Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2007. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Business Information, Technology and Law. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 255-280).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2008. / "May, 2008." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-46). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--Guo li zheng zhi da xue, 1973. / Cover title. On double leaves. Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (MA) -- AUT University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print ( leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 332.7430993 THO)

The aim of this study is to examine why firms may manipulate not just their earnings but also their cash flows, and to investigate the effects of this behaviour in debt markets with respect to the cost of debt. This research addresses current concerns about accounting rules (both GAAP and IFRS) which allow companies discretion in the presentation of their operating cash flow in financial statements. Using a sample of 8,684 UK and 23,935 USA firm-years from 1998 to 2010, the reported operating cash flow is decomposed into two components, unmanaged and managed, in order to examine the association between the estimated discretionary part of operating cash flow and the cost of debt. The results show that the cost of debt has a significantly positive association with the managed component of operating cash flows. By using path analysis, it is further shown that the effect of cash flow management in increasing the cost of debt is largely through its impact on accounting quality. Also it is found that the market positively prices abnormal operating cash flow information when firms experience financial problems, especially when companies are faced with low cash flows.

The purpose of this study was to examine parental actions to finance higher education. Data were analyzed from the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS: 96). Results of this study indicated that gender, race, housing status, and attendance status of students were factors in the amount of loans that was assumed by parents. Further results indicated that parent'9s marital status, total parent contribution, parent income, the cost of attending, and institutional control were also factors in the amount of loans that were assumed by parents. The age of students and the amount of parent savings did not effect the percentage of parents who assumed loans nor did it effect the amount of loans that were assumed by parents. Recommendations for future research include a continued focus on how families, as a whole, are financing higher education, repayment practices and default rates of parents who assumed loans to pay for higher education, specific types of loans that parents use to fund higher education, parental debt and what ratio of their debt is due to educational loans. / Master of Arts

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao DIARONE LOPES DA SILVA.pdf: 712816 bytes, checksum: 1a308ee4388cb400094fff71d013cea7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-06-08 / This document has the main objective to present the influence of the judicial process in the huge money s costs to the companies in the brazilian credit bank market. The approach of the subject intends to show the main problems faced by banks and companies when they need to use the brazilian judiciary such as: the slowness, the partiality and the complexity of the judicial proceeding. Mainly to the companies, being the weak face in a credit negotiation with the banks, the matters starts since the deal with operation s conditions, facing by adhesion contracts, indecent clauses and interest rates highest the interest rates expected by return in their investments. Besides the presentation of some negative aspects of the judicial proceeding, this document intends to evidence that the improvement of the judiciary functioning will not guarantee of the reduction in the interest tax or reduce the brazilian bank spread taxes, because these taxes are composers by important others variables without connections with judicial efficiency. However, willing to contribute to the discussion about the causes of the huge costs of the bank credit to the companies in Brazil, will remain conspicuous that the importance of the efficient judiciary s act in the bank credit market to removing, or minimizing, the variable risk of bad payers in the composition of the bank spread / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo principal analisar a influência do processo judicial no elevado custo do dinheiro no mercado de crédito bancário para as empresas no Brasil. A abordagem do assunto procura apontar os principais problemas enfrentados por bancos e empresas quando se tornam usuários do judiciário brasileiro, como a morosidade, a parcialidade e a complexidade do procedimento judicial. Notadamente do lado das empresas, por serem a parte mais frágil nas negociações de crédito com os bancos, as dificuldades começam desde a contratação das condições das operações, defrontando-se com contratos de adesão, cláusulas abusivas e taxas de juros muito superiores às taxas juros de retorno esperadas nos seus investimentos. Além da exposição de alguns aspectos negativos do procedimento judicial, este trabalho procura evidenciar que a melhora no funcionamento do judiciário não será garantia de redução das taxas de juros ou do spread bancário no Brasil, pois estes são compostos por outras importantes variáveis, não ligadas à eficiência judicial. Entretanto, objetivando contribuir para o debate sobre as causas do elevado custo do crédito bancário para as empresas no País, restará saliente a importância da atuação eficiente do judiciário com relação ao mercado de crédito bancário para eliminar, ou minimizar, a variável risco de inadimplência da composição do spread bancário