This paper studies foreign currency adjustments in executive compensation (i.e. exclusionof foreign currency impacts from accounting-based performance metrics). In light of recent debates on the pros and cons of using non-GAAP adjustments in compensation, I propose a rational explanation for adjusting foreign currency concerning firm’s operating decisions. I employ real options theory to study foreign currency fluctuations in decision making. I show, both analytically and empirically, that Integration Level, the extent of coordinated activities or cross-border transactions between the parent and its foreign subsidiaries, can serve as an explanation. Firms with a high level of integration are less likely to adopt foreign currency adjustments. On average, firms consider foreign currency fluctuations to make corporate decisions; the usage of foreign currency adjustments in executive compensation is less likely to be a result of managerial opportunism.

This research investigates the information content of the translation information resulting from exchange rate fluctuations. Two hypotheses are examined. The dollar movement hypotheses investigate whether there is a positive relationship between security valuation and the translation information and whether the market assigns different weights to translation gains and losses in both the depreciating and appreciating exchange rate environments. The geographic concentration hypothesis tests whether the market's response to the translation information is geographically sensitive. Prior research on SFAS No. 8 and SFAS No. 52 has concentrated on the price and trading volume responses to the deliberations and issuance of these two accounting statements. Soo and Soo (1994) examine the long-term effect of the disclosure requirement under SFAS No. 52 on MNEs' security prices from 1981 to 1987. However, they fail to address two important issues pertinent to the MNE research--the effects of exchange rate changes and the geographic concentration. The dollar movement hypotheses provide strong evidence that under both the appreciating and depreciating exchange rate environments, a positive relationship exists between security returns and the translation information when MNEs disclose translation losses in stockholders' equity. The findings also provide evidence for a positive or at least non-negative relationship between security returns and the translation information when MNEs disclose translation gains. The findings provide evidence that the positive relationship is greater in appreciating than in depreciating exchange rate environment for losses, but no evidence of such a difference exists for gains. The evidence also indicates that the market reacts more to the translation information when translation losses are reported than when translation gains are reported in both exchange rate environments. The examination of the impact of the geographic concentration of MNEs' foreign operations provides limited evidence to support the geographic concentration hypothesis. One possible explanation for the weak findings is that the larger degree of the aggregation of some of the geographic disclosures prevents the market from impounding the geographic information.

M.Com. (Economics) / The objective of the thesis was to examine the relationship between the rand exchange rate and the interest rate under the floating exchange rate system. A theoretical analysis of previous exchange rate regimes with a particular emphasis on the floating exchange rate system was conducted. At the end of the sixties it became evident that the limitations of the fixed exchange rate system were such that it could no longer handle the tensions which had developed in the international monetary system with its great dependence on the US dollar as reserve currency and unit of accounting. The floating exchange rate system deregulates the international monetary system. Market forces are allowed to play a more prominent role in determining a price variable such as the exchange rate. This flexibility has led to the globalization and internationalization of the world's fund markets.

[by] Donald R. Lessard and Peter Lorange. / Bibliography: leaf [21].

Prior to the issuance of Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 8 (SFAS No. 8), there was a marked inconsistency in the area of accounting for foreign currency translation. Though designed to make the diverse accounting practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) more compatible, SFAS No. 8 was the subject of a great deal of criticism, eventually leading to the issuance of Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement No. 52 (SFAS No. 52). SFAS No. 52 differs from SFAS No. 8 on objectives and method of translation, and on accounting treatments of translation adjustments. This dissertation provides an empirical examination of the security market reaction to the accounting policy change embodied in SFAS No. 52, and its impact on the volatility of reported earnings of MNCs. The effects of the issuance and early adoption of SFAS No. 52 on security return distributions were determined by both cross-sectional comparisons of cumulative average residuals (CAR) between MNCs and domestic firms and between early and late adopters, and by time-series tests on CAR of MNCs. Two volume analyses were performed to test the effects of SFAS No. 52 on security volume. The first analysis was adjusted to remove the effects of the marketwide factors on volume, and the second analysis was unadjusted for the market influences. Four nonparametric tests were used in testing the effects of SFAS No. 52 vis-a-vis SFAS No. 8 on the volatility of reported earnings of MNCs. The findings of this study led to the following conclusions: (1) SFAS No. 52 had significantly affected security returns of MNCs, but had no significant effects on security volume of MNCs; (2) the early adoption of SFAS No. 52 had no effects on security returns and volume of early adopters as opposed to late adopters; and (3) SFAS No. 52 did not have any significant effects on the volatility of reported earnings of MNCs. However, the impact of exchange adjustments on MNCs* earnings under SFAS No. 52 was significantly affected by the size of foreign operations and industry classifications.