In this dissertation I investigate and compare the impairments of long-lived operating assets under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from different perspective, including the informativeness, determinants, and market valuation of asset impairments. A firm invests in long-lived operating assets with the expectation of generating future benefit. The decision or recognition of asset impairments implies such future benefit is expected to be lower than originally estimated. US GAAP and IFRS both require the recognition of impairment losses but their standards and accounting approaches are different in several ways. These distinctions raise the question whether the reported long-lived asset impairments under US GAAP and IFRS are comparable and motivate this dissertation. I investigate the predictive ability of reported asset write-offs for firms' future performance and find negative associations suggesting the informativeness of impairment losses. But such informativeness depends on the type of assets impaired, the accounting standards adopted, and the institutional characteristics. In general, aggregate impairments are persistently associated with future performance under IFRS but not US GAAP. The impairments of tangible assets have more predictive ability than those of intangibles. For IFRS adopters, enforcement takes a more important role in determining the informativeness of asset impairments than legal origins. I also examine the determinants and attributes of asset impairments under US GAAP and IFRS. I find both of them reflect certain economic factors and reporting incentives. Under US GAAP asset impairments strongly reflect GDP growth, unemployment rate, industry-trend and reporting incentives, including taking a big bath and income smoothing. Under IFRS the impairments reflect most economic factors but less reporting incentives. However, when enforcement is low in IFRS countries, firms tend to manage earnings through asset write-offs. I further address the market valuation of asset write-offs under US GAAP and IFRS. The reporting of asset impairments improves the explanatory power of accounting information for equity prices under IFRS but not US GAAP, especially when enforcement is high. The associations between asset write-offs and equity prices under IFRS in high enforcement countries are significantly different from those under US GAAP, implying investors weigh reported impairments under IFRS. I also use stock returns as an alternative metric of market valuation. Under US GAAP, asset write-offs are negatively associated with past, current, and future stock returns. Under IFRS in high enforcement countries the effects of impairment loss concentrate on past and current stock returns. The results of comparisons suggest asset write-offs under US GAAP and IFRS are not totally comparable from a market perspective. This dissertation contributes to literature on special items, impairment accounting, and reporting under IFRS. It is also related to the comparability of financial reporting under US GAAP and IFRS. While studies have compared overall properties of the two standards, examining the differences in a specific accounting area is also important as U.S. SEC express concern about the convergence of different accounting standards and whether U.S. should incorporate IFRS into its financial reporting systems. / Business Administration/Accounting

Background: Prostate cancer remains the second most common cause of cancer-related death in men in the United States (Siegel et al. 2017). Observational studies of patients with prostate cancer have found associations between diet and prostate cancer severity, but the evidence is inconsistent or inconclusive. The purpose of this thesis is to implement a validated international healthy diet score and evaluate whether or not it is associated with prostate cancer severity. Objective: The objectives of this thesis were: Chapter 1: examine whether an association exists between diet quality, using the validated Healthy Diet Score, and the severity of prostate cancer, and Chapter 2: examine the agreement between two methods of dietary data collection (an abridged FFQ and a longer previously validated FFQ) with respect to macronutrients and main food groups. Methods: We used observational data from the Randomized Intervention for Cardiovascular and Lifestyle Risk Factors in Prostate Cancer Patients (RADICAL PC), a multi-centre Canadian prospective cohort study into which men with a new diagnosis of prostate cancer or who were being treated with androgen deprivation therapy were enrolled. To complete objective 1 (Chapter 1) of this dissertation, a cross-sectional analysis was completed using baseline data collected in the RADICAL PC study. In order to evaluate the association of diet with prostate cancer severity, the relationship between the Healthy Diet Score and prostate cancer severity (stage and grade) was assessed. The second objective (Chapter 2) is a comparability sub-study comparing an abridged FFQ with a long, validated FFQ in a subgroup of participant (N=130) enrolled in the RADICAL PC study. Results: Chapter 1: In the cross-sectional analysis of baseline data collected in RADICAL PC, a higher diet score was not significantly associated with prostate cancer severity. An association between age and the high-risk prostate cancer category was found to be statistically significant (OR: 1.04, 95%CI 1.02-1.05, p<0.00). Chapter 2: There was good agreement between the abridged FFQ and long FFQ for carbohydrates, proteins, whole wheat, refined grains, fish, dairy, potatoes, fruits, nuts, and soft drinks (Spearman rank correlation >0.5). Food groups including fried foods, processed meats, vegetables and total fats (nutrients) were found to have moderate correlation (Spearman rank correlation between 0.3-0.5). There was low correlation for legumes, sugars and oils. Bland-Altman plots showed good absolute agreements between the two methods, and reliability test using Spearman’s correlation showed moderate to good correlation (0.45 to 0.75 among most food groups. Conclusion: There was no clear association between a healthier diet and prostate cancer severity in men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer. There was adequate agreement between the abridged SFFQ and the long FFQ of the expected food groups, and thus the SFFQ can be considered an appropriate tool to use for measuring diet among prostate cancer patients for some food groups and nutrients. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc)

This study focused on the 16PF (SA 92), a personality questionnaire that was developed in the USA and adapted for South African conditions. The main aim of the study was to determine whether the scores of the 16PF are comparable in a cross-cultural setting in South Africa. The influence of age, language, socio-economic status and gender on the scores were also determined. The sample consisted of black, white, coloured, and Indian university students and were drawn from the University of Western Cape, University of Pretoria, University of DurbanWestville, and University of Natal. To achieve the aims outlined construct comparability studies and item comparability studies were conducted. In addition, descriptive statistics were also calculated to provide a general picture of the performance of the various sub-samples. A qualitative study was also conducted to determine some of the reasons for the occurrence of item incomparability of the racial sub-sample. The results showed that the racial variable had the greatest influence on the scores obtained. Problems existed with the construct and item comparability of the 16PF when the different race groups were compared. In addition, significant mean differences were also found on the majority of factors when the scores of the different race groups were compared. The results of the qualitative study showed that participants whose home language was not English or Afrikaans had difficulty in understanding many of the words and the construction of sentences contained in the 16PF. The implications of using the 16PF in South Africa, with its multicultural population was outlined, taking the new labour legislation pertaining to selection into consideration. Finally, a number of options for test users, and users of the 16PF in particular were presented. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Com. (Industrial Psychology)

This study focused on the 16PF (SA 92), a personality questionnaire that was developed in the USA and adapted for South African conditions. The main aim of the study was to determine whether the scores of the 16PF are comparable in a cross-cultural setting in South Africa. The influence of age, language, socio-economic status and gender on the scores were also determined. The sample consisted of black, white, coloured, and Indian university students and were drawn from the University of Western Cape, University of Pretoria, University of DurbanWestville, and University of Natal. To achieve the aims outlined construct comparability studies and item comparability studies were conducted. In addition, descriptive statistics were also calculated to provide a general picture of the performance of the various sub-samples. A qualitative study was also conducted to determine some of the reasons for the occurrence of item incomparability of the racial sub-sample. The results showed that the racial variable had the greatest influence on the scores obtained. Problems existed with the construct and item comparability of the 16PF when the different race groups were compared. In addition, significant mean differences were also found on the majority of factors when the scores of the different race groups were compared. The results of the qualitative study showed that participants whose home language was not English or Afrikaans had difficulty in understanding many of the words and the construction of sentences contained in the 16PF. The implications of using the 16PF in South Africa, with its multicultural population was outlined, taking the new labour legislation pertaining to selection into consideration. Finally, a number of options for test users, and users of the 16PF in particular were presented. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Com. (Industrial Psychology)

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study focused on the 16PF (SA 92), a personality questionnaire that was developed in the USA and adapted for South African conditions. The main aim of the study was to determine whether the scores of the 16PF are comparable in a cross-cultural setting in South Africa. The influence of age, language, socio-economic status and gender on the scores were also determined. The sample consisted of black, white, coloured, and Indian university students and were drawn from the University of Western Cape, University of Pretoria, University of Durban- Westville, and University of Natal To achieve the aims outlined construct comparability studies and item comparability studies were conducted. In addition, descriptive statistics were also calculated to provide a general picture of the performance of the various sub-samples. A qualitative study was also conducted to determine some of the reasons for the occurrence of item incomparability of the racial sub-sample. The results showed that the racial variable had the greatest influence on the scores obtained. Problems existed with the construct and item comparability of the 16PF when the different race groups were compared. In addition, significant mean differences were also found on the majority of factors when the scores of the different race groups were compared. The results of the qualitative study showed that participants whose home language was not English or Afrikaans had difficulty in understanding many of the words and the construction of sentences contained in the 16PF. The implications of using the 16PF in South Africa, with its multicultural population was outlined, taking the new labour legislation pertaining to selection into consideration. Finally, a number of options for test users, and users of the 16PF in particular were presented.

I dagsläget pågår reglering gällande hållbarhetsrapportering inom redovisningsområdet i syfte att uppnå harmonisering och jämförbarhet. Tidigare forskning visar att det finns problem med att uppnå jämförbarhet då det finns en flexibilitet i regleringen gällande innehållet i rapporterna som lämnar möjligheter att tillämpa cherry picking. Syftet med denna studie är därmed att öka förståelsen för vilken inverkan lagstiftning kan ha på företags hållbarhetsrapportering. I syftet ingår att särskilt granska potentiella effekter av reglerad hållbarhetsrapportering med avseende på jämförbarhet och cherry picking. Studien klassificeras som tolkande forskning där forskningsansatsen växlar mellan deduktiv och induktiv ansats. Studien kan i huvudsak kategoriseras som en kvalitativ dokumentstudie eftersom empirisk datainsamling sker genom innehållsanalys av remissvar. Även juridisk metod tillämpas då förstudie av lagstiftning presenteras.Teorin består av en allmän referensram, en teoretisk referensram samt tidigare forskning. Den empiriska sammanställningen bygger på kategorier i form av frågeställningar och i analysen ställs teori mot empiri med hjälp av en analysmodell. Både teori och empiri tyder på att det finns begränsningar med att reglera hållbarhetsrapportering som kan ha negativ inverkan på transparens och jämförbarhet i hållbarhetsrapporterna. Det uppmärksammas att flexibilitet i lagstiftning är nödvändig, men att företags möjligheter att välja ut (cherry pick) innehåll i hållbarhetsrapporter bör begränsas, vilket aktualiserar behov av övervakning. Ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv belyser denna studie behovet av att reglera kvalitetssäkring av hållbarhetsrapporter som en övervakningsmekanism. Ur ett praktiskt perspektiv visar studien att företag som omfattas av lag om hållbarhetsrapportering fortfarande kommer att kunna välja vad som lyfts fram i hållbarhetsrapporterna, men att det kan ha negativ inverkan på jämförbarhet. Då studien endast kan bidra med potentiella effekter av lagstiftning kan det vara intressant att i framtida studier utvärdera vilka faktiska effekter som reglerad hållbarhetsrapportering haft på jämförbarhet och cherry picking. / Currently there is an ongoing regulation process of sustainability reporting in order to achieve harmonization and comparability of non-financial information. Previous research indicates that there is a problem with achieving comparability when there is a regulatory flexibility regarding the content in the sustainability reports. The aim of this study is therefore to increase understanding of what impact regulation may have on sustainability reporting. The aim is particularly to review the potential impact of regulated sustainability reporting in terms of comparability and cherry picking. The study is classified as interpretive research and the research approach alternates between deductive and inductive approach. Qualitative document analysis is applied, where the empirical data is collected using content analysis of consultation responses. A pilot study based on legislation has been carried out, which makes legal methodology applicable. The theoretical framework consists of general concepts and notions, established theory formations and previous research. The empirical compilation is based on categories composed as questions and the empirical results are analyzed using an analytical model. Both previous research and empirical results suggest that when it comes to regulation of sustainability reporting there are limitations which can result in a negative impact on transparency and comparability. It has been noted that flexibility in legislation is necessary, but the opportunities for companies to choose (cherry pick) content of sustainability reports should be limited, which raises the need for monitoring mechanisms. From a theoretical perspective, this study highlights the need to legislate quality assurance of sustainability reports as a monitoring mechanism. From a practical point of view, the study shows that companies subject to the legislation of sustainability reporting still will be able to choose what content to emphasize. However, this may result in difficulties considering the comparability between reports.  As the study only can highlight potential effects of legislation, it may be interesting in future studies to evaluate the actual impact of regulated sustainability reporting in terms of comparability and cherry picking.

Firm closeness or comparability is an important concept to investors. Knowing that two firms have been historically close and observing an information announcement by one of the firms gives the investor cues as to the future performance of the other firm. Furthermore, from a methodological point of view, researchers commonly control for firm--group closeness by using industrial classification schemes such as the SIC. To the extent that these schemes group dissimilar firms, the advantage of using these schemes is undermined. This paper more formally examines the comparability concept and develops two new measures of firm--group accounting closeness. Both measures are based on the co--movement of accounting fundamentals. I provide insight regarding the extent to which the SIC and GIC schemes group similar firms. Furthermore, a trading strategy utilizing information in the measures is developed and tested. Results indicate that, when industry closeness is high enough, abnormal returns in the range of 1-3% over a 1-3 day window can be earned around leader information announcement dates. Finally, I contribute to the contagion/information transfer literature, most notably Gleason et al. (2008), by showing that the contagion effects of accounting information announcements are increasing in the closeness of the industry.

This paper aims at providing a comprehensive overview of existing literature on the topic of comparability adjustments. Based on existing literature the most commonly used adjustments can be categorized in two broad categories: "accounting and financial risks adjustments" and "strategic/market adjustments". With the exception of working capital adjustments, the lack of guidance and recognized standardized application will quite possibly lead to continued discrepancies in their use. Taxpayers continue to struggle with the immense amount of documentation as well as justification requirements when it comes to adjustments, as there is no clear path to follow and very few practical application examples, which would unify the application of adjustments. As seen, even though the topic of comparability adjustments has been around since before the first version of the OECD TP Guidelines, the topic is yet to be fully explored in both official guidance as well as literature, research and especially practical tools. / Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

In 2017 changes (SFS 2016:947) for sustainability reporting in Sweden were made in the Annual Accounts Act (SFS 1995:1554). Since the regulation was recently imposed, there is little evidence for how it has impacted the content of sustainability reports. This study explores the use and amount of quantitative versus qualitative information before and after the regulation. This to explore how it has affected the content and thereby the identified quality factors: transparency, comparability, verifiability and assurance. A content analysis was performed where 17 companies from Nordic-Large cap were chosen and their sustainability reports were studied. The result show that the content of the reports differs, this since new information have been added, for example information about risks and policies. However, the content is also similar in many instances between the years, for example in terms of value words and the type of information provided in tables and charts. The factors of quality have been affected by these similarities and differences. Additionally, the study also show that the regulation has not reduced the amount of qualitative information in relation to quantitative information which has had a negative impact on the four quality factors.

A presente dissertação tem por objetivo analisar o desenvolvimento da proposta fleckiana de uma teoria comparativa do conhecimento, seu estatuto epistemológico, bem como o diagnóstico de algumas de suas dificuldades teóricas. Defenderemos o caráter potencialmente científico de sua teoria e indicaremos que a incomensurabilidade entre estilos de pensamento constitui o problema mais imediato para sua efetivação. Nesse ínterim, sintetizaremos as principais diretrizes metodológicas esboçadas em sua teoria, entendida como um programa de pesquisa aberto, e indicaremos possíveis desdobramentos futuros. Esta dissertação terá início, em sua Introdução, com uma sucinta análise das principais fases de recepção da obra de Fleck, tendo em vista a compreensão de suas tradições de leitura e do significado atual de seus escritos. No Capítulo I, reconstituiremos o quadro conceitual da teoria comparativa de Ludwik Fleck a partir da análise de suas principais linhas e dimensões de desenvolvimento: médico-imunológica, sociológica, de crítica ao positivismo lógico e histórica. O Capítulo II será dedicado à análise dos processos comunicativos de sua teoria tanto ao nível diacrônico como ao nível sincrônico, bem como do fenômeno da incomensurabilidade. Estabeleceremos paralelos sobre a manifestação desse fenômeno com as formulações de Thomas Kuhn e Paul Feyerabend. No Capítulo III, abordaremos a tese do relacionismo cognitivo defendido por Fleck, indicando que sua teoria comparativa do conhecimento não possui um estatuto epistemológico privilegiado, sendo, portanto, um saber também relacional. Diante disso, defenderemos seu caráter científico, em conformidade, em linhas gerais, com as demais ciências naturais. Por fim, em nossas Considerações finais indicaremos, a partir das diretrizes lançadas pelo filósofo, algumas das possíveis linhas metodológicas que o programa da teoria comparativa deve seguir diante do problema da incomensurabilidade e da necessidade de um desenvolvimento metodológico mais preciso. / This dissertation aims to analyze the development of Fleck\'s proposal of a comparative theory of knowledge, its epistemological status and the diagnosis of some of its theoretical difficulties. We will defend the potentially scientific status of its theory and indicate that the incommensurability between thinking styles constitutes the most immediate problem for its effectiveness. Meanwhile, we intend to synthesize the main methodological guidelines outlined in his theory, understood as an open research program, and indicate possible future developments. This dissertation will start in its Introduction with a brief analysis of the main stages of reception of Fleck\'s work, so as to understand its traditions of readings and the current meaning of his writings. In Chapter I, we will reconstitute the conceptual framework of Fleck\'s comparative theory from the analysis of its main lines and dimensions of development: medical and immunological, sociological, as well as his criticism of historical and logical positivisms. Chapter II is devoted to the analysis of his theory of communicative processes at both the diachronic and synchronous level, as well as the phenomenon of incommensurability. We will establish parallels with Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend\'s formulations of this phenomenon. In Chapter III, we discuss the thesis of cognitive relationalism defended by Fleck, indicating that his comparative theory of knowledge does not have a privileged epistemological status, being, by its turn, also a relational knowledge. In the face of it, we will defend its scientific character, in accordance, in general, with the other natural sciences. Finally, in our final considerations we indicate, from guidelines released by the philosopher, some of the possible methodological lines that the program of comparative theory must follow regarding the problem of incommensurability and the need for a more precise methodological development.