A presente pesquisa tomou por objeto os investidores pessoa física no mercado de ações brasileiro. Este universo de investidores comumente denomina-se e é igualmente denominado - pelas demais instâncias e agentes do mercado financeiro como \'pequenos investidores\', independentemente do capital de que dispõe para seus investimentos acionários, da experiência ou do conhecimento que possuem sobre a bolsa de valores. A pesquisa desenvolve uma análise sobre como fatores sociais, culturais e tecnológicos modelam, afetam e influenciam a ação e a cognição econômica neste universo particular de investidores. Onze entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com pequenos investidores, duas com profissionais que atuam na área de \'educação\' do pequeno investidor, acompanhamos igualmente palestras e work-shops destinados a este público, bem como sites, fóruns de Internet e palestras virtuais frequentados por este público investidor. A análise deste material empírico conjugada ao estudo da bibliografia própria à área da Sociologia Econômica resultou na identificação e no estabelecimento de cinco instâncias de modelação da ação econômica, cinco espaços de mediação nos quais os indivíduos desenvolvem e exercem seus modos de operação prática neste mercado a partir de fatores ou dimensões sociais, culturais e tecnológicas. Estas cinco instâncias podem ser resumidas da seguinte maneira: 1. influência dos agentes e das iniciativas voltadas à educação do pequeno investidor em bolsa de valores, 2. o impacto das redes sociais para a operação prática dos pequenos investidores, 3. a conformação de estilos de operação e de tomada de riscos na bolsa ( grosso modo, \'conservadores\' ou \'arrojados\') a partir de identidades ou papeis sociais reivindicados e assumidos pelos pequenos investidores, 4. o papel de softwares e tecnologias que assessoram e equipam o pequeno investidor e, finalmente, 5. a constante associação entre o investimento em bolsa e o universo cultural dos jogos. Em oposição ao paradigma neoclássico das ciências econômicas, o estudo concluí que, em suas tentativas de cálculos e maximizações racionais, os indivíduos não são unidades auto-referenciadas e/ou auto-suficientes, ao contrário, seus cálculos e maximizações são constituídos a partir de fatores ou dimensões sociais, culturais e tecnológicas. / The present research centers its focus upon the natural person that trades stocks in the Brazilian stock market. This universe of investors is generally acknowledged as \'small investors\', regardless to the capital one has for stock investment, his experience or knowledge about the stock exchange. The research carries out an analysis on the social, cultural and technological factors that shape, affect and influence the economic agency among such investors. Eleven semi-structured interviews with small investors and two interviews with professionals that work on the education of these investors have been conducted. Moreover, I have attended several work-shops dedicated to this investment public, as well as analyzed sites, electronic forums and virtual lectures aimed at this public. The investigation of this empirical data associated to the study of the economic sociology bibliography have brought about the identification of five mediation spaces, through which small investors shape their concrete modes of economic agency on social, cultural and technological grounds. These five mediation spaces may be summed up as it follows: 1. the influence of educational initiatives and agents on small investors, 2. the impact of social networks on the economic agencies of such investors, 3. the shaping of investment styles ( either \'conservative\' or \'aggressive\') based on social identities and roles these investors vindicate, 4. the impact of technologies and softwares that ground the economic agencies of small investors and, finally, 5. the constant association between stock investment and the cultural universe of games among this universe of investors. As a conclusion, opposed to the orthodox financial economics, we argue that economic agency is a complex process along which individuals shape their rational calculations according to social, cultural and technological factors or dimensions.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-01-30T11:56:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Victor Tamura Kawamoto.pdf: 2113445 bytes, checksum: b53bc04369536a3ed39ca13f873c8e7d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-30T11:56:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Victor Tamura Kawamoto.pdf: 2113445 bytes, checksum: b53bc04369536a3ed39ca13f873c8e7d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-01-24 / According to the existing literature, the disclosure of relevant facts to the market represents an important instrument in the evaluation of investors for the formation of the price of securities traded on the stock exchange. However, state-owned enterprises have a peculiarity because they are controlled by the government and, consequently, used for political purposes. The objective of the research is to analyze whether, at the time of the announcement of the appointment of presidents of state-owned companies that perform a relevant function in the activity level of the companies (Petrobrás and Banco do Brasil), there is a statistically significant reaction in the return of the common shares. To measure the result, he used the statistical methodology of event study. After analyzing the appointments individually, it was found inconclusive to say that there is a statistically significant reaction of the financial market to the announcement of the appointments studied in the first term of the governments of the Presidents of the Republic (Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, succeeded by Michel Temer) / De acordo com a literatura existente, a divulgação de fatos relevantes ao mercado representa um importante instrumento na avaliação dos investidores para formação do preço dos papéis negociados em bolsa. Porém, as empresas estatais possuem uma peculiaridade por serem controladas pelo governo e, consequentemente, serem utilizadas para fins políticos. O objetivo da pesquisa é analisar se, no momento do anúncio da nomeação de presidentes de empresas estatais que exercem função relevante no nível de atividade das empresas (Petrobrás e Banco do Brasil), ocorre reação estatisticamente significativa no retorno das ações ordinárias. Para medir o resultado, utilizou-se a metodologia estatística de estudo de eventos. Após analisar as nomeações individualmente, verificou-se que é inconclusivo dizer que há reação estatisticamente significativa do mercado financeiro ao anúncio das nomeações estudadas no primeiro mandato dos governos dos Presidentes da República (Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva e Dilma Rousseff, sucedida por Michel Temer)

A presente pesquisa tomou por objeto os investidores pessoa física no mercado de ações brasileiro. Este universo de investidores comumente denomina-se e é igualmente denominado - pelas demais instâncias e agentes do mercado financeiro como \'pequenos investidores\', independentemente do capital de que dispõe para seus investimentos acionários, da experiência ou do conhecimento que possuem sobre a bolsa de valores. A pesquisa desenvolve uma análise sobre como fatores sociais, culturais e tecnológicos modelam, afetam e influenciam a ação e a cognição econômica neste universo particular de investidores. Onze entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com pequenos investidores, duas com profissionais que atuam na área de \'educação\' do pequeno investidor, acompanhamos igualmente palestras e work-shops destinados a este público, bem como sites, fóruns de Internet e palestras virtuais frequentados por este público investidor. A análise deste material empírico conjugada ao estudo da bibliografia própria à área da Sociologia Econômica resultou na identificação e no estabelecimento de cinco instâncias de modelação da ação econômica, cinco espaços de mediação nos quais os indivíduos desenvolvem e exercem seus modos de operação prática neste mercado a partir de fatores ou dimensões sociais, culturais e tecnológicas. Estas cinco instâncias podem ser resumidas da seguinte maneira: 1. influência dos agentes e das iniciativas voltadas à educação do pequeno investidor em bolsa de valores, 2. o impacto das redes sociais para a operação prática dos pequenos investidores, 3. a conformação de estilos de operação e de tomada de riscos na bolsa ( grosso modo, \'conservadores\' ou \'arrojados\') a partir de identidades ou papeis sociais reivindicados e assumidos pelos pequenos investidores, 4. o papel de softwares e tecnologias que assessoram e equipam o pequeno investidor e, finalmente, 5. a constante associação entre o investimento em bolsa e o universo cultural dos jogos. Em oposição ao paradigma neoclássico das ciências econômicas, o estudo concluí que, em suas tentativas de cálculos e maximizações racionais, os indivíduos não são unidades auto-referenciadas e/ou auto-suficientes, ao contrário, seus cálculos e maximizações são constituídos a partir de fatores ou dimensões sociais, culturais e tecnológicas. / The present research centers its focus upon the natural person that trades stocks in the Brazilian stock market. This universe of investors is generally acknowledged as \'small investors\', regardless to the capital one has for stock investment, his experience or knowledge about the stock exchange. The research carries out an analysis on the social, cultural and technological factors that shape, affect and influence the economic agency among such investors. Eleven semi-structured interviews with small investors and two interviews with professionals that work on the education of these investors have been conducted. Moreover, I have attended several work-shops dedicated to this investment public, as well as analyzed sites, electronic forums and virtual lectures aimed at this public. The investigation of this empirical data associated to the study of the economic sociology bibliography have brought about the identification of five mediation spaces, through which small investors shape their concrete modes of economic agency on social, cultural and technological grounds. These five mediation spaces may be summed up as it follows: 1. the influence of educational initiatives and agents on small investors, 2. the impact of social networks on the economic agencies of such investors, 3. the shaping of investment styles ( either \'conservative\' or \'aggressive\') based on social identities and roles these investors vindicate, 4. the impact of technologies and softwares that ground the economic agencies of small investors and, finally, 5. the constant association between stock investment and the cultural universe of games among this universe of investors. As a conclusion, opposed to the orthodox financial economics, we argue that economic agency is a complex process along which individuals shape their rational calculations according to social, cultural and technological factors or dimensions.

Standard and Poor's began publication of Credit Watch in November of 1981 as an early warning list for firms whose debt is under review for a possible rating change. This dissertation is composed of three essays which address various aspects of Credit Watch and the impact on shareholder wealth. The first essay uses a discriminant analysis model to classify the Credit Watch status of firms which engaged in mergers and acquisitions activity in 1991. The model correctly classifies 69.85% of the in-sample firms and 65.83% of the out of sample firms. The second essay examines whether the stock market reacts more strongly to trigger events which cause Credit Watch placements than to the actual placement. Significantly larger negative abnormal return are found around the trigger event than the placement. No evidence is found for the differential reaction evolving over time. The third essay examines firm specific and economy-wide factors which may be related to the strength of the abnormal stock return around the Credit Watch removal date. The removal return is found to be positively related to the number of trading days a firm remains on Credit Watch, negatively related to the number of updates regarding the firm released by Standard and Poor's while on the list, and positively related to the cumulative abnormal return measured between the placement and removal. This evidence suggests that the number of trading days a firm remains on Credit Watch is a proxy for information leakage to the market. The negative relationship between the removal return and the number of updates implies that the market reacts to a string of negative news of which the removal announcement is the final announcement. Finally, the positive relationship with the cumulative abnormal return between placement and removal suggests that much of the information content of the removal has been impounded into the stock price at the time of the removal.

[pt] O mercado financeiro tem apresentado grande crescimento na automatização de decisões e execução de estratégias que consigam atingir boas rentabilidades a partir de investimentos realizados. Conseqüentemente, a necessidade de ambientes cada vez mais robustos e confiáveis, que permitam analisar diferentes estratégias de investimentos, tem aumentado. Baseado nessa necessidade, essa dissertação apresenta o A Multi-Agent System Framework For Automated Stock Exchange Simulation (FrAMEX), framework que permite a criação de diferentes simuladores para o mercado financeiro baseado no paradigma de agentes de software. No documento são apresentados simuladores intradiário e diário criados a partir do FrAMEx, além da análise de diferentes estratégias de investimentos utilizadas em tais ambientes e executadas a partir de agentes investidores. Como diversos desses agentes alcançaram bons desempenhos em suas execuções, eles participaram de duas versões da competição MASSES, sendo dois deles os agentes campeões. Assim, a descrição de como foi o desempenho de cada agente desenvolvido também é apresentado. / [en] The financial market has presented significant growth in the automation of decisions and execution of strategies that can achieve good returns from investments. Consequently, the need for an increasingly robust and reliable environment, allowing to analyze different investment strategies, has increased. Based on this need, this work presents A Multi-Agent System Framework For Automated Stock Exchange Simulation (FrAMEX), which allows the creation of different simulators for the financial market based on the paradigm of software agents. Intraday and interday simulators created from FrAMEx are presented in the document. Besides the analysis of different investment strategies used in such environments and executed by agents run from investors. Since these agents achieved good performances in their executions, they participated in two versions of the MASSES competition. Thus, the description of the performance of each agent developed is also presented.

Hedge funds and China’s stock market: a study on factors influencing investment decisions by fund managersThe research was conducted using a web-based questionnaire sent to all Asia-related hedge funds, worldwide. Analysis of the collected data revealed that the factors influencing the portfolio investments made in China by fund managers differed from the factors which influence investment in global and emerging markets. While market conditions, market timing and changes in earning estimates are the top three influencing factors on investment decisions on global stock exchanges, fund managers are more influenced by global trend, potential growth and company size when dealing with China’s stock market. Research results also support the hypotheses that there are relationships between size of fund, trading style and personal expertise of managers and the factors influencing investment decisions.The international hedge fund industry and China’s stock market are two fast-growing entities of global capital markets. Stronger interaction between these two institutions in the future would create important implications for the financial world. The objective of this research is to identify factors that influence investment decisions by hedge fund managers in relation to China’s stock market.The following implications can be extracted from this research:(1) If China’s stock market is classified within the Emerging Markets Index, adjustments are necessary and provision should be made reflecting investor criteria for China.(2) Global trends and the potential growth of China were the two most attractive factors influencing investment decisions, suggesting a ‘herding’ tendency and ‘attention-grabbing’ bias of hedge fund managers.(3) Company evaluation remains important to hedge fund managers, suggesting that Chinese government regulators should implement reforms to improve quality of listed firms.(4) Gaps in the research on China’s stock market as well as the outcomes of this research indicate that further studies on the international hedge fund industry and China’s stock market could reveal new perspectives and enhancements to the current body of knowledge on these subjects. This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the research context and research justification. The research problem and questions are identified, and the theoretical framework and hypotheses are constructed. Chapter 2 presents an overview of the hedge fund industry and China’s stock market. Chapter 3 examines the literature: factors that influence investment decisions in global, emerging markets and in particular, China’s stock market. A framework of an 8-step decision-making process was developed. Chapter 4 researches alternative methodologies and presents a justification for the selection of the research methodology. Chapter 5 summarises the results of the data analysis and interpretation. Chapter 6 discusses the conclusions, implications, contributions and limitations of the research. Recommendations for further research are also included.The outcomes of this research are expected to benefit all participants of the global financial industry, including institutional and individual investors; executives in banking, insurance and securities businesses; financiers of listed firms and multinational corporations; government regulators and independent research analysts. Other beneficiaries will be academics and the media.

Despite the extent of a theoretical framework in financial market studies, a vast majority of the traders, investors and computer scientists have relied only on technical and timeseries data for predicting future prices. So far, the forecasting models have rarely incorporated macro-economic and market fundamentals successfully, especially with short-term predictions ranging less than a month. In this investigation on the predictability of certain financial markets, an attempt has been made to incorporate a un-exampled and encompassing set of parameters into an Artificial Neural Network prediction system. Experiments were carried out on three market instruments ??? namely currency exchange rates, share prices and oil prices. The choice of parameters for inclusion or exclusion, and the time frame adopted for the experimental sets were derived from the market literature. Good directional prediction accuracies were achieved for currency exchange rates and share prices with certain parameters as inputs, which consisted of predicting short-term movements based on past movements. These predictions were better than the results produced by a traditional least square prediction method. The trading strategy developed based on the predictions also achieved a higher percentage of winning trades. No significant predictions were observed for oil prices. These results open up questions in the microstructure of the markets and provide an insight into the inputs required for market forecasting in the corresponding time frame, for future investigation. The study concludes by advocating the use of trend based input parameters and suggests ways to improve neural network forecasting models.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to reform the corporate governance mechanisms in order to improve the quality of financial reporting and thus, enhance the confidence of investors in the stock market and in the accounting profession. Despite the efforts of the SEC, financial reporting scandals continue with record numbers of financial restatements documented by the General Accounting Office. A financial restatement is a correction of a previously misstated financial statement. There is a small volume of literature examining the effects of corporate governance mechanisms on financial restatements. The results of these studies however, are mixed and possibly explained by their narrow focus and omitted variables that could influence the effectiveness of audit committees. Consequently, this study examines the effects of independent audit committee member characteristics and auditor independence on financial restatements. Specifically, this study investigates the relationship between the likelihood of financial restatements and: (1) the expertise of the independent audit committee members, (2) the expertise and diligence of the independent audit committee members, (3) the reputation of the independent audit committee members, (4) the interaction effect of expertise, diligence and reputation, (5) the tenure of the independent audit committee members, and (6) the cash compensation paid to independent audit committee members. Prior studies have not investigated some of these variables or the interaction effects of independent audit committee member characteristics on financial restatements. This study also investigates the association between auditor independence and financial restatements. The SEC alleges that an increasing number of audit failures are due to the lack of auditor independence. One of the major sources of the lack of auditor independence is the auditor’s economic dependency on the client. The provision of non-audit services increases the financial reliance of the auditor on the client. As a result, the auditor may become reluctant to raise issues with the preparation of the financial statements at the risk of foregoing the lucrative non-audit services fees. The SEC believes that longer audit firm tenure can also impair auditor independence and Section 203 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act suggests periodic audit firm rotation. Therefore, auditor independence was measured as: (1) fees paid to the auditor, and (2) audit firm tenure. Finally, this study extends the prior literature by studying the interaction effects of independent audit committee member characteristics and auditor independence on financial restatements. This interaction effect is important because the external auditor and the audit committee are regarded vital governance mechanisms that interact and exchange dialogue in the performance of their respective oversight of the financial reporting process. Prior research has not investigated this important interaction effect. The sample of the study comprises 69 U.S. publicly listed companies that announced their restatement from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2002. These companies were matched with 69 non-restatement companies based on industry and size. The data for the study is derived from SEC filings such as Form 10-K and DEF 14A, and Compustat. The univariate results show that compared to restatement firms, non-restatement firms generally have effective audit committee characteristics. The audit committees of non-restatement firms have members who are experts, diligent, reputable and appropriately compensated. They also pay lower non-audit services and total fees, and have audit firms with longer tenure. The multivariate results show that after controlling for other governance structures and firm specific non-governance variables, the likelihood of financial restatements is related to independent audit committee member characteristics and auditor independence. Specifically, the likelihood of financial restatements decreases when independent audit committee members are: (1) experts, (2) experts and diligent, (3) reputable, (4) experts, diligent and reputable, and (5) appropriately compensated. The audit committee member tenure variable is insignificant. In relation to the auditor independence variables, the multivariate results show that the likelihood of financial restatements increases when the non-audit services and total fees generated by the client are higher. On the other hand, the likelihood of financial restatements decreases when audit firm tenure is longer. The empirical results of this study suggest that independent audit committees are more effective overseers of the corporate financial reporting and auditing processes when: they comprise majority experts, they meet regularly, their members are reputable, and audit committee members are appropriately compensated. On the other hand, external auditors are not deemed to be effective overseers of the corporate financial reporting process when the non-audit services and total fees generated by the client are higher but are effective when audit firm tenure is long. The results support the SEC’s concerns regarding the provision of non-audit services impairing auditor independence. The results also support the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which under Section 201 prohibits external auditors from providing certain non-audit services to its audit client. Overall, these results support the regulatory efforts to increase the quality of financial reporting by enhancing the corporate governance process related to audit committees and auditor independence. However, the results do not support calls to limit the tenure of the auditor. The results of the multivariate interaction effects suggest that, after controlling for other governance structures and firm specific non-governance variables, when the non-audit services and total fees generated by the client are higher, the likelihood of financial restatements increases under conditions when the audit committee is not effective (a non expert audit committee, an audit committee that does not meet regularly, an audit committee whose members are not reputable or an audit committee that is not appropriately compensated). The implication of this result is that it provides evidence of conditions under which restatements take place. Knowledge of such conditions could aid regulators further improve the financial reporting process and corporate governance. This knowledge will support regulators in revising policies that ensure audit committee members are not only independent but also comprise other critical qualities. These improvements to the audit committee coupled with the existing regulations on the provision of non-audit services suggest a company’s governance will be more effective. Overall, the results extend current knowledge in the sparse but growing literature related to financial restatements and corporate governance, and extend our understanding of the effectiveness and interaction of governance mechanisms in reducing financial restatements.

股市發展是否影響長期經濟成長？本研究以Levine(1991)的內生成長模型作為實證分析之理論依據，股票市場的出現可以消弭流動性風險與生產性風險對個人投資決策的負面影響，進而促進經濟體的成長。我們採取一般成長文獻所最常使用之跨國橫斷面迴歸方式，分析52國1985-1997的平均股市與社會經濟資料，以法系與法律環境做為工具變數，來捕捉股市發展之外生部分對經濟成長的影響。實證結果如下：1.整體而言股市發展的確顯著促進了一國的經濟成長，而影響成長的主要管道則為資本成長。2.對於先進工業化國家而言，我們無法證明其股票市場對於經濟成長具有影響力。3.相反的，對開發中國家而言，股票市場則扮演著重要的角色，不僅促進經濟的成長，對於資本成長與要素生產力成長也有顯著的提升。4.股市與私人儲蓄之間的關係則較為模糊，雖然實證結果隱約透露，對開發中國家而言，發展股市有助於提升私人儲蓄，但我們無法找到統計上顯著強固的證據來加以支持。5.法律因子對於各國股市發展差異所具有的顯著解釋能力給予我們一個啟示：倘若一國的法律對於股東權益的保障越好，執行法律的品質與效率越高，那麼一國將會擁有一個功能完善與發展良好的股票市場，進而對其經濟成長有所助益。 / Do well-developed stock markets promote long-run economic growth? This study evaluates the empirical relationship between the level of stock market development and (i) economic growth, (ii) physical capital accumulation, (iii) total factor productivity, and (iv) private saving rate. By using a pure cross-country instrumental variable estimator to extract the exogenous component of stock market development, we find that (1) stock market development (measured by liquidity) is positively associated with economic growth and physical capital growth; (2) the links between stock market development and both productivity growth and private saving rates are tenuous; (3) for the developing sub-sample, the growth-promoting effect is as strong as with the full sample; for the developed sub-sample, however, this effect is at best very weak; and (4) legal reforms that strengthen shareholder rights and contract enforcement can boost stock market development and therefore accelerate economic growth.

<p>Inledning: Bolagsskandaler runt om i världen har bidragit till ett strängare sätt att reglera hur bolagen styrs. Enron och WorldCom är två nordamerikanska bolag som varit bidragande orsak till den amerikanska lagstiftningen Sarbanes Oxley Act, SOX, vilken reglerar bolagsstyrningen i USA. Efter detta har den moderna världen valt att</p><p>införa någon sorts normbildning kring ämnet bolagsstyrning. Sverige har följt utvecklingen genom att under 2005 införa Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning på börsbolag med ett börsvärde över 3 miljarder kronor. Under andra halvåret 2008 kommer Koden att utvidgas för att omfatta ett större antal börsnoterade bolag i Sverige med börsvärden under 3 miljarder kronor.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka vad representanter för de bolag som ej ännu omfattas av Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning samt vad revisorer anser om planerna på att införa Koden för börsnoterade bolag med ett börsvärde under tre miljarder svenska kronor. Syftet är även att utifrån den information som införskaffas försöka formulera förslag på ett sätt att göra införandet smidigare för de aktuella bolagen.</p><p>Metod: Den metod vi valt att använda är ett fenomenologisk förhållningssätt till undersökningen, samt att vi valt att genomföra ett induktivt forskningsprojekt med en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Vi har gjort sex intervjuer, varav fem med företagsrepresentanter och en revisor, samt deltagit på ett seminarium berörande ämnet Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning och dess vidare införande på mindre börsnoterade bolag.</p><p>Slutsats: Den slutsats som framkommit genom denna undersökning är att uppfattningen om Koden skiljer sig mellan bolag med olika ägarstrukturer, där bolag med dominerande ägare inte ser lika stor nytta med Koden som de med spridd ägarkrets. Kunskapen om Koden i de bolag som undersökts är i dagsläget ganska bristfällig, vilket kan göra att de inte ser nyttan med Koden. I slutsatsen har vi även sammanställt fem punkter som vi anser kan underlätta implementeringen av Koden för de bolag som har denna förändring framför sig.</p> / <p>Introduction: Corporate scandals all over the world have contributed to a more strict way of handling how the corporations are managed. Enron and WorldCom are two North American companies who were the roots to the American legislation Sarbanes Oxley Act, SOX, which regulate the corporate governance within USA. The modern world has as a result of this chosen to introduce some kind of norm within the corporate governance area. Sweden has followed the development by introducing the Swedish code for corporate governance for listed companies with a stock market value over 3 billion Swedish kronor during the year of 2005. The Code will expand during the last six-month period of 2008 to enclose a bigger number of companies listed on the stock exchange market in Sweden with a stock market value below 3 billion Swedish kronor.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose is to investigate what representatives for the companies who yet have not been included by the Swedish code of corporate governance and auditors think of the plans of introducing the Code on companies with a stock market value below 3 billion Swedish kronor. The purpose is also to try to formulate a few suggestions to make the introduction as smooth as possible through the information we have received during the working procedure.</p><p>Methodology: The methodology we have chosen is a phenomenological method to approach the study. We have also chosen to apply an inductive research project with a qualitative approach towards the study. We have made 6 interviews whence 5 of them with representatives from companies and 1 of them with an auditor. Besides this we have attended on a seminar about the Swedish code for corporate governance and the further introduction of the code on smaller companies listed on the stock exchange market.</p><p>Conclusion: The conclusion that has emerged trough this study is that the opinions about the Code differ between companies with different owner structure. Companies with dominating owners do not understand the utility of the Code as the companies with wide owner structure. The knowledge about the Code in the companies that have been included in the study is today inadequate which can cause the consequence that they do not see the utility of the Code. In the conclusion we have also put together 5 suggestions on how to make the implementation of the Code easier for the changes that will be actualized.</p>