Integrated Reporting is an initiative that encourages companies to analyze their business model in a holistic way. This process includes active consideration of financial and non-financial perspectives in order to understand all the capital generated, maintained and destroyed by the company over time. It allows companies to understand their activities, considering all factors used or affected, as well as the organization\'s entire context, causing the concept of Integrated Thinking to be ingrained in the company culture. Based on the Systems Theory, the integrated analysis of financial and non-financial aspects - as proposed by - can lead to different conclusions than with separate analyses because of the connections and interrelations between those two aspects. Application of the Integrated Thinking concept may result in two main advantages for the company: 1) an improvement in its management processes, especially with respect to non-financial capitals; and 2) a decrease in information asymmetry. Therefore, based on the Voluntary Disclosure Theory, these two factors may result in economic benefits for the organization. Thus, this research investigates how the cost of equity and cost of debt relate to the Integrated Reporting disclosure, and what is the impact of institutional factors on that relationship. A global sample of 25,311 firm-year observations, from 2010 to 2017, was analyzed employing a method that considered two dimensions: 1) Treatment: voluntary adopters of Integrated Reporting compared to a control group selected by a PSM (Propensity Score Matching) procedure; and 2) Time: both groups were compared in the periods before and after the adoption. Results indicated that the Integrated Reporting disclosure is negatively related to the cost of equity. The results are robust after controlling for several firm-level and country-level factors, and by industry. Further analyses showed that this negative effect is more prevalent for companies with high enforcement environments and revealed that companies in a Shareholder Oriented environment achieved a greater reduction in the cost of equity, when compared to companies in a Stakeholder Oriented environment. Evidence also showed that debtholders and equity holders respond differently to the Integrated Reporting disclosure. Despite the difference in cost of equity for companies adopting Integrated Reporting, limited evidence of a relationship between cost of debt and disclosure was found, even when subsamples were analyzed in view of institutional factors. Further investigations on the effect of assurance in the relationship between cost of debt and disclosure were conducted, uncovering that companies in a High Enforcement environment that assure their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) information showed a lower cost of debt. This study contributes to the literature of Integrated Reporting by showing how it relates to cost of equity and cost of debt, considering a global sample of voluntary adopters. The study also analyzed the impact of institutional factors in this relationship, employing a robust method of analysis that differentiates it from other studies. / Relato Integrado é uma iniciativa que encoraja as empresas a analisarem seu modelo de negócio de uma forma holística. Esse processo inclui a consideração ativa das perspectivas financeiras e não financeiras para entender todo o capital gerado, mantido e destruído pela companhia ao longo do tempo. Isso permite que as empresas entendam suas atividades, considerando todos os fatores usados ou afetados, e também todo o contexto da organização, levando ao enraizamento do conceito de Pensamento Integrado na cultura empresarial. De acordo com a Teoria de Sistemas, a análise integrada de aspectos financeiros e não financeiros, como proposto pelo , pode levar a conclusões diferentes das análises separadas, devido às conexões e interações entre eles. Aplicar o conceito de Pensamento Integrado pode resultar em duas vantagens para a empresa: 1) melhoria nos processos de gestão, especialmente ao que diz respeito aos capitais não financeiros; e 2) redução da assimetria de informação. Assim sendo, baseando-se na Teoria de Disclosure Voluntário, esses dois fatores podem resultar em benefícios econômicos para a organização. Logo, esta pesquisa investiga como os custos de capital próprio e de terceiros se relacionam com a divulgação do relato integrado e quais os impactos de fatores institucionais nessa relação. Analisou-se uma amostra global de 25.311 observações, de 2010 a 2017, empregando um método que considera duas dimensões: 1) Tratamento: adotantes voluntários de Relato Integrado comparados a um grupo de tratamento selecionado pelo procedimento de PSM (Propensity Score Matching); e 2) Tempo: ambos os grupos foram comparados nos períodos anterior e posterior a adoção. Os resultados indicaram que a divulgação de relato integrado é negativamente relacionada com o custo de capital próprio. Os resultados são robustos após controlar por diversos fatores em nível de firma e país, e ainda por setor. Análises adicionais mostram que esse efeito negativo se concentra em empresas num ambiente de alto enforcement e revelou que companhias em ambientes orientados aos investidores (Shareholder Oriented) verificaram uma redução maior do custo de capital, quando comparadas a companhias em um ambiente orientado aos Stakeholders. Entre os achados também destacou-se que os credores respondem à divulgação de relato integrado de diversas maneiras. Apesar da diferença encontrada no custo de capital próprio relacionado à divulgação de relato integrado, foram encontradas evidencias limitadas da relação entre o custo da dívida e a divulgação de relato integrado, até mesmo quando subamostras foram analisadas frente a fatores institucionais. Conduziu-se investigações mais aprofundadas sobre o efeito de asseguração na relação entre custo de dívida e divulgação do , e identificou-se que as companhias num ambiente de alto enforcement que asseguram suas informações de RSC (Responsabilidade Social Corporativa) apresentam um custo de dívida menor. Este estudo contribui para a literatura de relato integrado mostrando como os custos de capital próprio e de terceiros se relacionam à essa iniciativa, considerando-se uma amostra global de adotantes voluntários. Analisou-se o impacto de fatores institucionais nessa relação e empregou-se um método robusto, diferenciando este de outros estudos.

Mindre företag är viktiga för den samhällsekonomiska utvecklingen och för skapandet av nyaarbetstillfällen. Lån har visat sig vara en viktig finansieringskälla för dessa företag, men pågrund av informationsasymmetri och högre operationella kostnader har tillgången tillkonkurrenskraftig lånefinansiering framhållits vara problematisk. Den externa redovisningenkan användas för att minska informationsasymmetri och reducera detta problem.Redovisningskvalitet, upplevd revisionskvalitet och revisionens utfall utgör delar av denexterna redovisningen, vilka i tidigare studier visat sig påverka företags kostnad för lånatkapital. Svenska privata mindre företag är en grupp av företag som tidigare inte behandlats idetta avseende och syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur dessa företags kostnad förlånat kapital påverkas av redovisningskvalitet, upplevd revisionskvalitet och revisionensutfall. Med hjälp av årsredovisningar från ett stickprov om 395 slumpvis utvalda företag ochen regressionsanalys besvaras studiens problemformulering. Hur påverkar den externaredovisningen svenska privata mindre företags kostnad för lånat kapital? Resultatet av dennastudie visar att redovisningskvalitet och revisionens utfall är delar av den externaredovisningen som påverkar svenska privata mindre företags kostnad för lånat kapital, medannågon påverkan inte kunde påvisas gällande den upplevda revisionskvaliteten. Svenskaprivata mindre företag med låg redovisningskvalitet har lägre kostnad för lånat kapital och enoren revisionsberättelse innebär högre kostnad. Detta ger såväl praktiska som teoretiskaimplikationer. Exempelvis tyder resultatet på att företag i viss mån kan vidta manipulerandeåtgärder som sänker redovisningskvaliteten och genom detta förfarande sänka kostnaden förlånat kapital. För långivare kan resultatet fungera som en varningssignal och belysa vikten avatt inte betrakta siffrorna i årsredovisningen som en obestridlig sanning. Teoretisk ges ettbidrag från den svenska kontexten. Resultatet i detta bidrag skiljer sig delvis från resultat itidigare studier, genomförda i andra kontexter. / Small firms are important for economic growth and the creation of new job opportunities.Loans are an important source of financing for these firms, but due to information asymmetryand relatively higher operational costs, small firms’ access to debt capital at a competitiveprice have been shown to be problematic. Firms’ financial reports can be used to lowerinformation asymmetry between the firm and its creditors and therefore reduce this problem.Prior studies have found that accounting quality, perceived audit quality and audit outcomeare parts of the financial report which can affect firms’ cost of debt. Swedish private smallfirms has not been studied in this field of research and the purpose of this study is therefore toexamine how these firms’ cost of debt is affected by accounting quality, perceived auditquality and audit outcome. With a sample of 395 randomly selected firms a regressionanalysis is used to answer the study’s research question. How does the financial report affectSwedish private small firms’ cost of debt? The result show that accounting quality and auditoutcome are parts of the financial report that can affect firms’ cost of debt, while nosignificant difference in cost of debt could be found due to differences in perceived auditquality. Swedish private small firms with low accounting quality have lower cost of debt andthose that receive a modified auditor report have higher costs. This result has both practicaland theoretical implications. The result suggests that firms, to some extent, can lower theircost of debt by lowering their accounting quality through manipulating their financial reports.To creditors, the result can be viewed as a warning signal to not blindly trust in the accuracyof the numbers that are presented. Theoretically this study contributes with a result from theSwedish context, a result that in some ways differ from those of studies done in othercontexts.

Submitted by Edypo Soares de Oliveira (edyposoares@gmail.com) on 2016-12-21T17:03:50Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese FGV MPFE - Edypo Soares eng - 21dec16.pdf: 751881 bytes, checksum: 503843ddee636b0d04d0195201a33270 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Renata de Souza Nascimento (renata.souza@fgv.br) on 2016-12-21T17:08:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese FGV MPFE - Edypo Soares eng - 21dec16.pdf: 751881 bytes, checksum: 503843ddee636b0d04d0195201a33270 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-22T13:14:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese FGV MPFE - Edypo Soares eng - 21dec16.pdf: 751881 bytes, checksum: 503843ddee636b0d04d0195201a33270 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-14 / Literature has often examined how hedging affects firm value and cost of capital, but its relation with cost of debt is less studied, especially for Latin American firms. This dissertation examined the impact of derivatives usage over credit spread of the bonds issued by 66 non-financial companies from Brazil, Chile and Mexico, based on the secondary market transactions from 2005 to 2015. To test the hypothesis that hedging reduces credit spread, we performed different regressions based on Chen and King (2014) study. We only found a significant coefficient for hedging and leverage interaction for the post-2008 period, supporting Coutinho, Sheng and Lora (2012) findings that companies were not using derivatives for hedging purpose before the financial crisis and also corroborates Chen and King (2014) hypothesis that more leveraged firms obtain higher benefits from hedging. / Há uma extensa literatura examinando como o uso de derivativos afeta o valor e o custo de capital da firma, porém sua relação com o custo da dívida (spread de crédito) é menos estudada, especialmente para os países da América Latina. Esta dissertação, a partir dos dados do mercado secundário dos títulos (bonds) emitidos por 66 empresas não financeiras de Brasil, Chile e México no período entre 2005 e 2015, analisa o impacto do uso de derivativos sobre o spread de crédito. Para testar a hipótese de que hedging reduz o spread de crédito pago pelas companhias, rodamos diferentes regressões baseadas no estudo de Cheng e King (2014). Encontramos resultados significativos apenas para a interação entre hedging e alavancagem no período posterior a 2008, em linha com o que foi reportado por Coutinho, Sheng e Lora (2012), que investigam a relação entre hedging e custo de capital. Resultado corrobora as hipóteses de que (1) empresas estariam utilizando derivativos para especular antes da Crise Financeira e (2) conforme Chen e King (2014), as empresas mais alavancadas (maior stress financeiro) são as que mais se beneficiam do uso de derivativos.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-06-12T11:09:27Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Cassia Neves da Silva - 2018.pdf: 2161688 bytes, checksum: e70d5a8c4b3eab21a97ddd645182a7e5 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-06-12T12:18:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Cassia Neves da Silva - 2018.pdf: 2161688 bytes, checksum: e70d5a8c4b3eab21a97ddd645182a7e5 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-12T12:18:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Cassia Neves da Silva - 2018.pdf: 2161688 bytes, checksum: e70d5a8c4b3eab21a97ddd645182a7e5 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-09 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / The literature goes back to the fact that emerging markets have characteristics that are not relevant to the developed markets, among them the concentration of stocks and the cost of debt. Among emerging markets, the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are economic powers. Therefore, this research aims to analyze whether the concentration of ownership and the cost of debt interfere in the value of the company in the BRICS in the period from 2007 to 2016, after the subprime crisis. For this purpose, publicly traded companies from these countries, financial and non-financial, were selected in the period to compose the sample, analyzed by quantile regression. In the results, China presented the lowest debt costs of the economic group. And the stock concentration does not affect the cost of debt in Brazil, but in China and Russia the lower the share concentration, the higher the cost of debt. In India only companies with Tobin's 50% lower Qs are shown to be negatively influenced. Finally, the cost of debt was relevant in companies with lower market values, proving to be irrelevant in companies with higher value. / A literatura descreve que os mercados emergentes apresentam características destoantes dos mercados desenvolvidos, dentre elas a concentração acionária e o custo de dívida. Em meio aos mercados emergentes, os BRICS – Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul – são potências econômicas. Portanto, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar se a concentração de propriedade e o custo da dívida interferiram no valor da empresa nos BRICS no período de 2007 a 2016, após a crise do Subprime. Para tal, foram selecionadas as empresas de capital aberto desses países, financeiras e não financeiras, no referido período, para comporem a amostra, analisadas via regressão quantílica. Nos resultados, a China apresentou os menores custos de dívida do grupo econômico. Ademais, a concentração acionária não afetou o custo da dívida no Brasil, mas, na China e na Rússia,quanto menor a concentração acionária, maior o custo da dívida. Na Índia, apenas as empresas com os 50% menores Q de Tobin demonstraram serem influenciadas negativamente. Por fim, o custo da dívida foi relevante nas empresas com menores valores de mercado, provando serem irrelevantes nas empresas com maior valor.

Introduktion En anledning till att företag vill ge ut frivillig redovisning kan vara för att erhålla positiva ekonomiska effekter så som minskad kapitalkostnad. Tidigare forskning finner blandade resultat gällande den frivilliga redovisningens påverkan på kapitalkostnaden. Forskningen indikerar att olika innehåll i den frivilliga redovisningen kan ge varierande effekter på kapitalkostnaden. Därför är det intressant att göra en mer detaljerad analys av innehållet i den frivilliga redovisningen relaterat till kostnaden för eget och lånat kapital. Syfte Studiens syfte är att förklara hur innehållet i den frivilliga redovisningen påverkar kostnaden för eget och lånat kapital. Metod Studien har en deduktiv ansats och utgår ifrån en kvantitativ strategi med kvalitativa inslag. Genom en tvärsnittsdesign genomförs en innehållsanalys av den frivilliga redovisningen i 44 börsnoterade bolags årsredovisningar för att kvantifiera innehållet. Slutsats Resultatet visar på att mer frivillig redovisning i form av information om risk och information av icke-finansiell karaktär leder till minskad kostnad för eget kapital. Mer aktierelaterad information, information av historisk, framåtriktad, kvantitativ, icke-kvantitativ och icke-finansiell karaktär leder till minskad kostnad för lånat kapital. Även mer frivillig redovisning totalt sett minskar kostnaden för lånat kapital. Resultatet bör dock endast ses som indikationer på hur sambanden kan se ut på grund av studiens begränsningar. / Introduction A reason for companies to publish voluntary disclosure can be to receive positive economic effects such as reduced cost of capital. Previous research find mixed results regarding the impact of voluntary disclosure on the cost of capital. Research indicates that different content of voluntary disclosure can affect the cost of capital differently. Therefore, it is of interest to conduct a more detailed analysis of the content of voluntary disclosure related to the cost of equity and debt capital. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain how the content of voluntary disclosure affects the cost of equity and debt capital. Method This is a quantitative study with qualitative elements that has a deductive approach. Through a cross-sectional design, a content analysis of the voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of 44 listed companies is conducted to quantify the content. Conclusion The results show that more voluntary disclosure in the form ofinformation about risk and information of a non-financial nature leads to a reduced cost of equity. More share-related information and information of a historical, forward-looking, quantitative, non- quantitative and non-financial nature leads to a reduced cost of debt capital. More voluntary disclosure in total also reduces the cost of debt capital. However, due to the limitations of the study, the results should only be seen as indications of the nature of the relationships.

This study aims to explore the relationship between the cost of debt and ESG reporting disclosure and performance. The extant literature presents mixed findings, with some studies establishing a significant negative relationship between the variables, while others report inconclusive or even positive results. Our analysis of 1,012 Nordic non-financial firms listed from 2011 to 2019 reveals that ESG reporting disclosure has a significant negative relationship with the cost of debt for some models, whereas ESG performance shows an insignificant relationship across all models. The variability in ESG rating methodologies and the time period of data collection are potential factors influencing these mixed results. Limited access to ESG data, selection bias, and survivorship bias also pose challenges to the analysis.

我國庫藏股制度於民國八十九年開始實施，當上市櫃公司宣告買回庫藏股後，造成了公司資產的重分配，其股東、債權人等利害關係人會以預期心理來評估自身權益所受到的影響，並將其反應在所要求的必要報酬率上，因此公司對股東所負擔的權益資金成本及對債權人所負擔的負債資金成本都將產生變動。 當公司宣告買回庫藏股後，實證結果顯示：(1)其負債資金成本將上升，而權益資金成本將會下降。(2)預定買回股份佔資本比愈大時，其負債資金成本增加愈多。(3)買回前獲利能力之不同，並未發現其會對宣告買回公司之負債資金成本有顯著影響。(4)依目的三買回將使該公司負債資金成本增加數小於依目的一或目的二買回之負債資金成本增加數、並使權益資金成本減少數大於依目的一或目的二買回之權益資金成本減少數。(5)公司內部人持股比率於宣告前一年淨增加愈多則權益資金成本降低程度愈大。(6)資訊愈對稱的公司其權益資金成本下降的程度愈少。 / Share repurchase system was formally implemented in Taiwan in 2000 , when the TSEC & OTC listed companies announce that they will repurchase shares , it changes the composition of assets held by the firm , revising the ownership proportions of each of their shareholders and interests of each of their creditors. Thus, their cost of equity capital and debt capital may change . When companies announce to repurchase shares , results show that : (1)their cost of debt capital will increase and their cost of equity capital will decrease. (2)the more percentage of shares companies expect to repurchase , the more their cost of debt capital increase. (3)the different profitability before announcement has no significant effect to companies’ cost of debt capital. (4)repurchase in order to conserve companies’ credibility and shareholders’ equity will increase less cost of debt capital and decrease more cost of equity capital than that in order to reach other two purposes .(5) the more increase of percentage of shares companies’ insiders’ hold before announce, the more their cost of equity capital decrease. (6) the more symmetrical information companies obtain , the less their cost of equity capital decrease.

本研究係探討關係人交易雙方是否委任相同會計師進行查核，對企業負債資金成本之效果。本文以企業利息費用除以平均帶息負債衡量企業之負債資金成本，企業之關係人交易部分則分成關係人銷貨交易、關係人進貨交易、關係人應收款、關係人應付款等四類型交易，來討論關係人交易與企業負債資金成本之關聯，接著將各類型關係人交易再細分成由相同會計師查核關係人交易雙方與由不同會計師查核關係人交易雙方兩類，以檢驗相同會計師查核對於企業負債資金成本之影響。 研究結果發現關係人交易與企業負債資金成本之關聯並無統計上之顯著性。然將關係人交易進一步拆分為是否由相同會計師查核關係人交易雙方後，關係人進貨交易與關係人銷貨交易等兩類型交易若由相同會計師查核交易雙方，其相較於不同會計師查核能夠有效減緩企業負債資金成本增加之情形。 / This study examines the effect of same auditor auditing both sides of related party transactions (RPTs) on cost of debt. In this study, cost of debt is measured using interest expenses divided by average interest bearing debt and we hand collect from annual reports the data of the four common types of RPTs: sales to related parties, purchases from related parties, accounts receivable from related parties and accounts payable to related parties. For the four types, we further split RPTs into RPTs whose involved sides are audited by the same auditor and RPTs whose involved sides are audited by different auditors. We do not find any evidence that RPTs are associated with cost of debt. However, we find that for sales to related parties and purchases from related parties, RPTs whose involved sides are audited by the same auditor are associated with cost of debt less strongly than RPTs whose involved sides are audited by different auditors. Our results suggest that same auditor auditing can mitigated the detrimental effect of RPTs on cost of debt.

Bakgrund: Privata företag förväntas ha färre finansieringsmöjligheter än publika börsnoterade företag, vilket gör privata företag mer begränsade till extern skuldfinansiering från kreditinstitut. Kostnaden för den externa skuldfinansieringen påverkas av kreditgivarens riskbedömning och det kontrollbehov som bland annat uppstår på grund av agentkonflikten mellan långivare och låntagare. Vi ämnar därför undersöka hur ägaren och ägarens val av styrelse och extern revisor kan reducera agentkonflikten och därmed reducera företagens räntekostnader vid extern skuldfinansiering. Syfte: Syftet med vår uppsats är att undersöka huruvida ägarkoncentrationen samt ägarens val av styrelse och extern revisor påverkar företagens externa räntekostnader i privata svenska aktiebolag. Metod: Studiens ansats är av deduktiv art utifrån en tvärsnittsdesign. Studien utgår från en kvantitativ metod för att testa studiens hypoteser utifrån ett urval av medelstora privata svenska aktiebolag. Resultat: Ägarkoncentrationen, styrelsens storlek samt styrelsens oberoende har ingen signifikant påverkan på räntekostnaden. Däremot visar resultaten i studien att det finns ett signifikant negativt samband mellan räntekostnaden och valet att utse en extern revisor från Big4. / Background: Private companies are expected to have fewer funding opportunities than public listed companies, which makes private companies more dependent on external debt financing from credit institutions. The cost of the external debt financing is affected by the lenders risk assessment and the need for control that naturally appears because of the agency conflict between lenders and borrowers. We aim to examine how the owner and the owner’s choice of board of directors and external auditor can reduce the agency conflict and thus reduce the companies interest costs in external debt financing. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate if the owner concentration as well as the owner’s choice of board composition and external auditor, affects the external interest costs of private Swedish limited companies. Method: The study’s approach is deductive in nature and based on a cross sectional design. The study is based on a quantitative method for testing the hypotheses, based on selection of medium-sized private Swedish limited companies. Conclusions: The ownership concentration, the board size and the board independence have no significant influence on the interest rate. The study does however show a significant negative correlation between the interest rate and the choice to appoint an external auditor from one of the Big4.

Titel: Bolags CSR-arbete och kostnaden för räntebärande skulder Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi  Författare: Stefan Högdahl & Mikael Lindqvist  Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2022 - Juni  Syfte: Forskningen kring CSR är omfattande och kan ta en mängd olika inriktningar. Denna studie studerar sambandet mellan bolags CSR och deras ESG-betyg i förhållande till deras kostnader för räntebärande skulder för att se om dessa kan ge ekonomiska fördelar. Vidare studeras även CSR-redovisningens samband uppdelat mellan okänsliga och känsliga sektorer med bolags kostnader för räntebärande skulder. Metod: Studien utgår från en kvantitativ och deduktiv utgångspunkt inom den positivistiska forskningsfilosofin. Datan är hämtad från Refinitiv Eikon och innehåller information från 2539 företag. Denna data har sedan behandlats och analyserats via IBM SPSS. Resultat och slutsats: Utifrån de genomförda regressionsanalyserna framkommer det förväntade negativa sambandet mellan CSR och skuldkostnad och hypoteserna styrks. Företag som utför ett bra CSR-arbete och erhåller ett högt ESG-betyg kan därmed enligt studiens resultat minska sin skuldkostnad genom lägre räntor. Regressionsanalyserna visade även på att företags CSR-redovisning är av större vikt inom känslig sektor. Detta kan ge en grund för företag att motivera kostnaderna för hållbarhetsarbete. Examensarbetets bidrag: Genom att undersöka sambandet mellan CSR och skuldkostnad har studien bidragit till att klargöra detta förhållande. Därmed kan företag lättare motivera ett arbete med CSR. Sambandet tyder också på att långivare är medvetna om företags CSR-arbete och tar hänsyn till det i sin riskbedömning vid sättande av räntor. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Att långivare tar hänsyn till CSR-arbete visar sig i studien. Vidare forskning kan undersöka på vilket sätt CSR ingår som en del i riskanalysen hos dessa. Vidare forskning kan även undersöka hur stor påverkan denna ränteskillnad får på bolagens ekonomiska resultat och huruvida det är ett tillräckligt stort incitament för att satsa på CSR. / Title: Companies work with CSR and the cost of interest-bearing liabilities Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Authors: Stefan Högdahl & Mikael Lindqvist Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2022 - Juni Aim: The research on CSR is extensive and can take a wide variety of orientations. This essay studies the relationship between companies' CSR and their ESG-ratings in relation to their costs for interest-bearing liabilities to determine if these can provide financial benefits. Furthermore, the relationship between CSR accounting is also divided into insensitive and sensitive sectors with companies' costs for interest-bearing liabilities. Method: The study is based on a quantitative and deductive vantage point within the positivist research philosophy. The data is taken from Refinitiv Eikon and contains information from 2539 companies. This data was then processed and analyzed via IBM SPSS. Result and Conclusions: Based on the regression analysis carried out, the expected negative relationship between CSR and cost of debt emerges and the hypotheses are substantiated. Companies that perform good CSR work and receive a high ESG rating can thus, according to the results of the study, reduce their debt costs through lower interest rates. The regression analysis also show that companies' CSR accounting is of greater importance in the sensitive sector. This can provide a basis for companies to justify the costs of sustainability work. Contribution of the thesis: By examining the relationship between CSR and cost of debt, the study has helped to clarify this relationship. This makes it easier for companies to motivate work with CSR. The connection also indicates that lenders are aware of companies' CSR work and take this into account in their risk assessment when setting interest rates. Future research: The fact that lenders take CSR into account when setting interest rates is shown in the study. Further research can investigate the way in which CSR is included as part of their risk analysis. Further research can also examine how much impact this interest rate difference has on the companies' financial results and whether there is a sufficiently large incentive to invest in CSR.