Today problems exist with how the leases are recognized in public companies that uses the IFRS. The liability to make lease payments is not recognized as a liability in the balance sheet even though it should according to the current lease accounting standard. There are two different classifications of leases, financial and operational, where the latter means that the liability to make lease payment does not end up in the balance sheet. Today many lease contracts are tailored to be classified as operational to avoid the liability on the balance sheet. The problem described above has for long been known and the international accounting organisations, IASB and FASB, have been working on a solution to the problem for many years. The project’s completion in form of a new standard has been postponed several times and it is currently scheduled for the earliest to entry into service during 2013. This thesis aims at investigating the IASB’s and FASB’s joint project to solve the lease accounting problem and its effects on the Swedish commercial real estate market. The approach adopted in this thesis is to examine the available literature about the problem and the project and to conduct interviews with expert in the field and possible future stakeholder that will be affected. The conclusions of the thesis are that the effects due to the project will mainly be for the lessee and then indirectly for the lessor. The lessees will try to find solutions like shorter leases to avoid the biggest effects of the new standard but to what extent they will avoid these remains uncertain. The lessor will most likely see a higher demand for shorter leases that will increase the risk in the lessors business. This will probably cause higher rental prices for listed companies.

Corporate managers often pursue voluntary non-GAAP reporting when mandatory reporting is limited, although regulators are concerned with how this reporting is utilized. While the level of flexibility external auditors exhibit during discussions over subjective GAAP reporting choices can influence management's GAAP reporting decisions, it is important to determine if this behavior affects subsequent non-GAAP reporting decisions. Additionally, recent calls for increased audit committee questioning of non-GAAP disclosures may also cause audit committees to influence non-GAAP reporting. In this dissertation, I conduct an experiment to examine how auditor flexibility and audit committee questioning influence non-GAAP preparation and earnings release disclosure choices of senior executives. I predict less flexible auditor behavior will enhance managers' psychological feeling of constraint, while audit committee questioning focused on non-GAAP measures can increase managers' self-assessment of reporting decisions, both of which will translate into more conservative non-GAAP reporting. However, given prior research indicating that corporate governance mechanisms can combine in complex ways, I predict a greater impact of audit committee questioning absent auditor constraint. Results indicate managers make less conservative non-GAAP preparation decisions and disclose more non-GAAP measures in the absence of constraint from inflexible auditors. However, absent this constraint, managers make more conservative non-GAAP preparation choices and present non-GAAP measures less prominently in earnings press releases when the audit committee questions non-GAAP disclosures. These results are driven by a thorough self-assessment of reporting decisions by managers expecting audit committee questioning. This study provides evidence on how external auditors and audit committees influence various voluntary reporting decisions. / Doctor of Philosophy / Corporate managers can report their company's financial information to investors and other stakeholders in various ways. Some financial information is required to be reported in accordance with a set of formal accounting standards called United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Beyond this mandatory reporting, other financial information is disclosed voluntarily when company management believes this extra information is beneficial to investors. These voluntary disclosures— called non-GAAP measures— do not follow a set of accounting standards and can be disclosed with more discretion by company management than GAAP measures. The variation in how non-GAAP measures are prepared and disclosed concerns regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Mandatory GAAP financial reporting is overseen by external auditors from public accounting firms, but auditors typically have very little formal oversight over non-GAAP reporting. Although company management ultimately decides how to disclose GAAP information, external auditors influence these reporting decisions by recommending choices during discussions over subjective GAAP issues. Sometimes auditors exhibit inflexible behavior during these discussions by being unwilling to consider management's reporting choices. This inflexibility limits or constrains the GAAP reporting choices of managers. However, prior research has not studied how this constraint impacts how managers make non-GAAP reporting choices. Further, GAAP reporting choices can also be influenced by the audit committee, which is a subgroup of members of the board of directors that is in charge of overseeing financial reporting and disclosure. Recent calls from regulators have asked for increased audit committee questioning of non-GAAP disclosures, which may also cause audit committees to influence non-GAAP reporting. Non-GAAP measures are often presented in earnings press releases, which are public announcements by a company that disclose information regarding results of operations or financial condition for a given period. Managers can make strategic decisions regarding the preparation of non-GAAP measures and the presentation of this information in earnings releases, both of which can influence investors' decision-making. In this dissertation, I conduct an experiment utilizing senior executives to examine how auditor flexibility and audit committee questioning influence these two types of non-GAAP reporting decisions: how to prepare non-GAAP measures and how to disclose them in earnings press releases. I predict less flexible auditor behavior will enhance managers' psychological feeling of constraint, while audit committee questioning focused on non-GAAP measures will increase managers' self-assessment of reporting decisions, both of which will translate into more conservative non-GAAP reporting. However, prior research indicates that corporate governance mechanisms, which are factors intended to help direct and monitor company management (such as auditors and audit committees), can combine in complex ways. Therefore, I predict a greater impact of audit committee questioning absent auditor constraint. The results indicate managers make less conservative non-GAAP preparation decisions (i.e. are more likely to calculate non-GAAP earnings figures that deviate from their GAAP counterparts) and disclose more non-GAAP measures in the absence of constraint from inflexible auditors. However, absent this constraint, managers make more conservative non-GAAP preparation choices and present non-GAAP measures less prominently in earnings press releases when the audit committee questions non-GAAP disclosures. These results are driven by a thorough self-assessment of reporting decisions by managers expecting audit committee questioning. This study provides evidence on how external auditors and audit committees influence various voluntary reporting decisions. Given the ubiquity of non-GAAP reporting in recent years, this dissertation can provide valuable insights to regulators, investors, and other stakeholders on factors that influence managerial decision-making related to non-GAAP disclosures.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago_Morais_de_Castro.pdf: 1342136 bytes, checksum: bf015b66106a0b404f6f9a7b695bbf36 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-20 / The study of the relevance of accounting information has come to prominence with the development of capital markets and the pursuit of timely information, quality and which are able to influence its users. As relevant accounting information, this essay adopts the concept of quality that the information owns to influence prices in the capital markets. Taking advantage of the timely convergence of brazilian accounting standards to IFRS (International Financial Reports Standards), this study aimed to determine whether the adoption of international accounting standards (IFRS) affected the relevance of accounting information of non-financial companies listed in Brazil and whether there are differences in the relevance of accounting information among the published statement sunder IFRS on a voluntary and compulsory way. The first objective examined whether there were differences in the relevance of the information through an analysis of ordinary least squares (OLS) of the financial statements of 2009 prepared in BR GAAP and IFRS, and through the analysis of panel data from the annual financial statements period 2005 to 2010. The second objective of the analysis used panel data from annual financial statements for the period 2005 to 2010, and considered as those published in voluntary IFRS for prior periods to fiscal the year of 2010. All analyzes used models of Ohlson (1995) and Barth, Cram and Nelson (2001). The models were used as dependent variables price (P) and stock returns (RET), however the results were suitable only to the dependent variable (P). The analysis indicated that there are differences in the relevance of the information of non-financial companies listed in Brazil, on its financial statements prepared in BR GAAP and IFRS. The analysis of the model of Ohlson (1995) in OLS and panel data confirmed this difference and pointed to the financial statements prepared under IFRS as the major importance. The model of Barth, Cram and Nelson (2001) in OLS also revealed differences in the relevance of the information prepared in BR GAAP and IFRS, but pointed to statements in BR GAAP as the major importance. The model of Barth, Cram and Nelson (2001) on panel data found no differences in the relevance of accounting information between BR GAAP and IFRS standards. The second objective, the results indicate that there are no differences in the relevance of accounting information between the statements prepared under IFRS on a mandatory or voluntary way, from non-financial companies listed in Brazil / O estudo da relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis vem ganhando destaque com o desenvolvimento dos mercados de capitais e com a busca de informa????es tempestivas, de qualidade e que sejam capazes de influenciar seus usu??rios. Como informa????o cont??bil relevante, esta disserta????o adota o conceito da qualidade que a informa????o possui de influenciar os pre??os praticados nos mercados de capitais. Aproveitando o momento oportuno da converg??ncia das normas cont??beis brasileiras para as IFRS (International Financial Reports Standards), este trabalho teve por objetivo verificar se a ado????o das normas internacionais de contabilidade (IFRS) afetou a relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis das empresas n??o financeiras listadas no Brasil e se existe diferen??a na relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis entre as demonstra????es publicadas em IFRS de forma volunt??ria e obrigat??ria. O primeiro objetivo verificou se haviam diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es atrav??s de uma an??lise em M??nimos Quadrados Ordin??rios (MQO) das demonstra????es cont??beis do ano de 2009 elaboradas em BR GAAP e em IFRS; e atrav??s da an??lise de dados em painel das demonstra????es cont??beis anuais do per??odo de 2005 a 2010. O segundo objetivo utilizou da an??lise de dados em painel das demonstra????es cont??beis anuais do per??odo de 2005 a 2010, e considerou como demonstra????o cont??bil volunt??ria aquelas publicadas em IFRS para per??odos anteriores ao exerc??cio 2010. Todas as an??lises utilizaram dos modelos de Ohlson (1995) e Barth, Cram e Nelson (2001). Os modelos utilizados tinham como vari??veis dependentes o pre??o (P) e o retorno das a????es (RET), por??m, os resultados foram adequados somente com a vari??vel dependente (P). As an??lises apontaram que existem diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es das empresas n??o financeiras listadas no Brasil, relativo ?? suas demonstra????es cont??beis elaboradas em BR GAAP e em IFRS. A an??lise do modelo de Ohlson (1995) em MQO e dados em painel comprovaram esta diferen??a e apontaram paras as demonstra????es elaboradas em IFRS como as de maior relev??ncia. O modelo de Barth, Cram e Nelson (2001) em MQO tamb??m revelou diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es elaboradas em BR GAAP e IFRS, por??m apontou para as demonstra????es em BR GAAP como de maior relev??ncia. O modelo de Barth, Cram e Nelson (2001) em dados de painel n??o encontrou diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis entre os padr??es BR GAAP e IFRS. Quanto ao segundo objetivo, os resultados apontam que n??o existem diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis entre as demonstra????es elaboradas em IFRS de forma obrigat??ria ou volunt??ria, das empresas n??o financeiras listadas no Brasil

Samhället står ständigt inför utveckling, en effekt av det är att redovisningen går mot att bli mer global. Som följd av att internationell redovisning står inför utveckling har en vilja att förändra redovisningen nationellt utvecklats. Ett resultat av utveckling och modernisering av svensk redovisning är införandet av fyra nya regelverk, däribland K3-regelverk som blir gällande år 2014. En förändring som införandet av K3-regelverket medför är krav på komponentansatsen för materiella anläggningstillgångar. Komponentansatsen innebär att en materiell anläggningstillgång ska delas upp i betydande komponenter för att sedan skriva av komponenterna med separata nyttjandeperioder. Införandet av komponentansatsen i svensk redovisning har varit ett omdiskuterat ämne. Flertalet problem med införandet har lyfts fram i tidigare forskning. Som följd av komponentansatsens införande syftar vår studie till att undersöka ansatsen nationellt och internationellt.Studiens första syfte är att undersöka vilka möjligheter och begränsningar fem erfarna revisorer ser vid införandet av komponentansatsen i K3-regelverket samt om de tillfrågade revisorerna anser att komponentansatsen kommer att medföra problem. Vidare har en komparativ studie genomförts som undersökt hur komponentansatsen behandlas internationellt, vilket besvarar studiens andra syfte. Den internationella jämförelsen innefattar följande standarder: IFRS, IFRS for SMEs, FRS 102, FRF for SMEs samt standarder som ger uttryck för US GAAP.Genom studien kan det konstateras att de tillfrågade revisorerna ser både möjligheter och begränsningar med komponentansatsen. Överlag har de en positiv attityd till komponentansatsen. Det kommer som följd av att de tillfrågade revisorerna anser att komponentansatsen kommer att bidra till en mer rättvisande bild av ett företags ekonomiska ställning, i jämförelse med tidigare normgivning. Komponentansatsen bidrar till ett mer verklighetstroget avskrivningsförfarande vilket är grunden till att ansatsen medför en mer rättvisande bild enligt respondenterna. De tillfrågade revisorerna anger även vissa begränsningar vid införandet av komponentansatsen. De framhåller att det främst är inledningsfasen som kommer medföra problem med anledning av att K3-regelverket är ett principbaserat regelverk. Problemen som respondenterna anger uppstår som följd av att tillämpningen av komponentansatsen bygger på egna bedömningar och tolkningar. Vidare kan det, genom den komparativa studien, konstateras att det finns stora likheter i hur komponentansatsen behandlas internationellt. De undersökta standarderna är i många avseenden lika. Alla de undersökta standarderna tillåter att komponentansatsen tillämpas för materiella anläggningstillgångar, det är endast ASC 360 som inte ställer det som ett krav. Vidare uttrycker samtliga standarder att företag ska särredovisa komponenter om de har ett betydande värde, medan utformningen skiljer sig beträffande användandet av ordet väsentlig. / Program: Civilekonomprogrammet

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vinicius Jose Ribeiro de Carvalho.pdf: 508933 bytes, checksum: 35f5bc3268f8eb84a3d4d15678926b51 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-03 / This study seeks to understand the utilization of EBITDA by Brazilian market professionals. EBITDA, which emerged in the 1970s in the United States as a tool to measure the operating performance of companies with heavy capital investments and / or highly leveraged companies, due to its success quickly spread throughout the world as an important proxy for cash flows. However, over the years the academic and professional community, as well as regulators and standard-setting bodies, raised a number of criticisms and warnings on its use, possibly greater than its virtues. Thus, was born the motivation of this work: why and how highly skilled and qualified professionals continue utilizing EBITDA in their daily work, despite its conceptual weaknesses? Additionally, there was the motivation to discuss an issue lacking depth in Brazil. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, conducted through interviews with a sample of professionals selected by convenience and the data analyzed by the content analysis technique, with ATLAS.ti software support. The results show that the professionals of the sample continue using EBITDA mainly for ease of use and calculation, and deem it a good measure of operating performance. However, in addition to several criticisms, also showed us that they continue to utilize EBITDA due to the lack of a good proxy for cash flow that has a similar cost-benefit relation. Finally, we identified that one of the probable reasons for its mass utilization lies in Mimetic Isomorphism, as analyzed by the New Institutional Sociology, or Neo-institutionalism. / Este trabalho buscou entender a utilização do EBITDA por profissionais atuantes no mercado profissional brasileiro. O EBITDA, que despontou na década de 1970 nos Estados Unidos da América como uma ferramenta para medir o desempenho operacional de empresas com pesados investimentos em capital intensivo e/ou empresas altamente alavancadas, devido ao seu sucesso rapidamente se disseminou por todo o mundo como uma importante proxy para fluxos de caixa. No entanto, ao longo dos anos a comunidade acadêmica e profissional, assim como órgãos reguladores e normatizadores, levantaram uma série de críticas e ponderações quanto ao seu uso, possivelmente maiores que suas virtudes. Assim, nasceu a motivação deste trabalho: por que e como profissionais tão gabaritados continuam utilizando o EBITDA em seu dia a dia, apesar de suas fragilidades conceituais? Também teve-se a motivação de discutir um tema pouco aprofundado no Brasil. Trata-se de um trabalho de cunho qualitativo e exploratório, realizado através de entrevista com amostra de profissionais selecionados por conveniência e com os dados analisados pela técnica de análise de conteúdo, com suporte do software ATLAS.ti. Os resultados apontaram que os profissionais da amostra continuam utilizando o EBITDA principalmente pela facilidade de uso e de cálculo, além de entenderem ser uma boa medida de desempenho operacional. No entanto, além das diversas críticas tecidas, apontam também que o utilizam devido a falta de uma boa proxy para fluxo de caixa que tenha custo benefício de utilização semelhante. Por fim, identificamos que uma das razões para sua utilização reside no Isomorfismo Mimético, conforme analisado pela Nova Sociologia Institucional, ou Neo-institucionalismo.

This thesis focuses on the convergence project of IASB and FASB with the aim to create a new lease standard. The main goal of this thesis is to point on weakness of existing IAS 17 which is criticized, go through the history of the project development for preparing new standard since 2006 and to find out which changes have been prepared and accepted by IFRS for eliminating critical deficiencies. IASB published two drafts, the final standard has been published on 13 January 2016.

This master‘s thesis aims to select significant differences in financial accounting methodologies used in the Czech Republic, the International Accounting Standards and US GAAP. Differences are highlighted by data from the accounting environment of the company TRANS-TECHNIK, spol. s.r.o. The first part defines the different conceptual frameworks in Czech accounting, continental and Anglo-Saxon. The analytical part focuses on the differences in the way of the capturing of selected accounting items featured in the accounting systems, including conditions prevailing in the company.

Der Beitrag prüft den Stand der de facto-Konvergenz von IFRS und US-GAAP anhand der Überleitungsrechnungen gemäß Form 20-F von 114 europäischen IFRS-Bilanzierern. Die Analyse von 1.928 Einzelposten verdeutlicht die Heterogenität und das oft wesentliche Ausmaß der Differenzen zwischen den Ergebnis- und Eigenkapitalgrößen nach IFRS und nach US-GAAP. Diese gründen vorrangig auf hohen Teildifferenzen aus der Bilanzierung von Unternehmenszusammenschlüssen, immateriellen Vermögenswerten und Pensionen. Neben der Branchenzugehörigkeit beeinflussen die Erstanwendung von IFRS und die Rechnungslegungstradition die ausgewiesenen Differenzen. Die Ergebnisse offenbaren einen bislang geringen Stand der de facto-Konvergenz und deuten auf Umstellungseffekte sowie international inkonsistente Anwendung der Standards hin. Insbesondere implizieren die parallelen Abschlussgrößen eine frühere Gewinnvereinnahmung nach US-GAAP und insoweit eine vorsichtigere Bilanzierung nach IFRS, die in common law-Staaten starker ausgeprägt ist als in code law-Staaten. Neben der Branchenzugehörigkeit beeinflussen die Erstanwendung von IFRS und die Rechnungslegungstradition die ausgewiesenen Differenzen. Die Ergebnisse offenbaren einen bislang geringen Stand der de facto-Konvergenz und deuten auf Umstellungseffekte sowie international inkonsistente Anwendung der Standards hin. Insbesondere implizieren die parallelen Abschlussgrößen eine frühere Gewinnvereinnahmung nach US-GAAP und insoweit eine vorsichtigere Bilanzierung nach IFRS, die in common law-Staaten stärker ausgeprägt ist als in code law-Staaten. / This paper examines the level of de facto convergence of IFRSs and U.S. GAAP based on Form 20-F reconciliations of 114 EU companies. Our analysis of 1.928 reconciling items illustrates that de facto differences between IFRSs and U.S. GAAP are heterogeneous and often material in both net income and shareholder’s equity. Particularly, adjustments for business combinations, intangibles and pensions are predominant. We find significant differences between numerical adjustments (1) of first-time adopters and non-first-time adopters of IFRSs, (2) of companies in the financial and non-financial sector, and (3) of companies domiciled in common law and code law countries with each former group tending to larger adjustments. This implies that adoption effects and institutional factors impact the amount of adjustments. Our overall results indicate a poor level of de facto convergence achieved to date and an inconsistent application of accounting standards. Particularly, results imply earlier profit recognition under U.S. GAAP and more conservative accounting under IFRSs, which are more prevalent in common law countries than in code law countries. Particularly, results imply earlier profit recognition under U.S. GAAP and more conservative accounting under IFRSs, which are more prevalent in common law countries than in code law countries.

The full text will be available at the end of the embargo period: 31st December 2024.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the Chinese accounting standards and its possible effects on the accounting quality in financial reports and the economic growth of China. The accounting quality will be examinedthrough five chosen quality aspects: value relevance, faithful representation, comparability, earnings management and transparency. In addition, the view on the level of foreign direct investments will indicate if there has been any effect on economic growth. In order to fulfil thisaim a field study has been conducted, which involves interviews with people within the Chinese accounting industry. The theoretical framework contains an introduction to accounting and its connection to economic growth; background on IFRS and PRC GAAP; an outline of the chosen quality aspects;and finally a commentary on previous research and evidence in IFRS adoption and its effects on accounting quality and foreign direct investments. The empirical findings include the respondents’ view on the adoption of IFRS, accounting quality aspects, FDI and economic growth. The analysis deals with the respondents’ views in the empirical findings, and shows that these views differ on some of the quality aspects such as earnings management and are more consistent when it comes to other aspects such as value relevance. There is belief in the adoption of IFRS and its effects on the accounting quality and economic growth. However, the analysis further demonstrates current obstacles within the new PRC GAAP, such as the use of the fair value, which may problematize the accounting quality. The conclusion demonstrates that the majority of the respondents have experienced an improved overall accounting quality, which they believe has contributed to an enhanced level of foreign direct investment. Moreover, the results reveal a general view among the respondents that the adoption of IFRS also has contributed to the economic growth of China, through the increased level of foreign direct investments.