Bakgrund och problemformulering: Trots att humankapital ofta ses som en tillgång, får den inte tas upp i balansräkningen. Istället får företag frivilligt presentera information rörande personal i övriga delar i sina årsredovisningar. Vad för typ av information, och hur den ska redovisas, bestämmer företagen själva. Forskning senaste år har dock visat att företagen har slutat presentera information om humankapitalet, samt att det endast var en trend som nu bytts ut mot andra trender. Dessutom visar forskningen att rapporteringen varit ologiskt, och att företagens rapportering skiljer sig från år till år. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att bidra med en ökad förståelse om redovisningen av humankapitalet skiljer sig åt mellan företag ur olika sektorer. Vi vill med detta ge en bild av om och i så fall hur olika typer av företag redovisar humankapitalet. Detta för att skapa en bättre förståelse om humankapitalet är ett viktigt inslag i företagens redovisning, men även om det prioriteras olika beroende på vilken sektor de tillhör. Metod: En totalundersökning av företagen inom small cap från de tre sektorerna industri, teknologi och hälsovård på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. Mätinstrumentet disclosure index användes vid analys och insamling av data från företagens årsredovisningar. Indexen delades in i 6 olika kategorier, och byggdes på ett tidigare index gjort av Bukh m.fl. (2005), samt en egen förstudie. Referensram: Här ges en djupare inblick inom begreppet humankapital och intellektuella kapitalet. Vidare ges en historisk återblick från 1960 talet till idag angående forskning och redovisningen av humankapitalet. Olika motiv och faktorer tas upp till varför företagen väljer att presentera humankapitalet. Empiri och slutsats: Undersökningens utfall visade på att det inte förkom direkta skillnader mellan sektorerna. Det var mer likheter än skillnader mellan sektorerna med hur de redovisar information om humankapitalet. Inga skillnader hittades angående mängden redovisat humankapital och endast små skillnader hittades angående innehållet. Detta resultat var oväntat, då det inte var tydliga skillnader mellan sektorerna. Vidare förekom det stora variationer avseende mängden mellan företagen inom respektive sektor. Den sektor som hade största genomsnittsmängden var teknologisektorn. Hälsovårdssektorn kom efter, och industrisektorn redovisade minst. Avseende vilken typ av information de presenterade så redovisade teknologisektorn främst information angående olika fördelningar på anställda. Industri- och hälsovårdssektorn presenterade däremot främst information angående personalens utveckling och motivation. / Background and research issue: Although human capital is often regarded as an asset, it cannot be included in the balance sheet. Instead, companies may voluntarily present information about their personal in other parts of their annual reports. What type of information, and how it should be reported, is up to the companies to determine themselves. However, research in recent years has shown that companies have ceased to present information about human capital, and that it was only a trend that has now been replaced with other trends. In addition, research shows that reporting has been illogical, and the reporting by the companies differs year to year. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute to an increased understanding if the reporting of human capital differs between companies from different sectors. We want to give a picture if and how different types of companies report human capital. This is for a better understanding if human capital appears to be an important element in the companies accounting, also whether it is prioritized differently depending on which sector they belong to. Method: A total survey of small cap companies from the three sectors industry, technology and healthcare at Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. The measuring instrument disclosure index was used in analyzing and collecting data from the companies’ annual reports. The index was divided into 6 different categories, and was based on a previous index made by Bukh et al (2005), as well as a separate preliminary study. Empiricism: Here gives a deeper insight into the concept of human capital and intellectual capital. In addition, a historical recital from the 1960s to today is presented regarding research and the accounting of human capital. Furthermore, different motives are presented to show why companies choose to present human capital. Conclusion: The outcome of the study showed that there were no direct differences between the sectors. There were more similarities than differences between the sectors regarding how they report human capital. No differences were found regarding the amount of disclosure, and only a few differences was found regarding the type of information disclosed. This result was unexpected, as there were no clear differences in the reporting between each sector. Furthermore, there were large variations in the amount of disclosure between the companies in each sector. The sector with the largest average amount disclosure was the Technology sector. The Healthcare sector came after, and the Industry sector reported least. Regarding what type of information they presented, the Technology sector mainly reported information about different employee distributions. The Industry and Healthcare sector mainly presented information about staff development and motivation.

Disclosure of accounting information is crucial in facilitating efficient contracts in the publicly listed firm and in reducing information asymmetries in capital markets. A well-known perception in disclosure literature is that, as the separation between managers and owners increases, so does the demand for publicly available disclosure. Many publicly listed firms around the world are controlled by a few large owners that obtain information through their insider positions in the firm. Thus, variations in ownership structures have a considerable effect on how firms’ disclosure practices are resolved. Despite the increased attention paid to the identity of controlling owners and their influence on financial reporting practices, little is known about how owner types and governance mechanisms influence corporate disclosures and capital-market effects. This thesis contributes to the disclosure literature by studying a context in which controlling owners have a large influence on the governance and disclosure practices of firms. This contrasts with the much-studied setting in which management influences the governance and reporting decisions of firms. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to examine the determinants and capital-market effects of Swedish listed firms’ annual report disclosure. This thesis uses a self-constructed disclosure index from manually gathered data from the annual reports of Swedish publicly listed firms during the years 2001 to 2013. This includes information on the notes to the financial statements, corporate governance and strategy. The findings of the four empirical studies show that the ownership structure of firms and the various contractual relationships that firms are engaged in, drive the disclosure practices. Additionally, the results indicate that higher levels of disclosure decrease information asymmetries between capital-market participants and increase trading activity. However, the findings also show that firms with controlling owners are less forthcoming with disclosure, even after a new disclosure reform. Considering the large influence of controlling owners in the studied context, these are important findings in the research field and in regulators’ processes of deriving disclosure regulation. The thesis concludes that the variety in firms’ disclosure incentives and local governance structures are important disclosure determinants to understand in framing international accounting standards.

Recent events in the business world have focused attention on the importance of high quality financial reporting. Of particular interest is where the collapse of prominent companies such as Baring Plc. was due to the company's involvement with derivative instruments. In Australia, some derivative instruments are not recognised in the balance sheet. However, the Australian accounting standard AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments requires extensive disclosures to overcome the lack of guidance with regard to the recognition and measurement. Therefore, AASB 1033 may be regarded as a high quality disclosure standard. This thesis investigates the transparency or information quality of derivative disclosures of Australian firms in the extractive industries using 1998 to 2001 financial reports. The extractive industries play a major role in the Australian economy, where they generated exports worth more than A$30billion in 2000 to 2002 (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2003a and 2003b). Further, firms in the extractive industries extensively use derivative instruments for hedging purposes (Berkman, Bradbury, Hancock and Innes, 1997). The objective of this study is, first, to examine the relationship between the transparency or disclosure quality of derivative information and firm characteristics. Second, this study investigates the value relevance of derivative disclosures in particularly hedge information, net fair value information and risk information. Quality is measured based on a disclosure index developed from AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments. A finding of concern is that the majority of firms in this study provide less than complete information and therefore enforcement power is required to ensure compliance (Kothari, 2000) Prior studies have related disclosure quality of accounting information with firm characteristics but no attempt has been made to relate those characteristics with the disclosure quality of derivative instruments. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between firm characteristics and the quality of derivative disclosures. Firm characteristics investigated are size, profitability, price-earnings ratio, market-to-book ratio, research and development activity, auditor, debt-to-equity ratio and type of extractive firm. This study finds that the variables, firm size, price-earnings and debt-to-equity ratios are associated with the disclosure quality of derivative information. To a lesser extent, the variables, market-to-book ratio and profitability, are also associated with disclosure quality. High disclosure quality has been argued to lead to a reduction in the cost of debt (Sengupta, 1998) and equity (Botosan, 1997), resulting in higher security prices (Miller and Bahnson, 2002). The results of this study indicate that high quality derivative information, as represented by the disclosure index, is value relevant. Market participants do consider hedge information and risk information components as important for decision-making. However, examining the specific information disclosed in the financial statements indicate that some of the disclosed information such as the unrealised gain or loss on financial assets and liabilities and off-balance sheet derivative financial instruments are not significant. These results contribute to the value relevance literature as this study focuses on the extractive industries which have been neglected in the literature. This study provides important information for standard setters and regulators for future directions in developing accounting standards and is particularly relevant for the impending adoption of International Accounting Standards.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elizabeth Alves Gomes.pdf: 832335 bytes, checksum: 02cf50e8e482436247cda97178274bc8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-03-08 / The main aim of this study was to examine the association between disclosure and cost of capital for Brazilian companies. In order to attain the general aim three specific objectives were posed: evaluating methodology for testing the association between disclosure and capital cost; analyzing capital cost models that might be adopted for use in the Brazilian market; and examining the effects of the amount and quality of information disclosed by Brazilian companies in their annual shareholder reports. The Ordinary Least Squares Method was used to test the correlation between disclosure and cost of capital. Cost of capital was used as dependent variable; explanatory variables analyzed were 3 disclosure indexes and 9 indicating size, risk, and variance in earnings. Three models were used to calculate capital cost: Capital Asset Pricing, Discounted Dividends, and Ohlson-Juettner. Testing was based on two non-probabilistic samples of company stock traded on the São Paulo Stock Exchange. The first sample comprised 131 companies from different segments; the second consisted of companies submitting reports and competing for the 6th Brazilian Publicly Traded Companies Association (local acronym ABRASCA) awards in 2003. The results of this study showed that the model chosen for calculating capital cost affects the results obtained in empirical tests, and that variable disclosure may be significant in one model and not in another. These results match data obtained by Botosan (1997). Two of the disclosure indexes, IDISCABR (used for the ABRASCA award) and INNM (index representing companies adhering to the New Market s differentiated Corporate Governance requirements) differed at 5% significance level, showing that companies in the ABRASCA sample benefited from lower costs by using more stringent disclosure levels. Testing based on the overall sample of 131 companies provided evidence showing that correlations between disclosure and cost-of-capital are sensitive to sample heterogeneity, as Botosan (1997) explained in his groundbreaking study. The main contributions of this study relate to precautions researchers must take when selecting methods of calculating cost of capital; the possibility of using different disclosure indexes to test cost-of-capital and disclosure empirically in the Brazilian market; and evidence that the sample of 37 companies participating in the ABRASCA awards reduced their cost-of-capital through more transparent policies. Although obtained from a small sample, this result may encourage other Brazilian companies in their decision making and instigate further research on the theme. / O presente trabalho de pesquisa teve por objetivo principal estudar a associação existente entre disclosure e custo de capital próprio das empresas brasileiras. Para atingir o objetivo principal foram traçados três objetivos específicos: avaliar uma metodologia disponível para testar a associação entre disclosure e custo de capital, analisar quais modelos de custo de capital poderiam ser adotados para utilização no mercado brasileiro e examinar os efeitos da quantidade e da qualidade da informação apresentada pelas empresas brasileiras no relatório anual publicado para os acionistas. A metodologia estabelecida para testar a associação entre disclosure e custo de capital foi o Método dos Mínimos Quadrados Ordinários. Como variável dependente foi adotado o custo de capital e como variáveis explicativas foram analisados três índices de disclosure e 9 variáveis indicativas de tamanho, risco e variação nos resultados. Foram adotados três modelos para cálculo do custo de capital: o Modelo de Precificação de Ativos de Capital (CAPM), o de Dividendos Descontados (MDD) e o de Ohlson e Juettner. Os testes foram efetuados com duas amostras não probabilísticas com empresas com ações negociadas na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo. A primeira amostra contou com 131 empresas de diversos segmentos e a segunda com as empresas que apresentaram relatório para concorrer às premiações do 6º. Prêmio ABRASCA do ano de 2003. Os resultados desta pesquisa evidenciaram que o modelo escolhido para cálculo do custo de capital interfere nos resultados obtidos nos testes empíricos, e que a variável disclosure pode se apresentar significativa em um modelo e não significativa em outro. Esses resultados estão em concordância com os dados obtidos por Botosan (1997). Dois dos índices de disclosure, o IDISCABR, índice de pontuação da premiação ABRASCA, e o INNM, índice representativo das empresas que aderiram a níveis diferenciados de Governança Corporativa do Novo Mercado, mostraram-se significativos a 5%, evidenciando que as empresas da amostra ABRASCA se beneficiaram de custos menores pela adoção de níveis diferenciados de disclosure. Os testes com a amostra Geral de 131 empresas permitiram obter evidência de que os testes entre disclosure e custo de capital são sensíveis à heterogeneidade da amostra, conforme esclareceu Botosan (1997) em seu trabalho pioneiro. As principais contribuições deste estudo referem-se aos cuidados que o pesquisador deve observar para escolher o modelo para cálculo do custo de capital, a possibilidade de se estabelecerem diferentes índices de disclosure para testar empiricamente custo de capital e disclosure no mercado brasileiro, e a evidência de que uma amostra de 37 empresas participantes do prêmio ABRASCA obtiveram redução em seus custos de capital pela adoção de políticas mais transparentes. Este resultado, apesar de obtido para uma pequena amostra, serve de incentivo para a tomada de decisão de outras empresas brasileiras e para que novas pesquisas sejam elaboradas com relação ao tema.

The purpose of this study was to develop an environmental reporting framework for the Tanzanian industrial sector. To achieve the purpose, the study started by developing a disclosure index, which was used to measure the current extent of environmental reporting in Tanzania. There were two phases in the process of developing the environmental disclosure index (EDI) for the Tanzanian industrial sector. The first phase involved identifying and refining the items for disclosure from the literature. In particular the studies on environmental reporting/disclosure were reviewed and the items to be included in the initial disclosure index were identified. The second phase involved the development of the final disclosure index using the Delphi inquiry method. In the Delphi inquiry, knowledgeable experts in environmental issues were consulted and asked for their opinion on the items proposed, whether the item should be retained, removed or any addition of new item. Therefore, the role of the experts was, first to confirm and validate items to be included in the EDI, and second, to assess the importance of the disclosure of each item by allocating weight to every item. The extent of environmental reporting in Tanzania was measured by using the EDI developed. The annual and environmental reports from various organisations operating in Tanzania were requested and read to determine the current extent of environmental reporting. The results indicated that the information reported by organisations operating in Tanzania mostly came from the categories ‘Organisational context’ and ‘Management performance, policies and systems. The information from ‘environmental performance’ category was left unreported. After the current extent of environmental reporting has been explored, the environmental reporting framework (ERF) was developed. The framework intended to provide guidance on environmental reporting to organisations (from the industrial sector) of any size operating in the country. In particular the framework provided the guidance on four steps to be followed when preparing environmental reports and the content to be included in the reports. After the ERF was developed, it was tested to investigate its applicability using two case studies. The results indicated that the steps to be followed when preparing environmental reports were valid and implementable. / College of Accounting Sciences / D. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)

En se focalisant sur 38 grands groupes cotés au CAC 40, de 2007 à 2013, la question de l’affichage environnemental et de sa valorisation sur le marché est envisagée dans une étude exploratoire selon les axes suivants : Le premier consiste à identifier l’existence d’un effet sur les cours de bourse d’une diffusion publique d’éléments afférant à la stratégie environnementale, en faisant appel aux études d’événements. La publication du document de référence a ainsi retenu toute l’attention. Puis, il apparaît essentiel de caractériser cette information : L’objectif n’est pas d’évaluer la qualité de la politique adoptée, mais d’étudier et évaluer les comportements en la matière, en mobilisant une analyse de contenu pour un total de 228 documents de référence. Une méthodologie de scoring a été adoptée, afin d’établir un indice de diffusion d’informations environnementales, sur la base d’un référentiel reconnu internationalement et pertinent, le Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Enfin, une modélisation permet de tester la relation entre la réaction observée sur le marché financier et l’information environnementale. Sur la pratique de diffusion d’informations environnementales, les comportements des entreprises de l’échantillon se sont améliorés tant sur la nature des informations divulguées que sur les pratiques globales : Elles sont de plus en plus transparente sur la base des critères environnementaux définis par le GRI. A la publication du document de référence, des rentabilités anormales cumulées sont observées et significatives. Les résultats laissent apparaître que le pouvoir explicatif de la communication environnementale est au demeurant plus important que des variables financières, tel que la variation de l’effet de levier, bien qu’il soit affecté au cours du temps. / By focusing on 38 stock marketed companies from the CAC 40 from 2007 to 2013, to question on the link between environmental published information and market valorization is at stake. The response is organized trough 3 main objectives by performing an explorative analysis: First, one may identify an impact from the disclosure about environmental practices on the stock market thank to the event study methodology. Publication of the annual registration documents hold attention in order to appreciate public environmental communication: Thus, the issue is not to evaluate firms’ policies but to understand how do they behave concerning their communication, by performing a content analysis based on 228 registration documents. Then, one may use an innovative data sources through the Global reporting initiative (GRI) standardized items to explore and to score the published information concerning environmental practices, leading to build an disclosure index. Last, one may test the relationship between the disclosure practices and the impact of this disclosure on the stock market. Companies tend to be more and more transparent according to the GRI, as on the items itself than on their whole practices. When they circulate their registration documents, there are significant cumulated abnormal returns. As a result, one may observe that disclosure on environmental practices explains more the abnormal returns than financial datas, as the leverage variation, even if this effect tend to be less and less important with time.