Research report to the SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The research project aimed to establish whether corporate governance is important to investors from a value perspective. The implications and recommendations for further research were provided.

Research report to the SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / The research project aimed to establish whether corporate governance is important to investors from a value perspective. The implications and recommendations for further research were provided.

Student Number : 0300191P - PhD thesis - School of Accountancy - Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management / The main objective of the study has been to provide new insights into ongoing recent studies examining the impact of stock market liberalization at both macro and micro (firm) levels. The study focused on a single country, South Africa, whose exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), liberalized in the 1990s. Consistent with empirical evidence from other studies the study finds support at market, firm and sectoral level for the prediction by international asset pricing models that stock market liberalization reduces the cost of capital. More important, the study makes five major contributions to the literature on the impact of stock market liberalization in emerging markets. First, it demonstrates that some emerging market specific risks such as political and economic risks can act stronger binding constraints to foreign investment than direct legal barriers which foreign investors are frequently able to circumvent. The second contribution is the observation that there are some firms (in the minority however) that will experience a significant increase in the cost of capital following liberalization, a situation where the local price of risk is higher than the global price of risk, contrary to international asset pricing theory. The third contribution is that it has been empirically proved that the reduction in firms’ cost of capital following stock market liberalization is permanent. It is not a transitory phenomenon. The fourth contribution of the study highlights the influence of firm specific characteristics such as size of the firm, book-to-market ratios and leverage ratios on firms’ response to impact of stock market liberalization. The preference for large firms by foreign investors is supported, contrary to Merton’s (1987) recognition hypothesis, and hence highlights the inconclusiveness of the debate on whether stock market liberalization benefits both large firms and small firms. The fifth contribution is the observation that the effective liberalization date is not the same for all firms but varies from firm to firm.

Securities legislation in Canada and around the world does not mandate firms to fulfill announced share repurchase programs. As such, a firms repurchase program completion rate can be interpreted as a measure of the firms voluntary compliance, which communicates to investors the degree to which the firm is responsible, reliable and makes good faith efforts to fulfill its announced programs. We therefore expect that the voluntary compliance may reduce the riskiness of a firm and thus its cost of capital. In a sample of Canadian repurchase programs announced between 1995 and 2004, surprisingly, we find little evidence to suggest that a significant relationship exists between the firms repurchase program completion rate and the cost of equity. We present a number of explanations for this result.

Securities legislation in Canada and around the world does not mandate firms to fulfill announced share repurchase programs. As such, a firms repurchase program completion rate can be interpreted as a measure of the firms voluntary compliance, which communicates to investors the degree to which the firm is responsible, reliable and makes good faith efforts to fulfill its announced programs. We therefore expect that the voluntary compliance may reduce the riskiness of a firm and thus its cost of capital. In a sample of Canadian repurchase programs announced between 1995 and 2004, surprisingly, we find little evidence to suggest that a significant relationship exists between the firms repurchase program completion rate and the cost of equity. We present a number of explanations for this result.

It was an age of pursuing customer satisfaction since 1980, and moreover chasing customers` value in 21century. But how can customer satisfaction improve firm`s value? This article combines marketing and finance together through analyzing interaction between customer, systematic risk and cost of capital. The empirical evidence presented in this article implies that customer satisfaction can surely lower systematic risk and there is nonlinear relationship between CSI and systematic risk. Comparing the results for the service and nonservice industry sectors, we observe that, customer satisfaction has a greater effect on systematic risk of service sectors. In addition to satisfaction, the analysis also include advertising expense as another explanatory variable and reveals that when putting satisfaction and advertising expense into model together, systematic risk will be the lowest. When using lisrel model, it shows that customer satisfaction can lower cost of capital through cost of debt and equity together then maximize shareholder`s value.

A growing number of studies suggest that accounting information risk, primarily idiosyncratic in nature, can be diversified away in the capital market. In this dissertation, I show that accounting information risk, proxied by accruals quality, is priced even if it is entirely idiosyncratic. In particular, building on a model from the ambiguity literature, I demonstrate that (1) in an under-diversified market, idiosyncratic information risk is priced even if it is diversifiable, and (2) in a well-diversified market, idiosyncratic information risk is priced when information is subject to managers' discretion and thus ambiguous. The empirical results corroborate the predictions from the model. Specifically, although an association is observed between (unambiguous if risky) innate accruals quality and cost of capital, the association can be largely mitigated through diversification. However, diversification has little impact on the association between (ambiguous) discretionary accruals quality and cost of capital. Taken together, these findings strengthen our understanding of the fundamental role of accounting information as a basis for capital allocation.

A growing number of studies suggest that accounting information risk, primarily idiosyncratic in nature, can be diversified away in the capital market. In this dissertation, I show that accounting information risk, proxied by accruals quality, is priced even if it is entirely idiosyncratic. In particular, building on a model from the ambiguity literature, I demonstrate that (1) in an under-diversified market, idiosyncratic information risk is priced even if it is diversifiable, and (2) in a well-diversified market, idiosyncratic information risk is priced when information is subject to managers' discretion and thus ambiguous. The empirical results corroborate the predictions from the model. Specifically, although an association is observed between (unambiguous if risky) innate accruals quality and cost of capital, the association can be largely mitigated through diversification. However, diversification has little impact on the association between (ambiguous) discretionary accruals quality and cost of capital. Taken together, these findings strengthen our understanding of the fundamental role of accounting information as a basis for capital allocation.

A teoria sobre o custo de capital das empresas estudada desde a década de 1950 trouxe amplas contribuições aos estudos de finanças corporativas, alocação de carteiras de investimento, fusões e aquisições, ciências contábeis, entre outras aplicações. Os modelos clássicos de custo de capital compreendem modelos como o CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model), de Sharpe, Lintner e Mossin; o APT (Arbitrage Pricing Theory), de Ross; o modelo de 3-fatores, de Fama e French, e de 4-fatores, de Carhart, entre outros. Em virtude das diversas críticas feitas aos modelos clássicos (ELTON, 1999; FAMA; FRENCH, 2004; GRINBLATT; TITMAN, 2005; ASHTON; WANG, 2012; HOU et al., 2012), há então espaço para o surgimento de uma metodologia alternativa para estimativa do custo de capital das empresas, contexto em que surgem os modelos de Custo de Capital Implícito (ICC - Implied Cost of Capital). São cinco os principais modelos de ICC estudados e testados na literatura: Gordon e Gordon, modelo FHERM (1997), Claus e Thomas, modelo CT (2001), Gebhardt, Lee e Swaminathan, modelo GLS (2001), Ohlson e Juettner-Nauroth, modelo OJ (2005) e Easton, modelo de EASTON (2004). Todos se baseiam em expectativas sobre resultados futuros projetados, e as pesquisas que os aplicam fundamentam-se majoritariamente em projeções de analistas. Há, no entanto, diversos problemas levantados pela literatura quanto ao uso de dados produzidos por analistas (GUAY et al., 2011; HOU et al., 2012; KARAMANOU, 2012). Hou et al. (2012) propõem então uma metodologia cross-sectional de projeções de resultados das empresas, com base em dados contábeis, alternativa às projeções dos analistas e aplicável aos modelos de ICC, a qual se mostrou eficiente para os testes desenvolvidos. O objetivo desta tese foi verificar se a metodologia de projeção de lucros proposta por Hou et al. (2012), com as devidas considerações e ajustes, é válida para aplicação no mercado brasileiro e, em caso positivo, verificar qual a magnitude do Custo de Capital Implícito esperado pelos investidores para aplicação de recursos no Brasil, através da aplicação dos cinco principais modelos de ICC. Analisou-se também se os modelos de ICC podem ser considerados eficientes como ferramenta para prever os ativos que terão maiores ou menores retornos futuros e, por fim, verificou-se como o prêmio pelo risco implícito se compara com o prêmio pelo risco do CAPM, e qual das duas abordagens é mais eficiente como ferramenta de precificação de ativos. Para tanto, foi analisada uma janela de dados de 1994 a 2014. As principais conclusões obtidas foram: (i) o modelo de Hou et al. (2012) ajustado tem desempenho muito positivo para fins de projeção de lucros no Brasil, com capacidade de prever 69,8% dos lucros futuros; (ii) o prêmio pelo risco implícito apurado para o Brasil para o período de 1994 a 2014 é da magnitude de 7,5% a.a., em linha com a literatura internacional e nacional; (iii) identificou-se a importância de se efetuarem ajustes e controles inflacionários, em especial, para aplicar os modelos GLS e CT, sob risco de subestimar o ICC nesses modelos; (iv) verificou-se que o único modelo, entre os testados, contraindicado para aplicação no Brasil é o FHERM, cujas simplificações teóricas e de premissas levam a resultados muito voláteis e pouco capazes de prever os retornos futuros das ações; e (v) na análise comparativa entre os modelos de ICC e os modelos clássicos de custo de capital, concluiu-se que as metodologias de ICC testadas são eficientes como ferramenta para previsão da performance futura dos ativos, diferentemente do CAPM tradicional que apresentou resultados inferiores e não conclusivos para tais fins. Por fim, salienta-se a potencial contribuição dos modelos de ICC para análises relacionadas às finanças comportamentais e prêmios de liquidez. / The theory on companies\' cost of capital has been studied since the 1960s, bringing forward extensive contributions to the study of corporate finance, allocation of investment portfolios, mergers and acquisitions, accounting, among other several applications. The classical models of cost of capital include, for example, the CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model) of Shrape, Lintnet and Mossin, the APT (Arbitrage Pricing Theory) of Ross, the 3-factor model of Fama and French and the 4-factor model of Carhart. Due to the several criticisms directed at the classical models and its limitations (ELTON, 1999; FAMA; FRENCH, 2004; GRINBLATT; TITMAN, 2005; ASHTON; WANG, 2012; HOU et al., 2012), this context made room for the emergence of an alternative methodology for estimating the firms\' cost of capital, represented by the Implied Cost of Capital models (ICC). There are five main models of ICC studied and tested in the literature: Gordon and Gordon, FHERM Model (1997), Claus and Thomas, CT Model (2001), Gebhardt Lee and Swaminathan, GLS Model (2001), Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth, OJ Model (2005) and Easton, EASTON Model (2004). All such models are based on expectations about projected future earnings, and studies that apply these methods are predominantly based on analysts\' estimates. There are, however, several problems raised by the literature regarding the use of analysts projections (GUAY et al., 2011; HOU et al., 2012; KARAMANOU, 2012). Hou et al. (2012) then proposed a cross-sectional approach to estimate the firms\' future earnings, as an alternative methodology to apply in the ICC models, which was proved very efficient. Given this context, the objective of this thesis is to verify whether the cross-sectional methodology proposed by Hou et al. (2012) to estimate future earnings, with due adjustments to the local market\'s characteristics, is valid for application in Brazil. If so, we should then verify what the magnitude of the ICC expected by investors in Brazil is, estimated using the five main ICC models. Also, this thesis should analyse if the ICC models can be considered efficient as a tool to predict which assets should have larger or smaller future returns. Finally, we should compare the risk premium estimated by the ICC models and risk premium estimated by the CAPM, and identify which of the two approaches is more efficient for asset pricing. In order to achieve such goals, a window of data from 1994 to 2014 was analysed. The main results achieved were: (i) the adjusted model of Hou et al. (2012) has shown very positive performance for projecting earnings in Brasil, with power to predict 69,8% of future earnings; (ii) the implicit risk premium for the Brazilian market from 1994 to 2014 is of 7,5% per year, which corroborates the national and international literature; (iii) it was identified the need of controlling for inflation effects, specially when implementing the GLS and CT models, at risk of underestimating the ICC if not taking the due precautions; (iv) the only model, among the tested, which was identified as unfit for applying to the Brazilian market was FHERM, since its theorical simplifications lead to too volatile results, which are poorly capable of predicting future returns; and (v) when comparing the ICC to the classical models, it was concluded that the ICC methodologies are efficient as a tool to infer future asstes\' performance, while the traditional CAPM presents poor and unconclusuve results for such purpose. At last, we stress the potencial contribution of the ICC models to the study of behavioral finance and liquidity premiums.

A teoria sobre o custo de capital das empresas estudada desde a década de 1950 trouxe amplas contribuições aos estudos de finanças corporativas, alocação de carteiras de investimento, fusões e aquisições, ciências contábeis, entre outras aplicações. Os modelos clássicos de custo de capital compreendem modelos como o CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model), de Sharpe, Lintner e Mossin; o APT (Arbitrage Pricing Theory), de Ross; o modelo de 3-fatores, de Fama e French, e de 4-fatores, de Carhart, entre outros. Em virtude das diversas críticas feitas aos modelos clássicos (ELTON, 1999; FAMA; FRENCH, 2004; GRINBLATT; TITMAN, 2005; ASHTON; WANG, 2012; HOU et al., 2012), há então espaço para o surgimento de uma metodologia alternativa para estimativa do custo de capital das empresas, contexto em que surgem os modelos de Custo de Capital Implícito (ICC - Implied Cost of Capital). São cinco os principais modelos de ICC estudados e testados na literatura: Gordon e Gordon, modelo FHERM (1997), Claus e Thomas, modelo CT (2001), Gebhardt, Lee e Swaminathan, modelo GLS (2001), Ohlson e Juettner-Nauroth, modelo OJ (2005) e Easton, modelo de EASTON (2004). Todos se baseiam em expectativas sobre resultados futuros projetados, e as pesquisas que os aplicam fundamentam-se majoritariamente em projeções de analistas. Há, no entanto, diversos problemas levantados pela literatura quanto ao uso de dados produzidos por analistas (GUAY et al., 2011; HOU et al., 2012; KARAMANOU, 2012). Hou et al. (2012) propõem então uma metodologia cross-sectional de projeções de resultados das empresas, com base em dados contábeis, alternativa às projeções dos analistas e aplicável aos modelos de ICC, a qual se mostrou eficiente para os testes desenvolvidos. O objetivo desta tese foi verificar se a metodologia de projeção de lucros proposta por Hou et al. (2012), com as devidas considerações e ajustes, é válida para aplicação no mercado brasileiro e, em caso positivo, verificar qual a magnitude do Custo de Capital Implícito esperado pelos investidores para aplicação de recursos no Brasil, através da aplicação dos cinco principais modelos de ICC. Analisou-se também se os modelos de ICC podem ser considerados eficientes como ferramenta para prever os ativos que terão maiores ou menores retornos futuros e, por fim, verificou-se como o prêmio pelo risco implícito se compara com o prêmio pelo risco do CAPM, e qual das duas abordagens é mais eficiente como ferramenta de precificação de ativos. Para tanto, foi analisada uma janela de dados de 1994 a 2014. As principais conclusões obtidas foram: (i) o modelo de Hou et al. (2012) ajustado tem desempenho muito positivo para fins de projeção de lucros no Brasil, com capacidade de prever 69,8% dos lucros futuros; (ii) o prêmio pelo risco implícito apurado para o Brasil para o período de 1994 a 2014 é da magnitude de 7,5% a.a., em linha com a literatura internacional e nacional; (iii) identificou-se a importância de se efetuarem ajustes e controles inflacionários, em especial, para aplicar os modelos GLS e CT, sob risco de subestimar o ICC nesses modelos; (iv) verificou-se que o único modelo, entre os testados, contraindicado para aplicação no Brasil é o FHERM, cujas simplificações teóricas e de premissas levam a resultados muito voláteis e pouco capazes de prever os retornos futuros das ações; e (v) na análise comparativa entre os modelos de ICC e os modelos clássicos de custo de capital, concluiu-se que as metodologias de ICC testadas são eficientes como ferramenta para previsão da performance futura dos ativos, diferentemente do CAPM tradicional que apresentou resultados inferiores e não conclusivos para tais fins. Por fim, salienta-se a potencial contribuição dos modelos de ICC para análises relacionadas às finanças comportamentais e prêmios de liquidez. / The theory on companies\' cost of capital has been studied since the 1960s, bringing forward extensive contributions to the study of corporate finance, allocation of investment portfolios, mergers and acquisitions, accounting, among other several applications. The classical models of cost of capital include, for example, the CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model) of Shrape, Lintnet and Mossin, the APT (Arbitrage Pricing Theory) of Ross, the 3-factor model of Fama and French and the 4-factor model of Carhart. Due to the several criticisms directed at the classical models and its limitations (ELTON, 1999; FAMA; FRENCH, 2004; GRINBLATT; TITMAN, 2005; ASHTON; WANG, 2012; HOU et al., 2012), this context made room for the emergence of an alternative methodology for estimating the firms\' cost of capital, represented by the Implied Cost of Capital models (ICC). There are five main models of ICC studied and tested in the literature: Gordon and Gordon, FHERM Model (1997), Claus and Thomas, CT Model (2001), Gebhardt Lee and Swaminathan, GLS Model (2001), Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth, OJ Model (2005) and Easton, EASTON Model (2004). All such models are based on expectations about projected future earnings, and studies that apply these methods are predominantly based on analysts\' estimates. There are, however, several problems raised by the literature regarding the use of analysts projections (GUAY et al., 2011; HOU et al., 2012; KARAMANOU, 2012). Hou et al. (2012) then proposed a cross-sectional approach to estimate the firms\' future earnings, as an alternative methodology to apply in the ICC models, which was proved very efficient. Given this context, the objective of this thesis is to verify whether the cross-sectional methodology proposed by Hou et al. (2012) to estimate future earnings, with due adjustments to the local market\'s characteristics, is valid for application in Brazil. If so, we should then verify what the magnitude of the ICC expected by investors in Brazil is, estimated using the five main ICC models. Also, this thesis should analyse if the ICC models can be considered efficient as a tool to predict which assets should have larger or smaller future returns. Finally, we should compare the risk premium estimated by the ICC models and risk premium estimated by the CAPM, and identify which of the two approaches is more efficient for asset pricing. In order to achieve such goals, a window of data from 1994 to 2014 was analysed. The main results achieved were: (i) the adjusted model of Hou et al. (2012) has shown very positive performance for projecting earnings in Brasil, with power to predict 69,8% of future earnings; (ii) the implicit risk premium for the Brazilian market from 1994 to 2014 is of 7,5% per year, which corroborates the national and international literature; (iii) it was identified the need of controlling for inflation effects, specially when implementing the GLS and CT models, at risk of underestimating the ICC if not taking the due precautions; (iv) the only model, among the tested, which was identified as unfit for applying to the Brazilian market was FHERM, since its theorical simplifications lead to too volatile results, which are poorly capable of predicting future returns; and (v) when comparing the ICC to the classical models, it was concluded that the ICC methodologies are efficient as a tool to infer future asstes\' performance, while the traditional CAPM presents poor and unconclusuve results for such purpose. At last, we stress the potencial contribution of the ICC models to the study of behavioral finance and liquidity premiums.