da página, retire o acento de Getulio, e Campo de Conhecimento” deve ser a linha do seu orientador: INTERNACIONALIZAÇÃO DE EMPRESAS, em “data da aprovação” coloque a data da defesa: 21/06/2018; Página 6: O título “Acknowledgments” deve ser com letras maiúsculas e no centro da página; Página 7: O título “Abstract” deve ser com letras maiúsculas, sem os dois pontos “:” e no centro da página; Página 8: O título “Resumo” deve ser com letras maiúsculas, sem os dois pontos “:” e no centro da página; Página 9: O título “Table of contente” deve ser com letras maiúsculas e no centro da página on 2018-08-02T12:54:00Z (GMT) / Submitted by Matthias Sustek (matthias.sustek@gmail.com) on 2018-08-04T17:40:18Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v27.pdf: 753836 bytes, checksum: eaf4a9729cf351ada8c3919e04f85c26 (MD5) Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v28.pdf: 937804 bytes, checksum: 99ac155b2e1e5b665047453344850ee9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Josineide da Silva Santos Locatelli (josineide.locatelli@fgv.br) on 2018-08-06T18:26:13Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v27.pdf: 753836 bytes, checksum: eaf4a9729cf351ada8c3919e04f85c26 (MD5) Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v28.pdf: 937804 bytes, checksum: 99ac155b2e1e5b665047453344850ee9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-08-07T13:03:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v27.pdf: 753836 bytes, checksum: eaf4a9729cf351ada8c3919e04f85c26 (MD5) Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v28.pdf: 937804 bytes, checksum: 99ac155b2e1e5b665047453344850ee9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T13:03:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v27.pdf: 753836 bytes, checksum: eaf4a9729cf351ada8c3919e04f85c26 (MD5) Matthias-Sustek_Master-Thesis_EAESP_2018_v28.pdf: 937804 bytes, checksum: 99ac155b2e1e5b665047453344850ee9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-01 / Investment in distressed assets, while relatively mature in developed markets, has become more and more common in Brazil in a context of a lingering economic downturn, offering interesting but risky opportunities to domestic and foreign investors. The distressed securities in Brazil are particularly challenging to invest in, a lot of them being deemed worthless in the first place by bigger institutions. Therefore, this research wants to understand how it is possible to create value out of these securities in such a delicate context. However, such subject remains widely unexplored in emerging markets with the literature emphasizing such shortcomings. To cope with the lack of information, this study intends to directly inquire with seasoned professionals in the field of distressed securities in order to obtain the knowledge where it can be found. As a result, the study shows that the market of distressed assets is very singular in Brazil and market participants needed to adapt to the context. Value creation relies on a whole local ecosystem of corporate lawyers, restructuration/turnaround consultants and asset managers. They are able to create value with very special sets of competences, mainly their management of information, their legal expertise and strategic management. / Investimentos em distressed assets ou ativos podres, embora já relativamente maduros em mercados mais desenvolvidos, se tornaram mais e mais comuns no Brasil num contexto de recessão econômica prolongada, oferecendo oportunidades interessantes mas ariscadas para investidores nacionais e estrangeiros. Pode ser particularmente desafiador investir nessos ativos podres no Brasil muitos deles considerados sem valor por grandes instituções. Por essa razão, essa pesquisa pretende entender como é possivel criar valor com esses ativos num contexto tão delicado. No entanto, esse tema é ainda amplamente inexplorado nos mercados emergentes e com uma literatura que coloca em destaque essas lacunas. Para fazer face a esta ausência de informação, essa pesquisa indaga aos profissionais experientes em ativos podres, para obter os conhecimentos necessários. Como consequência, a pesquisa mostra que o mercado dos ativos podres no Brasil é muito singular e os intervenientes do mercado precisam se adaptar ao contexto. A criação de valor depende de um ecossistema local formado por advogados corporativos, consultores em reestruturação/turnaround e gestores de ativos. Eles são capazes de criar valor com um conjunto especial de competências, principalmente a gestão da informação, a experiência jurídica e a gestão estratégica.

Anotation Topic of the master thesis is Financial literacy of the Czech population. The thesis puts focus on population in their early adulthood (age from 18 to 30 years) and is divided into 5 chapters. 1st chapter defines literacy, functional literacy and financial literacy. 2nd chapter describes main reasons and factors affecting financial literacy and pathological events as a possible consequence of low level of the financial literacy. 3nd chapter focuses on customer protection and shows particular options how to increase level of customer protection in an area of personal finance. 4th chapter clarifies financial terms important for proper understanding of realized survey described in 5th chapter of the thesis. The main goal of the survey as well as the thesis is to find out current level of financial literacy of the Czech population in their early adulthood (age from 18 to 30 years). Partial goals of the thesis are identification and description of groups achieving worse results in financial literacy test within the population, and description of negative effects to individual's behavior in the area of personal finance related to lower level of financial literacy.