The graduation theses points out the importance of provisions for business entities. Provisions, as the basic tool of prudence, contribute to cautious and fair presentation of financial information. The graduation theses mainly focuses on development in Slovak accounting legislative in this field. After a few years of development, the current state of Slovak legislative concerning provisions is very similar to the way in which International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) deal with them. At the end of the theses, there is an example of a Slovak joint stock company that originally presented financial statements according to Slovak accounting legislative and later on, chose to present them according to IFRS solely.

This thesis presents new empirical evidence on three important aspects of financial reporting by banks. The thesis consists of an introductory chapter that explains how the three issues are related to each other, three empirical chapters and a final summary chapter. The first empirical chapter studies the effects of accounting conservatism on the pricing of syndicated bank loans. I provide evidence that banks more timely in loss recognition charge higher spreads for the same loan provision. I go on to consider what happens to this relationship during the financial crisis. During the crisis, banks more timely in loss recognition increase their spreads to a lesser extent than banks less timely in loss recognition. The policy implication is that banks more timely in loss recognition exhibit more prudent and less pro-cyclical debt pricing behaviour. The second empirical chapter examines the relationship between the value relevance of fair value gains and losses and bank risk in an international bank sample. One possibility is that, as risk increases, the scope for subjectivity in fair value estimates increases thereby potentially rendering the numbers less useful. However another possibility is that the relevance of faithfully reported fair value gains and losses increases as risk increases. The study provides evidence that the value relevance of fair value gains and losses is positively associated with bank risk prior to the crisis. During the crisis there is also evidence of a similar positive relationship, but it is not possible to draw firm conclusions for reasons discussed in the chapter. My research also shows that the fair value gains and losses of banks that elect to use the fair value option for assets that could have been accounted for using amortized costs are more value relevant and persistent. This study provides information to policy makers on the situations when fair values are most useful to investors. The third empirical chapter examines if the market rationally prices the loan loss provisions, and the reported fair value gains and losses of US banks. The chapter models the discretionary components of loan loss provisions and fair value gains and losses, and tests if the discretionary components are priced differently from their non-discretionary counterparts. The results provide little evidence that the market misprices operating cash flows, non-discretionary loan loss provisions, or fair value gains and losses (discretionary or otherwise). However there is evidence of significant mispricing of discretionary loan loss provisions. The lack of evidence on the mispricing of fair value gains and losses is consistent with the finding on the value relevance of fair value gains and losses in the second empirical chapter.

The purpose of this study is to make a survey of the relation between the legal provisions for education in Texas and the public school administration, to determine, if possible, whether these provisions provide for an adequate program meeting the educational needs of the children of the state. Legal provisions, in this instance, comprise both the constitutional provisions for education and the school laws passed to carry out these provisions.

Congress passed a revised Farm Bill in 2014 that amended the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) to, hopefully, increase the speed with which natural resource issues could be addressed. Federal land management has often been condemned for being time-consuming and burdensome, chiefly in situations that require rapid response, such as insect disease and fire. The amendment in the 2014 Farm Bill is meant to address this concern. The amendment would allow for the insect and disease restoration projects on U.S.D.A. Forest Service land to fall under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as categorical exclusions, provided that collaboration occurs while creating and implementing the projects. This new provision could allow for the U.S.D.A. Forest service to create and implement restoration projects at a faster rate than ever before. Each state's Governor was required to nominate restoration lands in their National Forests. These Nominations ranged from very comprehensive to extremely ambiguous and from just a few acres to entire national forests. This research documents why there was variation in designation nominations and what potential benefit this new amendment could bring to future natural resource management.

Dans cette thèse, la fiabilité des provisions comptables environnementales est évaluée par une combinaison de méthodes de recherche quantitatives et qualitatives dans une perspective de triangulation des résultats. Tout d'abord, l'étude de la divulgation de ces provisions par les groupes cotés français révèle son insuffisance et sa dégradation sur la période 2005-2010. Ensuite, l'utilisation de tests d'adéquation à la loi de Benford pour les montants comptabilisés au bilan et de régressions multiples pour les impacts au résultat ne permettent pas de remettre en cause la fiabilité des provisions environnementales divulguées par le même échantillon de groupes cotés français. Ces résultats contrastent avec ceux des recherches antérieures validant l'utilisation discrétionnaire des provisions environnementales pour lisser le résultat et limiter l'émergence de coûts politiques. L'étude de cas multiple conduite au niveau des acteurs de ces mêmes groupes explique cette fiabilité des montants par celle de leur processus de détermination et les nombreuses pressions institutionnelles qui l'encadrent. Les résultats de cette thèse indiquent donc que certains choix comptables pouvant affecter le résultat de façon discrétionnaire sont davantage expliqués par les pressions institutionnelles subies que par la volonté des dirigeants d'améliorer leur situation personnelle. / In this dissertation, the reliability of environmental provisions is assessed through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to ensure a triangulation of the results. Firstly, the study of their disclosure by the French listed companies reveals its insufficiency and its degradation over the period of 2005-2010. Secondly, both compliance tests to Benford's law and multiple regression analyses do not undermine the reliability of environmental provisions disclosed by the same sample of French listed companies. These results contrast with previous research validating the use of discretionary environmental provisions to smooth earnings and to limit the emergence of political costs. Thirdly, the multiple case study conducted through semi-structured interviews with actors of these groups explains the reliability of environmental provisions by the one from their assessment process and the important institutional pressure that surrounds it. Therefore, the results of this dissertation suggest that some accounting choices that can discretionary affect earnings are better explained by institutional pressure than by the willingness of managers to improve their personal situations.

Magister Legum - LLM (Public Law and Jurisprudence) / Foreign nationals regularly finds themselves seeking refuge in a host country such as South Africa. One would expect that due to comprehensive legislation ranging from national to international level, foreign nationals would be received in conditions appropriate to their circumstances. However, whether that is in fact the case remains to be a matter of great controversy. The main purpose of this study is to determine whether or not the South African refugee status determination process is legally compliant with its obligations under domestic, regional and international human rights law. By focusing on the refugee status determination process it could best be determined whether the process is legally compliant with the applicable legislative provisions by focusing on what occurs during the application for refugee status in practice. The research question will be answered by focusing on domestic, regional and international legislative provisions, case law, journal articles and academic textbooks amongst other sources. The primary legislative obligation that South Africa has towards asylum seekers is to provide protection to those in genuine need thereof, which requires that the country must refrain from violating their human rights. However the study has revealed that even though South Africa portrays a strong will to protect the rights of asylum seekers, the country still has a long way to go before it is actually achieved. Numerous of asylum seekers still finds it challenging to apply for asylum and to simultaneously enjoy constitutionally guaranteed human rights within the territory of South Africa. Research has established that although South Africa aims to ensure that its asylum system complies with its obligations towards asylum seekers under domestic, regional and international human rights law, there however remains multiple of instances where the country is still in violation of multiple human rights of asylum seekers.

published_or_final_version / Law / Master / Master of Laws

In this study, we use a sample of 228 financial firms over the period of 2007-2012 to examine the impact of voluntary adoption of clawback provisions on these firms’ risk-taking behavior. We find that financial firms exhibit a significant reduction in risk after adopting clawback provisions. The financial firms also exhibit a significant decrease in the volatility of ROE, total return risk and idiosyncratic risk. The reduction in risk is mainly driven by the improvement in the volatility of return on assets and subsample of banks and brokers. In addition, we find that financial firms are less likely to adopt clawback provisions with higher management and director ownership, more insiders on the board, and whose CEO is not the chairman of the board. / February 2017

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar o comportamento da evidenciação dos riscos potenciais representados pelas informações contidas nas provisões e passivos contingentes das empresas. O estudo analisou a divulgação das informações sobre riscos potenciais nas demonstrações contábeis dos exercícios de 2002, 2006, 2010 e 2012, utilizando como parâmetro as recomendações de órgãos normativos nacionais: 2012 foi o período mais próximo ao encerramento da coleta de dados, enquanto que em cada um dos demais períodos mencionados ocorreram mudanças significativas em termos de normas contábeis. O campo de pesquisa do presente trabalho constitui-se das notas explicativas das demonstrações financeiras das empresas do setor de energia elétrica, listadas na BM&FBOVESPA, dos exercícios mencionados. O setor de energia elétrica foi escolhido devido sua representatividade no mercado acionário brasileiro - 16,46% do total; à modernização na regulamentação contábil ocorrida como processo de privatização das empresas estatais; e por adotar normatizações internacionais na elaboração de suas demonstrações contábeis, contribuindo assim para a análise temporal proposta no presente estudo. No presente trabalho pode-se verificar a evolução dos informações que as empresas do setor de energia elétrica estão divulgando ao mercado, avaliando o comportamento das informações sobre riscos potenciais para os usuários das demonstrações contábeis. Os resultados encontrados mostram que as empresas do setor de energia elétrica tiveram evolução em sua divulgação de riscos potenciais principalmente entre os anos 2002 e 2006, fato este devido à modernização da regulamentação contábil neste período; nos períodos entre os anos 2010 e 2012, houve melhora na quantidade das informações sobre riscos potenciais, que o setor de energia elétrica passou a divulgar ao mercado, com relatórios mais detalhados, com maior número de evidências para que os usuários das demonstrações contábeis possam distinguir quais empresas apresentam maior risco e qual o nível de risco das companhias. Com isto pode-se verificar que as empresas do setor estudado apresentaram uma curva de aprendizagem conforme a evolução da legislação aplicável a matéria estudada. / The objective of this work is to identify the behavior of the disclosure of the potential risks posed by information contained in provisions and contingent liabilities of companies. The study analyzed the dissemination of information about potential risks in the financial statements for the years 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2012, using as a parameter the recommendations of national standards bodies: 2012 was the closest to the closure of the data collection period, while in each of the remaining periods mentioned significant changes in terms of accounting standards. The search field of this study represents the notes to the financial statements of companies in the electricity sector listed on the BM&FBOVESPA, the exercises mentioned. The electricity sector was chosen due to its representation in the Brazilian market - 16.46 % of the total; modernizations in accounting regulation occurred as the privatization of state enterprises; and adopt international norms in preparing its financial statements, thereby contributing to the temporal analysis proposed in this study. In the present work can be seen the evolution of information that companies in the electric power industry are touting the market, evaluating the behavior of information on potential risks to users of the financial statements. The results show that companies in the electricity sector had developments in their disclosure of potential risks mainly between 2002 and 2006, a fact due to the modernization of accounting regulation in this period; the periods between the years 2010 and 2012 , there was an improvement in the amount of information about potential risks, the electricity sector began to disclose to the market, with more detailed reports, with more evidence that users of financial statements can distinguish which companies present greater risk and what level of risk companies. With this it can be seen that the companies analyzed sector showed a learning curve as the evolution of the material being studied applicable law.