En redovisning enligt IFRS ska ge en rättvisande bild för de finansiella rapporternas användare. För att uppnå den rättvisande bilden har IFRS olika värderingsmetoder, en av dessa är värdering till verkligt värde. Den standarden som hanterar verkligt värde är IFRS 13. Inom verkligt värde finns en värderingshierarki, som innehar tre nivåer. Vid Nivå 3 minskar tillförlitligheten mer än de andra nivåerna. Detta är på grund av möjligheten till att bolaget kan använda sig av subjektiva bedömningar. En standard inom IFRS som tillåter en värdering till verkligt värde är IAS 41. Denna standard hanterar redovisningen av biologiska tillgångar (till exempel skog). Två länder som innehar mycket skogsmark är Sverige och Kanada. Skog har en lång produktionscykel vilket leder till att det är en komplex tillgång att värdera och därför värderas den oftast till Nivå 3. Resultatmanipulering kan uppstå då det sker subjektiva bedömning, vilket kan ge en missledande bild av företagets finansiella ställning. Den problematik med resultatmanipulering och biologiska tillgångar har varit grunden för studiens forskningsfrågor och syfte. Studiens syfte är att förklara hur IAS 41 påverkar tillförlitligheten vid värdering till verkligt värde i de finansiella rapporterna. Det ska även studeras skillnader i resultatmanipuleringens befintlighet inom företag verksamma inom skogsbranschen i Sverige och Kanada. Med hjälp av att analysera olika skogsbolags årsredovisningar gav studien svar på om resultatmanipulering förekommer vid tillämpning av IAS 41 och om skillnader mellan skogsbolag i graden resultatmanipulering belägna i olika länder. I denna studie består datainsamling huvudsakligen av numeriska data ifrån årsredovisningar och därför har en kvantitativ metod valts. Ansatsen är deduktiv och studien bygger på hypoteser för att kunna besvara forskningsfrågorna. För att verifiera eller falsifiera hypoteserna användes olika T-test, regressionsanalyser och även The Modified Jones Model som visar resultatmanipuleringens befintlighet genom att beräkna de godtyckliga periodiseringarna. Populationen i studien består av skogsbolag som tillämpar IFRS. Urvalet kommer vara totalt 14 skogsbolag belägna både Sverige och Kanada. Hälften av de valda skogsbolagen använder sig av IAS 41 och äger biologiska tillgångar. Från urvalet kommer varje företags årsredovisningar under räkenskapsåren 2012 till 2020 att undersökas. Det resultat som undersökningen gett är att skogsbolag tenderar att värdera biologiska tillgångar till Nivå 3. Undersökningen visar också att det förekommer resultatmanipulering i skogsbolag som värderar enligt IAS 41, dock i mindre grad. Regressionsanalysen i undersökningen upplyser att det inte finns ett samband mellan godtyckliga periodiseringar och att redovisa enligt IAS 41. Vidare fanns inga skillnader mellan Sverige och Kanada i graden av resultatmanipulering. Slutsatsen som framgår är att det inte förekommer resultatmanipulering i någon större utsträckning i kanadensiska och svenska skogsbolag. / Accounting in accordance with IFRS must give a true and fair view to the users of the financial statements. To achieve the true and fair view, IFRS has different measurement methods, one of which is fair value. The standard that provides the guidance on fair value measurement is IFRS 13. Within fair value, there is a hierarchy, which has three levels. At the Level 3, the reliability decreases more than the other levels. This is due to the possibility that the company can use subjective assessments. An IFRS standard that allows a fair value measurement is IAS 41. This standard deals with the recognition of biological assets (for example, forests). Two countries that hold a lot of forestland are Sweden and Canada. Forests have a long production cycle andis a complex asset to value, therefore it is most often valued at Level 3. Earnings management can occur when there is a subjective assessment, which can mislead the true and fair view of the company's financial position. The problem of earnings management and biological assets has been the basis for the study's research questions and purpose. The purpose of this study is to explain how IAS 41 affects the reliability of fair value measurement in the financial statements. Differences in the existence of earnings management within companies operating in the forest industry in Sweden and Canada will also be studied. Annual reports of the forest companies are use in this study to provide the answers to whether earnings management occurs, in the application of IAS 41 and if there are any differences between forest companies in the degree of earnings management located in different countries. In this study, data collection consists mainly of numerical data from annual reports and therefore a quantitative method has been chosen. The approach is deductive and this study is based on hypotheses to be able to answer the research questions. To verify or falsify the hypotheses, various T-tests, regression analyzes and The Modified Jones Model were used to show the existence of the earnings management by calculating the discretionary accruals. The population in this study consists of forest companies that applies IFRS. The selection will be a total of 14 forest companies located in both Sweden and Canada. Half of the selected forest companies use IAS 41 and own biological assets. From the sample, each company's annual reports during the financial years 2012 to 2020 will be examined. The result given by the survey is that forest companies tend to value biological assets at Level 3. The survey also shows that there is earnings management in forest companies that value in accordance with IAS 41, but at a lower extent. The regression analysis in the survey states that there is no connection between discretionary accruals and reporting in accordance with IAS 41. Furthermore, in this study there were no differences between Sweden and Canada in the degree of earnings management. The conclusion that emerges is that there is no manipulation of earnings to a large extent in Canadian and Swedish forest companies. This paper is written in swedish.

Titel: Avsatt för kommuner - En kvantitativ studie om hur kommuner förhåller sig till redovisningsval kopplat till avsättningar Författare: Olof Johansson och Elias Viklund Handledare: Torbjörn Tagesson  Bakgrund: Kommunal redovisning regleras av kommunal redovisningslag och rekommendationer från Rådet för kommunal redovisning. Likt privat sektor upprättas den finansiella redovisningen baserat på bokföringsmässiga grunder vilket skapar ett tolkningsutrymme för uppskattningar och bedömningar. Detta utrymme har visat sig problematiskt i politiska organisationer och kan användas för att påverka eller ändra det finansiella resultatet. Genom att undvika för stora överskott alternativt underskott kan politiker frångå kritik för överbeskattning eller ineffektiv resursanvändning. Det har tidigare observerats att kommuner genom uppskattningar och bedömningar kopplande till avsättningar frångått god redovisningssed för att uppnå politiska egenintressen. Till skillnad från privat sektor saknar kommunal redovisning straffrättslig förankring, vilket ökar incitamentet för resultatstyrning. En oriktig och missvisande bild av kommunernas årsredovisningar försvårar inte bara nationell jämförbarhet, det hindrar också intressenters möjlighet till granskning och ansvarsutkrävande.  Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara förekomsten av övriga avsättningar i kommunernas årsredovisning samt i vilken omfattning rapporteringen följer gällande upplysningskrav och vilka faktorer som kan förklara variationen av kommunernas hantering av upplysningskraven.  Metod: Studien tar en deduktiv ansats med ett eklektiskt tillvägagångsätt där både institutionell teori samt positiv redovisningsteori används för att förklara det empiriska fenomenet. Det är en kvantitativ studie med en tvärsnittsdesign som ämnar förklara det observerade fenomenet vid en specifik tidpunkt. Den empiri som används i studien bygger på sekundärdata hämtad från kommunernas årsredovisningar samt Statistiska centralbyrån.  Resultat: Studien fann att faktorerna storlek, skattesats och regionstillhörighet har en förklarande förmåga för upprättandet av avsättningar. Vidare kunde kommunernas efterlevnad av upplysningskrav förklaras av faktorerna storlek, bidragsintäkter, skattebas, justerad soliditet samt regionstillhörighet. Resultatet föreslår att kommuner fortfarande bryter mot god redovisningssed samt att redovisningsval influeras av institutionella faktorer.  Kunskapsbidrag: Studien bidrar till ökad kunskap om vilka faktorer som påverkar förekomsten av avsättningar samt vad som påverkar variationen av efterlevnad av upplysningskrav inom svensk kommunal sektor. / Title: Set aside for municipalities Authors: Olof Johansson and Elias Viklund Supervisor: Torbjörn Tagesson  Background: Swedish municipal accounting is regulated by the Municipal Accounting Act with additional regulation from Rådet för kommunal redovisning (Council for Municipal Accounting). As in the private sector, municipal financial reporting is prepared on accrual-based principles, which require certain estimates and judgments to be made. This discretion has proven problematic in public organizations and can be used to manipulate financial information. By avoiding reporting large surpluses or deficits, politicians can deflect criticism of over-taxation or inefficient use of resources. In the Swedish context, municipalities have shown to deviate from generally accepted accounting principles using discretion related to reported provisions, to gain political benefits. Incentives to engage in earning management are further increased by the fact that there is no connection to the penal code. Misleading financial statements skew national comparability and interfere with stakeholder’s ability to scrutinize and demand accountability.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain the occurrence of provisions in municipalities’ annual reports and to what extent reporting complies with disclosure requirements. The study also tries to identify why there are differences between municipal disclosure compliance.  Method: The study is constructed based on a deductive approach using an eclectic approach with the established theories Institutional theory and Positive accounting theory to explain the empirical phenomenon. It is a quantitative study with a cross-sectional design aiming to explain the observed phenomenon during a specific point in time. Secondary data is collected from the municipality’s website as well as the Swedish Central Statistics Office.  Conclusion: The study concludes that the municipality’s size, tax rate and regional collaboration influence the occurrence of provisions. It also finds that disclosure compliance can be explained by factors relating to size, government grants, tax base, adjusted solidity, and regional collaboration. The result suggests that municipalities are deviating from generally accepted accounting practice and that accounting choice is influenced by institutional factors.  Contribution: The study contributes to increased knowledge about the factors that influence the occurrence of reported provisions, as well as factors that can help explain variations in disclosure compliance within the Swedish municipal sector.

本研究以實徵性會計理論為基礎，測試在現金增資此一會計數字被使用來評估公司績效的事件中，上市公司是否有動機美化申請增資所使用的會計報表，亦即採用增加盈餘的裁量性應計項目，或是控制營業外交易以增加盈餘的方式進行盈餘的操縱以順利通過證管會的審查。同時，本研究亦檢定上市公司是否在增資結束後，由於應計項目的自動迴轉，而使其裁量性應計項目的變動為負。同時本研究亦透過三個假說來檢定現金增資前的操縱行為受某些公司特徵或增資時的經濟狀況等因素之影響是否顯著。 　　本研究的分析過程分成三大部份：第一部分的檢驗在了解現金增資公司的營業收入變動狀況，以Wilcoxon signed rank統計檢定法確定樣本公司的營業收入是否有顯著的變動；第二部分為整體性的探討上市公司增資之前，是否採用增加盈餘之裁量性應計項目和營業外收益淨額，同時探討增資後上述會計項目變數變化的情形，本研究採用Wilcoxon signed rank檢定法，檢定增資前後裁量性應計項目和營業外收益變動的差異；第三部分乃將樣本分為二組，以Wilcoxon rank sum檢定法，分別檢定高、低內部人持股比率，股市景氣榮枯期增資，以及大、小規模等二組樣本公司在增資前，其盈餘操縱行為是否有顯著差異？ 　　本研究所得到的結論如下： 　　1.樣本公司在增資前後期間營業收入淨額均顯著地持續增加。 　　2.樣本公司在增資前一年的確採取增加盈餘的裁量性應計項目和營業外收益淨額，且增資後一年，裁量性應計項目因迴轉而有負向的變動，但此盈餘操縱行為未達統計顯著性。 　　3.樣本公司在增資當年裁量性應計項目和營業外收益淨額均呈顯著的正向變動，可能的解釋是：(1)來自樣本公司在年初或年中季報的操縱行為；(2)公司在增資後有較高的「政治敏感性」。進一步測試發現：公司的確在增資前一季、增資完成當季和後一季，均有盈餘操縱的行為。 　　4.在股市景氣繁榮期增資的樣本公司，的確較顯著地採用了提高盈餘的裁量性應計項目和營業外收益淨額。而代理成本較高和規模較小的公司，分別較代理成本低和規模大的公司，傾向在增資前進行盈餘管理行為，但此行為並未達統計顯著性。

本研究主要採用Francis et al.（2005）所提出之應計品質衡量模型作為應計品質的衡量指標，以2003-2007國內上市櫃公司為研究對象，探討應計品質與公司現金持有間之關聯性。本研究另將應計品質拆為裁量性應計品質與非裁量性應計品質，分別探討其對公司現金持有之影響。 　　本研究實證結果顯示，應計品質與公司現金持有率呈顯著負相關。亦即公司應計品質越高，越能有效降低公司及投資者之間的資訊不對稱，進而使公司籌資成本降低，而可持有較少的現金。此外，裁量性應計品質、非裁量性應計品質與公司現金持有率之間均呈顯著負相關，且非裁量性應計品質對公司現金持有率之影響大於裁量性應計品質。 　　根據上述結果，本研究建議管理階層應重視公司之應計品質，並利用裁量性應計項目來提升盈餘數字的品質，以作為公司績效的適當指標。亦即管理階層應使盈餘數字更能可靠、更即時的反映公司的經營績效，並避免以投機目的使用裁量性應計項目。換言之，公司可藉由應計品質之提升，降低資訊不對稱的程度，進而改善公司的現金管理、減少資源閒置及增進投資的效果。 / This study mainly uses the accruals quality measurement model proposed by Francis et al. (2005) to empirically examine the effect of accruals quality on cash holdings of the sampled listed companies at the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) and the Gre Tai Securities Market (GTSM) from 2003 to 2007. This study also distinguishes between accruals quality driven by economic fundamentals (Innate AQ) versus management choices (discretionary AQ) and assesses their individual effects on corporate cash holdings. The empirical results show that accruals quality is negatively associated with cash holdings. That is, the firms with good accruals quality may reduce the negative effect of information asymmetry and adverse selection and, therefore, reduce their level of cash holdings as a result of lower cost of raising capital. In addition, discretionary accruals quality and innate accruals quality are significantly negatively related to cash holdings, and, on average, the innate component of accruals quality has a significantly larger effect on cash holdings than the discretionary component of accruals quality. Our findings suggest that management should be concerned about accruals quality because a higher accruals quality may help firms to improve their cash management, reduce unproductive cash levels, and increase their investment effectiveness.

財務會計準則公報第39 號「股份基礎給付之會計處理準則」於2008 年起正 式實施，強制規定公司所發放之員工分紅必須認列為費用而非視為盈餘之分配，如此一來，公司管理階層是否會因此考量其盈餘報導之美觀性，導致減少發放員工分紅，以及員工分紅費用化後，是否仍會造成公司管理階層採行盈餘管理。此外，本研究以員工分紅費用化作為一重大事件，深入研究經理人對其分紅之行為模式是否會因而受到改變並趨向利益掠奪假說，並探討經理人持股與獎酬分紅兩者間之關係是否因公司治理程度不同以及發放對象為經理人與一般員工時是否有所不同。 實證結果發現，不論有無排除費用化前一年之影響，員工分紅費用化後公司 確實會考量其盈餘之美觀性而傾向減少發放員工紅利，另雖然過去研究指出，於費用化前，資本市場早已認知員工紅利為公司費用，但公司管理階層仍會考慮投資者間仍存在的功能固著現象，針對員工分紅費用化此一事件進行盈餘管理；然而，若以未預期盈餘將樣本公司加以劃分，則在未預期負盈餘之樣本公司中，無法證實其會利用負向之裁決性應計項目進行洗大澡；最後，在分紅費用化之後，經理人持股比例與分紅金額呈正比，顯示經理人在代理問題上從利益收斂趨向利益掠奪公司，並且在公司治理較差的公司中尤為明顯；此外，經理人會同時增加對於經理人與一般員工之分紅金額。 / Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No.39 has beening implemented since year 2008, and it is a mandatory requirement for the company to recognized employee bonus as an expense rather than as a surplus of assignment. Therefore, the management might consider company’s earnings performance and result in paying less employee bonus, as well as adopt the earnings management. In addition, this paper apply the employee bonus expense as a major event to study whether the patterns of managers’ behavior on their dividends will be affected and correspond to entrenchment hypothesis. Also, this paper investigates the relationship between manerger’s ownership and bouns under the different levels of corporate governance as well as different payment objectives (e.g. managers and staff). The empirical results indicate that whether excluding the effect of the previous non-expnsing year or not, the company did consider its earnings performance and tend to pay less employee bonus after expensing employee bonus. Although other studies point out the capital market has already seen employee bonus as an expense, the company will manage earnings due to functional fixation hypothesis. However, it can’t be verified that taking big bath would exist by using negative discretionary accruals. Finally, after expensing employee bonus, managers’ ownership is directly proportional to the amount of bonus and the companies with poor corporate governance is particularly significant. In addition, managers will also increase their own and staff’s dividend amount as well and it implies the angency problem towards entrenchment hypothesis from convergence of interest hypothesis.

本研究係以裁量性應計數字及其組成成分衡量盈餘管理，以審計人員產業別市場佔有率與產業別客戶集中度之綜合衡量捕捉審計品質，探討不同樣本公司之盈餘管理特性，以及審計品質對不同盈餘管理特性之影響。管理者對應計項目的認列通常有某種裁量權，此裁量權可用以顯露私有資訊而增進盈餘的價值攸關性，或可投機性地管理盈餘而減低盈餘為公司績效衡量的可靠性。所以探究盈餘管理行為是增加財務報告資訊性(information)或雜訊(noise)即非常重要。研究內容依盈餘管理特性區分為投機性盈餘管理與訊息發放性盈餘管理二大部分。每一研究內容則是先辨認盈餘管理本質，其次探討審計品質對盈餘管理之影響。在研究設計上，為避免實證代理變數之衡量誤差重大影響結果，乃採用實驗組公司與控制組配對公司相比較，以凸顯出前者之盈餘管理型態。 　　研究結果顯示，門檻公司從事盈餘管理以達前期盈餘門檻，且此盈餘管理不具未來現金流量持續性之涵義，係符合「隱藏當期不利績效、遞延本期不尋常盈餘至未來年度」以減低會計盈餘數字波動性之特性。就自願性盈餘預測此一資訊揭露工具而言，在盈餘預測偏屬樂觀之傾向下，仍有管理者自願揭露壞消息預期，即可知管理者之誠意，不失為一可資信賴之訊號。但自願預測盈餘增加，則不必然具有高公信力。甚至在管理者降低盈餘差距之動機下，易引起管理者操縱盈餘。此為財務報表使用者所需注意。就持股變動此一資訊揭露工具而言，在我國家族企業居多之情形下，增加持股並未代表任何特定之涵義。反而是減少持股所透露之訊息，值得投資人注意，尤須慎防其盈餘操縱行為。 　　面對增加所得之裁量性應計數字，審計品質有效阻止投機性盈餘管理。面對顯露私有資訊之盈餘管理，審計品質能夠協助管理者選擇最能彰顯未來現金流量預期之會計方法，以增強裁量性應計數字與未來現金流量變動之關聯性。在高審計品質所賦予之資訊公信力下，盈餘資訊在投資人之決策過程中有一定之重要性，故投資人發現裁量性應計數字增加（減低）盈餘價值攸關性，因而增加（減低）盈餘評價係數。然而對低審計品質所查核的財務報表，較低的資訊公信力，使盈餘未在投資人評價過程中扮演重要角色，因而盈餘管理特性亦不受投資人重視。 / This research examined characteristics of earnings management and effects of audit quality therein. Specifically, the magnitude of earnings management was proxied by the discretionary accruals, which are estimated using a cross-sectional version of the Jones model. Different from prior research, the audit quality was captured by a combined measure of the auditor's market share and client concentration. The market share measured the auditor's competence (industry specialty) and the client concentration measured the auditor's independence. Managers usually exercised discretion to recognize accruals. They could either signal private information to enhance earnings' value relevance, or opportunistically manage earnings to reduce the reliability of earnings as the performance measure of the firm. As a result, it was important to examine earnings management and to identify whether it would increase the informativeness or noise of financial reports. This study was organized according to the characteristics of earnings management: opportunistic earnings management and signaling earnings management. For both parts, the nature of earnings management was identified first, and then the effects of audit quality therein examined. To reduce the impact of measurement errors of proxy variables, the treatment group and controlled group were compared and contrasted to make earnings management pattern of the treatment group more evident. 　　The results showed that threshold firms managed earnings to sustain last year's earnings level. Discretionary accruals of the threshold firms were not significantly associated with future cash flow changes. Those discretionary accruals were used to hide the current unfavorable performance, or to defer current unusual earnings to the future, so that managers could reduce the volatility of accounting earnings. As a means of information disclosure, voluntary earnings forecasts tended to be optimistic, but we still could observe some voluntary forecasts which decreased earnings. In those situations, we might conclude that managers tried to convey credible signals. However, it was not necessarily credible in the case of voluntary forecasting which increased earnings. Managers would manipulate earnings to reduce the difference between forecasted earnings and reported earnings. In respect of the information signal of changes in directors' share holding percentages, it signaled nothing when directors increased holding percentages because most companies were family businesses in Taiwan. Nonetheless, investors should look out the possibility of earnings manipulation when directors decreased their holding percentages. 　　Audit quality could effectively deter opportunistic earnings management but not the income-decreasing discretionary accruals. Based on information signaling perspective of earnings management, auditors with higher audit quality tended to assist managers to choose accounting methods that might signal cash flow expectations. Stronger associations between discretionary accruals and future cash flows were observed for firms audited by higher quality auditors. Because higher audit quality might increase information credibility, earnings would play a more important role in the decision process of investors. When discretionary accruals increased (decreased) earnings' value relevance, earnings association coefficients would be increased (decreased). However, for the financial reports audited by lower quality auditors, earnings did not play an important role in the valuation process because of lower information credibility. Therefore, empirical results showed that investors of firms audited by lower quality auditors did not make decisions according to different characteristics of earnings management.

本研究分成兩部分，研究對象為中國大陸之上市公司，第一部分以2004至2009年之財務資料，探討2008年中國大陸企業所得稅法之實施對中國大陸上市公司平均有效稅率之影響；第二部分以1998至2009年之財務資料，探討中國大陸上市公司是否為了因應企業所得稅法實施對有效稅率的影響，而從事租稅誘因盈餘管理之行為。 第一部分之實證結果發現，中國大陸上市公司之平均有效稅率在2008年企業所得稅法實施後有顯著的下降，表示中國大陸上市公司之有效稅率隨著名目稅率降低而下降。外資持股比例超過20%之上市公司（定義為外資企業），其2008年後之有效稅率上升，且內外資企業之其平均有效稅率之差異有縮小之趨勢。屬於高科技產業之上市公司在2008年企業所得稅法實施後，其有效稅率並未下降；但與除了農林牧漁業外之其他產業相比，高科技產業之上市公司其有效稅率較低。第二部分之實證結果發現，在2008年有效稅率下降之上市公司，其於2008年後的裁決性應計項目較大，有將盈餘遞延認列之傾向。 / This study consists of two research issues. The first part uses the financial statement and capital structure data of China listed companies from 2004 to 2009, to investigate the effects of the implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Enterprise Income Tax in 2008(hereafter 2008 Income Tax Law). And the second part which uses the financial and capital structure data of China listed companies from 1998 to 2009 investigates if China listed companies take the action of earnings management in response to the implementation of the 2008 Income Tax Law. The empirical findings of the first part show that the average ETRs of China listed companies declined after the implementation of the 2008 Income Tax Law. The listed companies whose proportion of foreign ownership is above 20% (defined as foreign enterprises) increased ETRs after 2008 and the differences in ETRs between domestic enterprises and foreign enterprises are reduced gradually. Further, the average ETRs of China listed companies of information technology industry do not appear to be decreased after the implementation of the 2008 Income Tax Law. However, besides the agriculture, forestry, herding, fishery industries, listed companies of information technology industries remain to have lower average ETRs after implementation of the 2008 Income Tax Law. The empirical findings of the second part show that China listed companies whose average ETRs decreased in 2008 appeared to have greater discretionary accruals after 2008, suggesting those companies shifting earnings to 2008.

非審計服務究竟是否會影響會計師獨立性，長久以來即為各界關注焦點。本研究第一部分將驗證非審計服務對會計師獨立性的影響。此外，有別於美國要求全面揭露審計、非審計公費資訊，我國規定公開發行公司若符合一定門檻應揭露支付給會計師的各項公費資訊，本研究第二部份將探討我國採門檻制的公費揭露政策下，刻意隱藏公費資訊的公司，其會計師的獨立性是否會不同於無需揭露公司。最後一部份則為市場反應測試，探討市場是否能對公費資訊進行判斷，判斷公司刻意隱藏的情形並給予負面的評價。 實證果發現非審計服務的提供對會計師獨立性產生負面影響，而在我國採門檻制公費揭露政策下，刻意隱藏公費資訊公司進行盈餘管理的可能性越大，若我國之公費揭露政策若能改為全面性揭露將對會計師獨立產生正面影響。此外，市場反應部份結果顯示投資人並未考慮公費資訊的內涵。 關鍵詞：非審計服務、門檻制公費揭露、會計師獨立性、裁量性應計 / Whether or not the purchase of non audit services (NAS) impairs audit independence is the focus of a growing body of accounting research in the U.S. Using the data of Taiwanese list firms, this paper examines whether the association holds in environment other than that of the United States. In addition, compared to that in the U.S., Taiwanese Securities and Futures Bureau requires firm to disclose information on the audit and nonaudit fees under some circumstances. The second objective of this paper, therefore, is to explore whether some firms meeting the disclosure threshold have an incentive to avoid the disclosure requirement by concealing audit fee from external investors and regulators, and whether there is difference in the independence between firms which should have met the disclosure threshold otherwise and firms disclosing nonaudit fees. Finally, I investigate whether premium given by market participants varies among these two groups. We find that the purchase of NAS impairs audit independence, consistent with prior studies. We also document that firms which should have met the disclosure threshold otherwise are more likely to conduct earnings management relative to other firms, as predicted. Finally, our empirical results show that market participants are not able to distinguish these two groups. Key words: non-audit services, disclosure threshold, audit independence, discretionary accruals

Nuvarande redovisningsregler och principer under IFRS är till viss del öppna för subjektiva bedömningar om hur kostnader och intäkter ska redovisas. Denna subjektivitet går stundom under benämningen resultatmanipulering och innebär då att företagets resultat antingen justeras i positiv eller negativ riktning beroende på bakomliggande incitament. De subjektiva valen kan delas in i operationella åtgärder eller diskretionära periodiseringar, beroende på om de påverkar kassaflödet eller ej. Denna studie fokuserar på hur redovisningsreglerna kan användas för att uppnå resultatmanipulering och inriktas därför på de diskretionära periodiseringarna. Forskning har påvisat att möjligheten till resultatmanipulering är särskilt påtaglig i samband med att företag byter vd. Det baseras på teorierna om horisontproblemet och stålbad, att vd:n i varje given situation ämnar uppnå maximal personlig vinning. Då tidigare studier sällan undersökt den svenska marknaden avser vi uppnå kontribution om hur teorierna om resultatmanipulering är applicerbara under svenska regelverk och normer, från dess att IFRS infördes till dags dato. Via syftet att undersöka sambandet mellan ett byte av vd och resultatmanipulering har vi för avsikt att hjälpa investerare till att bättre förstå marknaden och till förbättrade investeringsbeslut. Via kvantitativ analys av årsredovisningar har vi med hjälp av den modifierade Jonesmodellen tagit fram ett mått på företags diskretionära periodiseringar. Måttet har likställts med resultatmanipulering och ställts i relation till företags vd-byten. Kopplat till horisontproblemet har nivån på resultatmanipulering jämförts mot vd-byte som sker efterföljande räkenskapsår. Teorin om stålbad har i sin tur testats genom att undersöka om resultatmanipulering nyttjas under en vd:s första verksamma år, alternativt i något av de efterföljande två räkenskapsåren. Resultaten påvisade att den svenska marknaden skiljer sig mot både bakomliggande teori och tidigare forskning. Förekomsten av horisontproblemet eller stålbad kunde inte bevisas, däremot fann studien att resultatet skrivs upp via resultatmanipulering i de två efterföljande åren efter att ett byte av vd skett. Anmärkningsvärt bevisades även att resultatminskande åtgärder utförs året innan ett rutinmässigt vd-byte inträffar. Sett till orsakssambanden bevisades därutöver att sannolikheten för att ett vd-byte kom att inträffa ökade vid användning av negativ resultatmanipulering samt när företagets lönsamhet var lägre än marknadsgenomsnittet. Studien belyser att kausalitetsproblem föreligger mellan resultatmanipulering, vd-byte och företagets lönsamhet. De exakta orsakssambanden kan studien inte förmå förklara utan vi påvisar att ytterligare forskning behöver genomföras för att klargöra det sanna orsaksförhållandet. Avslutningsvis renderar studien teoretiskt bidrag då den påvisar att teorierna om horisontproblemet och stålbad i samband med vd-byte inte stämmer in på den svenska marknaden.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:31:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marta Cristina Pelucio Grecco.pdf: 992557 bytes, checksum: 539419ae7d82230dc40ffe5259361b13 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this study was to evaluate whether changes in accounting practices brought reduction in earnings management of listed Brazilian non-financial companies, resulting in improvement of quality in accounting information. A sample of non-financial Brazilian companies (361 firms) was used. Data were collected at the website of the CVM or at the website of the companies, when necessary. To measure earnings management through discretionary accruals Jones Model and KS Model were applied, including the internationally used variations of these models and the use of polynomial equations. A model developed in this study was used to observe the effect of IFRS on earnings management of firms in periods Full- IFRS and Hybrid, and the restrictive effects of Big Four audit, corporate governance and regulatory environment. The results of earnings management were considered through discretionary accruals obtained by residues of the models that had better information as statistical results: Model Jones polynomial; Modified Jones Model by Kothari, Leone and Wasley (2005) original polynomial and omitting accounts receivable; Modified Jones Model by Teoh, Welch and Wong (1998) with the omission of the polynomial variation of accounts receivable and inclusion of ROA; and Model KS polynomial. Evidence was found that convergence to IFRS had a restrictive effect on earnings management in Brazil after the complete implementation of IFRS. Among the factors constraining earnings management studied by Big Four audit, corporate governance and regulatory environment, it was noted that the most effective is the regulatory environment. Entities, whose industry is regulated by a regulatory agency in addition to the CVM, have lower levels of earnings management than the others. It was also noted that the larger the company the lower is the level of earnings management. It is noteworthy that the process of convergence to IFRS in Brazil is recent, this way, this work was limited to short coverage periods of these standards. Given this limitation, it is suggested that more research would be conducted to examine earnings management in IFRS in Brazil in later periods, to validate the results obtained by this work, maintaining the reduced use of discretionary appropriations in light of IFRS in Brazil. / O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi avaliar se as mudanças nas práticas contábeis trouxeram redução no gerenciamento de resultados das empresas abertas brasileiras não financeiras, ocasionando uma melhoria na qualidade da informação contábil. Foi utilizada uma amostra composta por companhias abertas brasileiras não financeiras (361 empresas). Os dados foram coletados no sítio da CVM ou no sítio das próprias empresas, quando necessário. Para mensurar o gerenciamento de resultados por meio de apropriações discricionárias foram aplicados os Modelos Jones e KS, incluindo as variações internacionalmente utilizadas destes modelos e com uso de equações polinomiais. Foi utilizada uma modelagem desenvolvida neste trabalho para observar o efeito das IFRS no gerenciamento de resultados das empresas, nos períodos Full-IFRS e Híbrido, e dos efeitos restritivos de auditoria por Big Four, governança corporativa e ambiente regulatório. Foram considerados como apropriações discricionárias, os resíduos dos modelos de gerenciamento de resultados que apresentaram melhores informações conforme resultados estatísticos: Modelo Jones polinomial; Modelo Jones Modificado por Kothari, Leone e Wasley (2005) polinomial original e com omissão de contas a receber; Modelo Jones Modificado por Teoh, Welch e Wong (1998) polinomial com omissão da variação de contas a receber e com inclusão do ROA; e Modelo KS polinomial. Foram encontradas evidências de que a convergência às IFRS teve efeito restritivo no gerenciamento de resultados no Brasil após a implantação completa das IFRS. Entre os fatores restritivos ao gerenciamento de resultados estudados, auditoria por Big Four, governança corporativa e ambiente regulatório, notou-se que o mais efetivo é o ambiente regulatório. As entidades cujo setor é regulado por uma agência regulatória além da CVM, apresentam menores níveis de gerenciamento de resultados que as demais. Notou-se também que quanto maior a empresa menor o nível de gerenciamento de resultados. Ressalta-se que o processo de convergência às IFRS no Brasil ainda é recente, desta forma, este trabalho foi limitado ao curto período de vigência destas normas. Considerando-se esta limitação, sugere-se que sejam efetuadas mais pesquisas para analisar o gerenciamento de resultados na Era IFRS no Brasil em períodos posteriores, para validação dos resultados obtidos por este trabalho, com manutenção da redução do uso de apropriações discricionárias à luz das IFRS no Brasil.