This thesis examines the relationship between tax-loss selling (TLS), where investors with taxable gains sell stocks that have declined in value just before the fiscal year-end to generate offsetting tax losses, and managers?? incentives to influence stock prices, either through increased disclosure or by engaging in upwards earnings management. Firms whose stock prices represent greater potential tax losses in investors?? portfolios at year-end are predicted to increase their disclosure level in June to prevent further share price falls due to TLS, and have higher levels of accruals. Using the number of discretionary, market-sensitive news releases in the Signal G announcement database to measure disclosure frequency, this thesis finds that, for a sample of 14,713 firm-year observations drawn from all ASX firms for the years 1994 to 2007, stocks with larger negative returns have higher disclosure in June, after controlling for size, performance, risk and external financing dependence. This is particularly true of small mining and exploration companies that are more reliant on voluntary disclosure as a vehicle for lowering information asymmetry. This increased disclosure does not appear to contribute to the higher July returns earned by stocks that experienced significant TLS in June. Disclosure frequency is negatively associated with the magnitude of operating and total accruals, suggesting that earnings management is less likely for firms with higher disclosure. There is also evidence that smaller firms with poor stock price performance have higher levels of operating accruals and thus may be more likely to engage in earnings management.

This thesis examines the relationship between tax-loss selling (TLS), where investors with taxable gains sell stocks that have declined in value just before the fiscal year-end to generate offsetting tax losses, and managers?? incentives to influence stock prices, either through increased disclosure or by engaging in upwards earnings management. Firms whose stock prices represent greater potential tax losses in investors?? portfolios at year-end are predicted to increase their disclosure level in June to prevent further share price falls due to TLS, and have higher levels of accruals. Using the number of discretionary, market-sensitive news releases in the Signal G announcement database to measure disclosure frequency, this thesis finds that, for a sample of 14,713 firm-year observations drawn from all ASX firms for the years 1994 to 2007, stocks with larger negative returns have higher disclosure in June, after controlling for size, performance, risk and external financing dependence. This is particularly true of small mining and exploration companies that are more reliant on voluntary disclosure as a vehicle for lowering information asymmetry. This increased disclosure does not appear to contribute to the higher July returns earned by stocks that experienced significant TLS in June. Disclosure frequency is negatively associated with the magnitude of operating and total accruals, suggesting that earnings management is less likely for firms with higher disclosure. There is also evidence that smaller firms with poor stock price performance have higher levels of operating accruals and thus may be more likely to engage in earnings management.

Hållbarhetsredovisning är ett begrepp som är relativt nytt. Denna typ av rapportering används av företag för att presentera vilka åtgärder de utför när det kommer till såväl sociala och miljömässiga frågor som de ekonomiska. Arbete inom hållbar utveckling är något som efterfrågas alltmer av samhället och fler företag har börjat anamma detta sätt att dela information på. Problematiken som råder är dock att det finns indikationer till att organisationer ibland använder hållbarhetsrapportering som ett verktyg för att uppnå eller bevara legitimitet. Tidigare forskning menar att brist på standarder och ramverk leder till ett oreglerat gap mellan handlingar och kommunikation inom hållbarhetsrapportering. Vidare tyder annan forskning på att det legala systemet anpassar sig för långsamt för att kunna följa ständiga förändringar i samhällets förväntningar. Detta innebär att hållbarhetsarbete huvudsakligen presenteras med hjälp av frivillig redovisning, vilket innebär att företag kan välja vad de vill presentera och vad de vill undanhålla. Syftet med studien är att ifrågasätta huruvida hållbarhetsredovisning är redovisning för hållbarhet eller om det används som ett legitimeringsverktyg.Genom att utföra intervjuer med relevanta personer inom hållbarhetsarbete och komplettera dessa med offentlig dokumentation, kan jag uppfylla syftet med studien. Dessa empiriska resultat analyseras tillsammans med tidigare forskning samt relevanta teorier.Under studiens gång ifrågasätts många gånger om reglering av hållbarhetsredovisning i själva verket är det bästa tillvägagångssättet för att säkerställa att denna typ av redovisning används på ett korrekt sätt. Slutsatsen tyder på att det måste finnas ett genuint intresse från företagens sida för att åtgärder ska följas upp på ett framgångsrikt sätt. / Sustainability reporting is a relatively new concept. This way of reporting is used by companies to communicate actions they undertake regarding social and environmental issues as well as the financial ones. Performance concerning sustainability is a growing demand of the society, which has led to an increasing amount of companies embracing this way of sharing information. The current issue is due to remaining indications of organizations using sustainability reporting as an instrument to obtain or maintain legitimacy. Previous research points out that the lack of standards and frameworks creates an unregulated gap between actions and the communication of these. Furthermore, other research claims that the legal system isn’t able to adjust quickly enough to be able to follow the continuous changes in expectations of the society. Consequently, this leads to sustainability performance being mainly reported by the means of voluntary disclosure, which implicates that companies themselves may choose what to share and what to withhold. The purpose of this research is to question whether sustainability reporting is accounting for sustainability or rather being used as a tool of legitimacy.By performing interviews with relevant people concerning sustainable development within companies, and complement these with public documentation, I was able to fulfil the purpose of the research. These empirical results were analyzed together with previous research and theories of significance.During the course of the research, regulation of sustainability reporting was questioned of being the most appropriate way to make sure sustainability reporting is used in an adequate manner. The conclusion of this research states that there has to be a certain genuine interest coming from the companies, to be able to follow up actions in a successful way.This research is conducted in Swedish.

本研究係探討在自願性揭露的情況下，公司盈餘預測準確度會受那些因素的影響？對國內外相關文獻及我國股市資訊環境進行探討後，提出預測期間長短、公司規模大小、盈餘變異性、市場風險、行業別、上市期間長短、自有資本比、綜合槓桿效果、揭露次數多寡、公告媒體別、揭露後累積異常報酬、上市類別、高估低估、預測階段以及年度別等可能影響準確度之因素，利用迴歸分析，以橫斷面(cross-sectional design)之設計方法，來探討各自變數與因變數（盈餘預測準確度）間之關係。 　　依理論判斷所制定之選樣標準，本研究以117家上市公司對於民國78年度至83年度之盈餘預測資料，共941個觀察值為研究樣本。經嚴格理論建立與統計分析后，本研究得出以下的結論： 　　一、預測期間愈短、管理當局盈餘預測準確度愈高。 　　二、公司規模愈大，管理當局盈餘預測準確度愈高。 　　三、市場風險愈低，管理當局盈餘預準確度愈高。 　　四、行業別與預測準確度具有關係。 　　五、自有資本比愈高，管理當局盈餘預測準確度愈高。 　　六、揭露次數愈多與管理當局盈餘預測準確度具有關係。 　　七、媒體別與預測準確度具有關係。 　　八、上市第一類股，預測準確度較高。 　　九、預測階段與預測準確度具有關係。

This paper adopts and reviews discretionary disclosure and cheap talk models to analyze risk reporting incentives and their relation to regulation. Given its inherent discretion, risk reporting depends on disclosure incentives. To assess these incentives the analytical models consider risk reporting as an endogenous feature, thereby providing a benchmark to discuss regulatory attempts. Particularly, discretionary disclosure models refer to verified disclosure, e.g., on risk factors or risk management, whereas cheap talk models refer to unverified disclosure, like managerial forecasts on the impact of risk factors. This provides an analytically-based framework for discussion. Unlike prior literature focusing on disclosure cost, I argue that uncertainty of information endowment and issues of credible communication can explain restricted risk reporting observed empirically. Linking regulatory attempts to these restrictions implies that regulation may mitigate the incentives-driven restrictions to some extent, but can have adverse effects on risk reporting. I particularly discuss the link between effective risk monitoring and precision of risk reporting; the ex post assessment and usefulness of managerial forecasts on impacts of risk factors; the claimed decreasing cost of capital by mandatory risk reporting; and the threat of self-fulfilling prophecies. While the discussion has implications for both specific risk reporting requirements and empirical research, overall results suggests not to overestimate the informativeness of risk reporting even in a regulated environment.