As empresas são constantemente avaliadas, no que tange a resultados financeiros e econômicos, bem como as suas estratégias. As demonstrações financeiras são relatórios importantes na avaliação do desempenho da evolução patrimonial das organizações, fornecendo uma visão global da organização. Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar a relação entre Grau de Investimento, definido pelo rating do método de Guth, com o das certificadoras Standard & Poor's, Moody's e Fitch Ratings, com base nos dados das empresas listadas no IBRX 50. O grau de investimento de uma empresa concede um selo de “bom pagador”, esta avaliação ocorre de forma quantitativa e qualitativa, permitindo uma visão ampla dos negócios da organização. Para analisar a aderência do método que utiliza apenas indicadores financeiros e o divulgado pelas principais certificadoras será realizada uma pesquisa pelo método quantitativo-descritivo, utilizando as empresas listadas no IBRX50. A pesquisa é classificada como aplicada, com abordagem quantitativa, sendo apurado o grau de investimento pelo método de Guth através das demonstrações contábeis das empresas listadas no IBRX50, no ano de 2016, comparando com o divulgado pelas agencias certificadoras. Quanto ao objetivo é descritiva, utilizando procedimentos documentais, baseada em relatórios contábeis financeiros para calcular o grau de investimentos e os pareceres divulgados pelas certificadoras para comparar o rating divulgado como o apurado a partir dos seguintes indicadores financeiros: liquidez, rentabilidade, lucratividade, , solvência, endividamento e giro do ativo. Como resultados verificou-se a existência de diferenças entre o rating divulgado pelas agências, empresas que não possuem classificação divulgada pelas três certificadoras concomitantemente. A lista do IBRX50 contempla empresas que não foram avaliadas pelas certificadoras. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2017-12-06T16:50:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Nadia Cristina de Castilhos.pdf: 1045174 bytes, checksum: 3baf5f6c86f3e49a4273a261fa6b1479 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-06T16:50:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Nadia Cristina de Castilhos.pdf: 1045174 bytes, checksum: 3baf5f6c86f3e49a4273a261fa6b1479 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-06 / Companies are constantly evaluated in terms of financial and economic results as well as their strategies. The financial statements are important reports in assessing the performance of the organization's equity evolution, providing a global view of the organization. This study has as general objective to identify the relation between Investment Grade, defined by the rating of Guth’s Method, with the certifiers Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings, based on the data of the companies listed in the IBRX 50. The degree of investment of a company grants it a "good payer" seal, this evaluation occurs quantitatively and qualitatively, allowing a broad view of the organization's business. In order to analyze the adherence of the method that uses only financial indicators and that disclosed by the main certifiers, a research based on a quantitative-descriptive method will be done, using the companies listed in the IBRX50, in 2016. The objective is descriptive, using documentary procedures, based on financial accounting reports to calculate the degree of investments and the opinions published by the certifiers to compare the rating disclosed as calculated from the financial indicators: Liquidity indebtedness, Immediate liquidity, Profitability of the asset, Profitability, Current liquidity, Dry liquidity, Solvency, Indebtedness of Liquid Equity, Return on Liquid Equity and Asset turnover. As results it was verified that there are differences between the ratings disclosed by the three agencies. The IBRX50 list includes companies that have not been evaluated by the certifiers.

This study investigates FTSE/JSE All Share index monthly and daily equity returns for evidence of the January and TY effect. Four different measures of monthly return are analysed for the 1995-2006 period, whilst daily returns are analysed during the 1995-2005 period. In addition to this, analysis is conducted on monthly Fama-MacBeth risk premium estimates tor the FTSE/JSE All Share Index. Descriptive statistics are first analysed, followed by ANOV A or Kruskai-Wallis tests, the paired t-test and finally dummy variable regression analysis in investigating the seasonality of FTSE/JSE All Share Index returns and risk premia. Analysis on monthly returns reveals an absence of the January effect, however a positive slightly statistically significant December effect is found. Thus, investors earn abnormal returns on equity during the month of December. The results from the Fama-MacBeth risk premia estimates reveals highly statistically significant negative risk premia seasonal patterns during March, July and September. Thus, investors are in fact penalised for investing in equities during these months. In addition, the analysis reveals an absence of a December effect in risk premia, which contradicts the risk-return trade-off central to modem finance. The daily return analysis reveals a highly significant Turn-of-the-Year effect (TY), which suggests that investors earn abnormal returns on days at the turn of the year. Therefore, it is concluded that a December effect is apparent in South African equity monthly returns, whilst a March, July and September effect is apparent in South African equity risk premia contradicting the risk-return trade-off central to modem finance. In addition to this, a TY effect is present in South African equity daily returns.

The main target of the thesis is analysing of short-term indirect cross-sectoral impacts of taxation of electricity, solid fuels and natural gas on particular sectors of NACE in the Czech Republic, especially impacts on production prices. The key instrument for the analysis is the short-term price model for the Czech Republic, created as a component of the thesis. A secondary target is focused on the analysis of direct impacts, especially impacts on prices and expenditures of particular sectors of NACE. Within the scope of the main target, there are five different variants of taxation. For each of them the impact of taxation of particular commodities on changes in production prices of particular sectors of NACE is simulated. Than two different variants, both of them including taxation of all commodities, are compared. The thesis includes also two hypotheses, which are going to be confirmed or disproved on the basis of obtained results. For achieving the main target the methodology of Leontief input – output analysis was chosen (Leontief, 1966). This is the key instrument for creating short-term price model for the Czech Republic. This method is suitable especially for analysing short-term cross-sectoral impacts, however under necessary condition of no changes in current technologies, agreements and cross-sectoral relations. This condition represents strict limitation for the price model created for the thesis. Regarding scientific contribution, the main asset of this thesis is creation of macroeconomic short-term price model for the Czech Republic, which is based on methodology of Leontief input – output analysis. The additional contribution is calculation of the short-term impacts of new environmental taxation on production prices of particular sectors of NACE. Considering available information, environmental taxes in the Czech Republic have not been analysed by Leontief input - output methodology yet. There is not also sufficient analysis of environmental taxes impacts on particular sectors of NACE in the Czech Republic. The thesis is divided to seven chapters. The first chapter focuses on introduction to environmental tax regulation issue. The second chapter presents theories and concepts of taxation impact analysis. The third chapter focuses on models and empirical research in environmental taxation area. The fourth chapter is dealing with basic practical aspects of introduction of new energy taxation in the Czech republic and presents data useful for the following analysis. The fifth chapter consists of describing of applied methodology and describing of creation of the price model. The sixth chapter summarises results of simulation of direct impact of taxation on average prices for companies and on expenditures of particular sectors of NACE. The seventh chapter presents results of cross-sectoral analysis of indirect macroeconomic impacts for all variants; the chapter includes also testing of hypotheses and comments of final results.

As empresas são constantemente avaliadas, no que tange a resultados financeiros e econômicos, bem como as suas estratégias. As demonstrações financeiras são relatórios importantes na avaliação do desempenho da evolução patrimonial das organizações, fornecendo uma visão global da organização. Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar a relação entre Grau de Investimento, definido pelo rating do método de Guth, com o das certificadoras Standard & Poor's, Moody's e Fitch Ratings, com base nos dados das empresas listadas no IBRX 50. O grau de investimento de uma empresa concede um selo de “bom pagador”, esta avaliação ocorre de forma quantitativa e qualitativa, permitindo uma visão ampla dos negócios da organização. Para analisar a aderência do método que utiliza apenas indicadores financeiros e o divulgado pelas principais certificadoras será realizada uma pesquisa pelo método quantitativo-descritivo, utilizando as empresas listadas no IBRX50. A pesquisa é classificada como aplicada, com abordagem quantitativa, sendo apurado o grau de investimento pelo método de Guth através das demonstrações contábeis das empresas listadas no IBRX50, no ano de 2016, comparando com o divulgado pelas agencias certificadoras. Quanto ao objetivo é descritiva, utilizando procedimentos documentais, baseada em relatórios contábeis financeiros para calcular o grau de investimentos e os pareceres divulgados pelas certificadoras para comparar o rating divulgado como o apurado a partir dos seguintes indicadores financeiros: liquidez, rentabilidade, lucratividade, , solvência, endividamento e giro do ativo. Como resultados verificou-se a existência de diferenças entre o rating divulgado pelas agências, empresas que não possuem classificação divulgada pelas três certificadoras concomitantemente. A lista do IBRX50 contempla empresas que não foram avaliadas pelas certificadoras. / Companies are constantly evaluated in terms of financial and economic results as well as their strategies. The financial statements are important reports in assessing the performance of the organization's equity evolution, providing a global view of the organization. This study has as general objective to identify the relation between Investment Grade, defined by the rating of Guth’s Method, with the certifiers Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings, based on the data of the companies listed in the IBRX 50. The degree of investment of a company grants it a "good payer" seal, this evaluation occurs quantitatively and qualitatively, allowing a broad view of the organization's business. In order to analyze the adherence of the method that uses only financial indicators and that disclosed by the main certifiers, a research based on a quantitative-descriptive method will be done, using the companies listed in the IBRX50, in 2016. The objective is descriptive, using documentary procedures, based on financial accounting reports to calculate the degree of investments and the opinions published by the certifiers to compare the rating disclosed as calculated from the financial indicators: Liquidity indebtedness, Immediate liquidity, Profitability of the asset, Profitability, Current liquidity, Dry liquidity, Solvency, Indebtedness of Liquid Equity, Return on Liquid Equity and Asset turnover. As results it was verified that there are differences between the ratings disclosed by the three agencies. The IBRX50 list includes companies that have not been evaluated by the certifiers. / Companies are constantly evaluated in terms of financial and economic results as well as their strategies. The financial statements are important reports in assessing the performance of the organization's equity evolution, providing a global view of the organization. This study has as general objective to identify the relation between Investment Grade, defined by the rating of Guth’s Method, with the certifiers Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings, based on the data of the companies listed in the IBRX 50. The degree of investment of a company grants it a "good payer" seal, this evaluation occurs quantitatively and qualitatively, allowing a broad view of the organization's business. In order to analyze the adherence of the method that uses only financial indicators and that disclosed by the main certifiers, a research based on a quantitative-descriptive method will be done, using the companies listed in the IBRX50, in 2016. The objective is descriptive, using documentary procedures, based on financial accounting reports to calculate the degree of investments and the opinions published by the certifiers to compare the rating disclosed as calculated from the financial indicators: Liquidity indebtedness, Immediate liquidity, Profitability of the asset, Profitability, Current liquidity, Dry liquidity, Solvency, Indebtedness of Liquid Equity, Return on Liquid Equity and Asset turnover. As results it was verified that there are differences between the ratings disclosed by the three agencies. The IBRX50 list includes companies that have not been evaluated by the certifiers.

The accounting literature contains no evidence on the reliability of the link-chain variant of dollar-value LIFO as a method of inventory accounting as compared to the double-extension variant. The research produced the first evidence on the topic. Process analyses of the two methods found both to be flawed, with the link-chain method seriously flawed. The link-chain method inappropriately incorporates the price-levels of periods when there is no annual layer to be restated. The resulting, and all subsequent, inventory valuations are misstated. The link-chain and double-extension methods can both produce misstated valuations in periods with layer erosion. The study identifies procedures to correct these errors. Two quantitative experiments were conducted to evaluate the relationship of the inventory valuations produced by the two methods. The first experiment used a small amount real data; the second experiment used a large amount of synthesized data. The experimental results indicated the relationship of the valuations to be circumstantial. Based on the process analyses and the quantitative experiments, the link-chain LIFO method was determined to be an unreliable method of inventory accounting. The quantitative experiments were also used to investigate related issues. The first experiment concluded that a dollar-value LIFO method based on Fisher’s "ideal" index methodology was practicable. The second experiment concluded that adopting the method used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to assign base-date costs to new or changed items that enter the CPI market basket of goods and services to the double-extension LIFO method was practicable and would not diminish tax revenues. The study recommended that consideration be given to replacing the current double-extension and link-chain methods with a double-extension LIFO with the BLS method. The second experiment also concluded that the IRS’s inventory "turnover" test is probably based on the IRS’s perception of what constitutes taxpayer practicality. The definition of practicality, however, is questioned and alternative definitions are suggested. The study indicated that further research on the relationship of inventory valuations to the income taxation process is needed. / Ph. D.

This dissertation examines the process by which buyers encode and store price information in their memories and how the information is retrieved when such a need arises. Using theories in human learning and memory, it has been argued that buyers’ learning of price information is primarily influenced by their learning plans and the criteria they use pin choice decisions. Because of the differences in learning and choice task orientations, buyers are postulated to encode and store the information differently and therefore, different memory tests are necessary to investigate the retrieval mechanisms and thereby making inferences about their knowledge of price. While it is recognized that buyers may encode and retrieve price information in many different ways, this research has examined the differential impact of learning and choice task orientations on their recall, recognition, and ranking performances. The hypotheses developed in this research were tested in a laboratory experiment using ninety women shoppers as subjects. The two levels of learning (incidental and intentional) and the three levels of choice task orientations (non-price, mixed, and price) were fully crossed in a 2 x 3 full-factorial between-subjects design. Subjects, after being randomly assigned to one of the six experimental conditions took part in a simulated grocery shopping. Having made their selections, subjects responded to recall, recognition, and ranking memory tests involving prices of the items selected. Subjects also indicated their confidence about the accuracy of their responses. The accuracy and confidence ratings were used as dependent measures when testing the hypotheses. Since accuracy measures were dichotomous (correct or incorrect) in nature, loglinear modes were tested using maximum likelihood estimation procedure. For continuous dependent measure (e.g. confidence), ordinary least square estimations were carried out in a univariate ANOVA framework. In addition, several multiple comparison procedures were used to test differences between mean accuracy and confidence scores. The data analysis supported fifteen out of sixteen hypothesized relationships. The results supported the argument that buyers’ learning of price information improves with greater use of price in their choice decisions and with greater need to remember the information for later use. Overall, recognition was found to be a more appropriate retrieval mechanism than recall. Need for remembering specific prices did not significantly improve buyers° ability to rank items in terms of their expensiveness. The conceptualization and the research results are expected to make both theoretical and methodological contributions in pricing research. Particularly, the issues involving formation of reference prices and the manner in which the internal reference prices are retrieved and used in iii choice decisions are partially addressed using a consumer information processing perspective. Nonetheless, future research is needed to resolve additional issues in price perception research. / Ph. D.

nÃo hà / Considering two of the main costs indicators in the civil construction sector, this study proposes models to estimate the costs trend in that sector in 2011. Forecasts from vector autoregressive models composed by INCC and SINAP index seasonally adjusted allow determining an upward trend for costs in the sector analyzed and that, as in periods of financial crisis, this should be the object of counter cyclical policy to contain the spread of movement of rising prices in the Brazilian economy. / Considerando dois dos principais indicadores de custos no setor da construÃÃo civil, o estudo propÃe modelos para estimar a tendÃncia dos custos no referido setor em 2011. PrevisÃes a partir de modelos vetoriais autorregressivos compostos pelo INCC e Ãndice SINAPI com ajuste sazonal permitem constatar uma tendÃncia ascendente para os custos no setor analisado e que, assim como nos perÃodos de crise financeira, este deve ser objeto de polÃtica anticÃclica visando conter a propagaÃÃo do movimento de elevaÃÃo de preÃos na economia brasileira.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2006. / Supervisor: Thomas Crossley. Includes bibliographical references.

In this study a two-part mixed probability density function was derived which described the relative changes in the Standard and Poor's 100 Stock Index over various intervals of time. The density function is a mixture of two different halves of normal distributions. Optimal values for the standard deviations for the two halves and the mean are given. Also, a general form of the function is given which uses linear regression models to estimate the standard deviations and the means. The density functions allow stock market participants trading index options and futures contracts on the S & P 100 Stock Index to determine probabilities of success or failure of trades involving price movements of certain magnitudes in given lengths of time.

Rapid technical progress has increased the speed of quality change. Its impact has a large scale effect on a broad set of variables and it has exacerbated a latent economic problem on the measurement of true economic variables. For example, the reliability of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been increasingly undermined since it has been argued that price indexes suffer either an upward or a downward bias due to quality change in goods and services. This paper is aimed to be a comprehensive survey on historical contributions to modeling quality from a theoretical perspective. The fundamental contributions of several economists are framed into a coherent building block. We construct a general framework for quality adjustment in price index theory which helps to understand the importance of economic theory for price index definitions. Supply and demand side models are analysed and merged into Rosen (1974) model, the first well grounded attempt to construct a general equilibrium explanation to quality choices. First, we address the issue of quality measures into price index theory. Then, we present a survey of the relevant contributions to hedonic price modeling. We focus on two main fields of applied analysis: (1) determining how the price of a unit of commodity varies with the set of attributes; (2) estimating the demand and supply functions for the attributes of products. The open issues on quality adjustment in consumer price indexes will be analysed in the two applied papers, namely chapter 3 and chapter 4. They are two applied original contributions to hedonic price literature. Chapter 3: In this paper we show that a real time measure of pure price change for different varieties of non durable volatile and seasonal products is possible. Moreover, we introduce the idea of unobservable elements captured by brand specific and by time specific dummies. In order to compute a pure price index, a theoretically correct quality adjustment procedure has been determined where quality is measured in terms of attributes (Griliches, 1971a, 1971b; Tauchen and Witte, 2001; Pakes, 2003; Ekeland et al. 2002, 2004; Triplett 2004) and it is becomes a ’fundamental’ of the market. We have analyzed the prices of apples and oranges traded in the General Milan Market for fruit and vegetables. We have used a large amount of information from more than 8000 of observations collected between 2000 and 2004. We have found that quality is changed over time even if new goods/varieties were not introduced. Price levels adjusted for qualitative levels, measured in terms of the content of characteristics, are above the Laspeyres hedonic price index on average for apples whilst the pure price index for oranges is close to the Laspeyres price index. Our empirical analysis shows that a price index, which does not account for quality change, is underepresiting inflation for apples and correctly measuring price changes for oranges. Chapter 4: The relevant literature dealing with the problem of quality measurement in passenger cars (inter alias, Ohta and Griliches 1976, 1983; Lancaster (1966), Rosen (1974), Berry et al. 1995; 2004) relies on general hedonic imputation methods for the assessment of the quality adjusted price index. We deviate from this standard approach by computing a new quality adjusted index for cars based on a weighted adjustment procedure which accounts for attrition due to observable elements (Fitzgerald et al., 1998; Nevo, 2003; Horowitz and Manski, 1998). By doing this, we are able to define a quality adjusted price index which generates a more accurate identification of price index levels than the current state of the art. We use data for the universe of new cars and their characteristics, sold between 2000 and 2007 in Italy, and we identify the basic reference unit. Based on this we study the pricing behavior of the firms. We model a non random and non ignorable selection process based on an entry/exit process of cars (Olly and Pakes, 1996) due to profit maximizing firms in a differentiated product space. We find that the official index is overestimating inflation since our results point to a mild deflation. However we show that traditional hedonic techniques lead to an overestimation of quality improvement and consequently they under-estimate inflation.