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 dissertation is concerned with the relationship between accounting earnings and stock prices. It consists of three empirical papers, all using a sample of firms listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (1990-2008). The first paper documents the existence of a drift in stock prices subsequent to quarterly earnings announcements. Two interesting empirical observations are that the drift is only significant for longer holding periods and that the drift on the short position, i.e. after bad earnings news, is negligible. The lack of downward drift on the short position is interpreted as an indication of the post-earnings announcement drift, at least partly, being explained by investors demanding a compensation for a risk factor that is omitted in the test design. The second paper illustrates under what conditions information risk in the earnings signal might explain a low announcement reaction and a price drift in the post-announcement period. It is hypothesized that two earnings signals – based either on GAAP earnings or core earnings – have different levels of information uncertainty with respect to how they depict the value creation of the firm. In the empirical sections, it is concluded that the low immediate announcement reaction and high post-announcement drift for the GAAP earnings signal is due to this signal being perceived by investors as containing more uncertainty than the core earnings signal. It is argued that this uncertainty might be due to GAAP earnings encompassing items that prior research has shown more likely to be manipulated and/or to contain estimation error. The positive association between information risk and expected return is further investigated in the third paper, where information risk is measured by earnings quality metrics. Using a new approach to estimate the implied cost of capital, it is found that Swedish investors demand a higher expected return for firms with poor earnings quality, i.e. firms associated with higher information risk. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2011

This thesis is an investigation of how subjects behave in an individual binary choice decision task with the option to purchase or observe for free additional information before reaching a decision. In part 1 of this thesis, an investigative study is conducted with the intent to sharpen the view to literature concerning corresponding psychology and economics experiments designed to test decision tasks that involve purchasing and observing information from an imperfect message prior to taking a terminal action choice. This investigative study identifies areas of research that warrant further investigation as well as provides enhancements for execution in the subsequent experiment conducted in Part 2 & 3 of this thesis. In Part 2 & 3, I conduct an experiment to test how subjects behave in an individual binary choice decision task with the option to purchase or observe for free additional information before reaching a final decision. I find that subjects’ behaviour over time converges toward optimal decisions prior to observing an imperfect information signal. However, when subjects observe an imperfect information signal prior to their terminal choice there is greater deviation from optimal behaviour. I find in addition to behaviour that is reflective of a risk-neutral BEU maximizer, status quo bias, over-weighing the informational value of the message received and past statistically independent outcomes influencing future choices. The subjects’ willingness to pay (WTP) to use the additional information gathered from an imperfect message service when making a final decision was on average less than the risk neutral BEU willingness to pay benchmark. Moreover, as the informative value of the message increased, causing the BEU valuation to increase, subjects under-estimated the value of the message signal to a greater degree. Although risk attitudes may have influenced the subjects’ WTP decisions, it does not account for the increased conservative WTP behaviour when information became more valuable. Additionally, the findings from this study suggest that individuals adopt different decision rules depending on both personal attributes (i.e. skillset, gender, experience) and on the context and environment in which the decision task is conducted. / SSHRC grant: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council via Dr. Bram Cadsby Professor Department of Economics, University of Guelph

This thesis focuses on the design of information system company PLASTIC BOX CZ, s.r.o, based in Brno. The thesis is divided into theoretical and analytical part. The theoretical part presents a theoretical perspective on information systems. In the analytical part, there is some analysis of company's information system PLASTIC BOX CZ, s.r.o, on the basis of the pro-posed changes to the information system.

The thesis deals with an analysis of information system and follow up designs on improvement of the IS in Enforcement office Brno-venkov company. Basic terms related to information’s systems are explained in the introductory part. The second part is dedicated to the information system concept, its qualities, features and requests. The company where IS is located, the analysis of the information system, elimination of risks and designs on improvement are described in the next part.

Denna studie undersöker om periodiseringskvalitet är en prissatt riskfaktor för nordiska företag som är noterade på en reglerad marknad under perioden 2010–2019. Tidigare studier menar att periodiseringskvalitet utgör en proxy för informationsrisk, men olika författare framställer olika slutsatser i frågan huruvida periodiserings­kvalitet är en prissatt riskfaktor eller inte. Med den av McNichols (2002) modifierade Dechow & Dichev modellen (2002) mäter vi periodiseringskvalitet som standard­avvikelsen av residualer från regressioner som kopplar periodiseringar till kassaflöden. Vi mäter riskpremien genom att dela in företagen i kvintiler baserad på periodiseringskvalitet och tillämpar en likaviktad portfölj som säljer företagen i de två kvintilerna med högst periodiseringskvalitet och köper företagen i kvintilerna med lägst periodiseringskvalitet. Vi finner en signifikant negativ koefficient i en två-stegs tvärsnittsregressionen som visar att periodiseringskvalitet inte utgör en prissatt riskfaktor för nordiska företag. / This study investigates if accruals quality is a priced risk factor for Nordic countries being traded on a regulated market in the Nordic countries during 2010–2019. Earlier studies argue that accruals quality is a proxy for information risk, but different authors find different results regarding whether accruals quality is a priced risk factor or not. By using the Dechow & Dichev model (2002), modified by McNichols (2002), we measure accruals quality as the standard deviation of regressions that match accruals to cash flow. We measure the risk premium by dividing the entities into quintiles and use an equal-weighted portfolio that sells the stocks in the two quintiles with the highest accruals quality and buys the two quintiles with the lowest accruals quality. We find a significant negative coefficient in a two-stage cross-sectional regression which shows that accruals quality is not a priced risk factor in the Nordic countries.

Le premier chapitre montre que les rendements des fonds investis dans des actions illiquides (“fonds illiquides”) sont mieux que ceux des fonds investis dans des actions liquides. Cette différence provient des capacités de fonds illiquides de sélectionner les actions. Les actions détenues par les fonds illiquides ont une meilleure performance que des portefeuilles qui ont les mêmes caractéristiques. Les fonds liquides déclarent des indices de référence par rapport auxquels leurs rendements sont plus importants. Un portefeuille d’actions détenues par les fonds illiquides a une meilleure performance qu’un portefeuille d’actions détenues par les fonds liquides. Le second chapitre documente une prédictibilité des rendements. Dans ce chapitre, les périodes d’opportunités sont les périodes où les rendements des actions faisant l’objet d’une analyse régulière par les analystes (les actions suivies) s'écartent de ceux des actions qui ne sont pas suivie (les actions négligés). Les rendements ultérieurs des actions faciles à évaluer sont plus importants quand les opportunités étaient grandes, par rapport aux périodes où les opportunités étaient limitées. Ce comportement est cohérent avec un modelé où les investisseurs exigent une prime pour supporter le risque de sélection défavorable. Le troisième chapitre explore les moments où les fonds d’investissement changent leur style d’investissement (le style est défini comme exposition au risque, prenant en compte les facteurs de risque habituels). Les fonds ne prennent pas plus des risques quand il serait plus rentable de le faire. Après avoir eu des mauvais rendements, les fonds se rapprochent du style des fonds similaires, mais qui ont eu des bons rendements. Le style de jeunes fonds s’écarte du style de fonds anciens. Les nouveaux gérants des fonds s’écartent du style de fonds avec des anciens gérants. Quand un fond prend plus de risque d’une côté, il n’essaye pas d’aborder systématiquement les autres côtés du risque. / The first chapter shows that mutual funds that hold illiquid stocks (“illiquid funds”) outperform funds that hold liquid stocks (“liquid funds”). There is evidence this outperformance arises from stock selection skills of illiquid funds. The stocks held by illiquid funds outperform portfolios matched by characteristics. Liquid funds declare benchmarks that make their benchmarkadjusted returns appear larger. A portfolio of stocks held by illiquid funds subsequently outperforms a portfolio of stocks held by liquid funds. The second chapter documents a predictability pattern in returns. This chapter identifies high opportunities in stocks with difficult valuation as times when returns of neglected stocks diverge from returns of covered stocks. Subsequent returns of stocks with difficult valuation are higher when beginning of period opportunities are high, as compared to when beginning of period opportunities are low. This is consistent with an information risk theory, where investors demand a higher premium to hold stocks with higher probability of informed trading, because they fear adverse selection. The third chapter explores instances when mutual funds change their style (style is regarded as risk exposure alongside usual factors). Mutual funds do not take more risk when it is more profitable to do so. After performing badly, mutual funds move closer to the style of good performing peer funds. Young funds' styles diverge from the style of old peer funds. Recently hired managers diverge in style from veteran managers of peer funds. When the average fund takes more risk alongside a style dimension, it does not simultaneously consider other style dimensions.

Much of the confusion about the effectiveness of information security programs concerns not only how to measure, but also what to measure — an issue of equivocality. Thus, to lower uncertainty for improved decision-making, it is first essential to reduce equivocality by defining, expanding, and clarifying risk factors so that metrics, the "necessary measures," can be unambiguously applied. We formulate a system that (1) allows threats to be accurately measured and tracked, (2) enables the impacts and costs of successful threats to be determined, and (3) aids in evaluating the effectiveness and return on investment of countermeasures. We then examine the quality of controls implemented to mitigate cyber risk and study how effectively they reduce the likelihood of security incidents. Improved control quality was shown to reduce the likelihood of security incidents, yet the results indicate that investing in maximum quality is not necessarily the most efficient use of resources. The next manuscript expands the discussion of cyber risk management beyond single organizations by surveying perceptions and experiences of risk factors related to 3rd parties. To validate and these findings, we undertake in an in-depth investigation of nearly 1000 real-world data breaches occurring over a ten-year period. It provides a robust data model and rich database required by a decision support system for cyber risk in the extended enterprise. To our knowledge, it is the most comprehensive field study ever conducted on the subject. Finally, we incorporate these insights, data, and factors into a simulation model that enables us study the transfer of cyber risk across different supply chain configurations and draw important managerial implications. / Ph. D.

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The thesis is focused on work with the data and information for the Fire and Rescue Service of South Bohemia Region, and its goal is to determine whether the data and information faced by members and employees of Fire and Rescue Service in their work are treated in accordance with applicable legislation, and whether they are adequately secured and protected against misuse and loss. Based on the organizational structure of qualitative research are mapped in detail the security and protection of data on individual departments and workplaces. These information compile risk areas for different types of data and due to this is prepared the risk map for these areas. Due to the findings the specific measures are designed to mitigate the risks for certain fields of work with data and information. The first part explains the basic concepts and definitions of words data, information and knowledge. The next section discusses the historical context of the mapped datastorage and handling of data in paper and electronic form, including the development of information systemsand technologies. Further are described the possible threats by varius effects on these data. Another chapter focuseson describing the current state ofwork with data and description oftechnologies used to it at the Fire and Rescue Service. Afterwards is elaborated an organizational structure focused on work with data. In following part the risk map is prepared for each area and proposesseveral solutions and particular measures to reducethe greatest of the resultingrisks. The benefit of this work is the implementation of several specific solutions to eliminate and reduce the threat of risks when working with dataat Fire and Rescue Service of South Bohemia Region, and several otherproposal measures and stepsfor additional security and data protection.