Mini study project (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This mini study project aims to investigate the prediction value ofpricelearnings (pIE) ratios. The ability of investors to predict earnings growth is tested by examining the relationship between PIE ratios and excess earnings growth. The study further also investigates the relationship between PIE ratios and two other variables: share returns and dividend yields. The study design was based on that of two other studies: Fuller, Huberts and Levinson (1993) and Hamman, Jordaan and Smit (1995). These studies specifically tested the random walk theory of earnings. In this study all the companies were allocated to one of four PIE portfolios according to the magnitude of their PIE ratio. The relationship between PIE ratios and the dependent variables (earnings growth, share returns and dividend yields) was then analysed by comparing the medians of the dependent variables of the different quartiles (pIE portfolios). The investigation into the relation between PIE ratios and excess earnings growth indicated that companies with high PIE ratios tend to have higher excess earnings growth. The relationship, however, seemed to be more pronounced in the one year results than in the two and four year results. The share returns seemed to be randomly distributed and it was more difficult to identify the correlation with PIE ratios. For a two and four year period however, the lowest PIE quartile delivered the highest returns and the highest PIE quartile performed very poorly. Lastly it was found that companies with high PIE ratios had lower dividend yields and companies with lower PIE ratios had higher dividend yields. Even though some departures from randomness were observed when comparing the PIE quartiles, the variability of the dependant variables at individual stock level was high and indicated random distribution. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ministudieprojek het ten doelom die voorspellingvermoë van prys/verdienste (PN) verhoudings te ondersoek. Die vermoë van beleggers om winsgroei te voorspel word getoets deur die verwantskap tussen PN-verhoudings en surplus winsgroei te ondersoek. Verder ondersoek die studie ook die verwantskap tussen PN-verhoudings en twee verdere veranderlikes: aandeelopbrengste en dividendopbrengste. Die ontwerp van die studie is gebaseer op dié van twee ander studies: Fuller, Huberts en Levinson (1993) en Hamman, Jordaan en Smit (1995). Die twee studies het spesifiek die ewekansige verspreiding van winste ondersoek. Alle maatskappye in hierdie studie is geallokeer aan een van vier PN-protefeuljes volgens die vlak van hulle PNverhouding. Die verwantskap tussen PN-verhoudings en die afhanklike veranderlikes (winsgroei, aandeelopbrengste en dividendopbrengste) is dan ondersoek deur die mediane van die afhanklike veranderlikes van die verskillende PN-kwartiele (portefeuljes) te vergelyk. Die analise van die surplus winsgroei het aangedui dat maatskappye met hoë PNverhoudings geneig is om beter surplus winsgroei te toon. Die verwantskap blyk egter om duideliker te wees vir 'n eenjaar-periode as vir 'n tydperk van twee of vier jaar. Die aandeelopbrengste het 'n ewekansige verspreiding getoon en dit was moeilik om 'n verwantskap met die PN-verhoudings te identifiseer. Vir 'n twee en vier jaar periode het die laagste PN-kwartiel die hoogste aandeelopbrengs gelewer en die hoogste PNkwartiel het baie sleg presteer. Laastens is daar gevind dat maatskappye met hoë PN-verhoudings laer dividendopbrengste gelewer het en maatskappye met lae PN-verhoudings hoë dividendopbrengste. Alhoewel afwykings van ewekansigheid geïdentifiseer is met die vergelyking tussen kwartiele, was die variansie van die afhanklike veranderlikes op individuele aandelevlak hoog en het gedui op 'n ewekansige verspreiding.

This study investigates the relationship between corporate financial performance and carbon emission disclosure in listed companies in Sri Lanka, with a focus on contributing to the understanding of sustainability reporting practices. The purpose of the research is to explore how financial indicators namely Earnings per Share, Return on Assets, and Total Assets are associated with companies' decisions to disclose their carbon footprint, highlighting the interconnectedness between financial success and environmental responsibility. By employing quantitative research design and statistical analyses, the study aims to provide theoretical insights and practical implications for corporate reporting practices and corporate decision making.  The research philosophy of this study aligns with the positivist paradigm to ensure the attainment of unbiased and impartial findings. Employing an explanatory research design, the study utilizes data sourced from secondary sources pertaining to companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. Descriptive and inferential statistics are used for analysis, with 588 observations included in the study sample. Ethical considerations play a significant role in guiding the research process, ensuring the confidentiality and appropriate handling of sensitive corporate financial data.  Based on the findings of the correlation analysis of this study there is a positive relationship between financial performance indicators and carbon emission disclosure in Sri Lankan listed companies. Specifically, there is a significant relationship between Earnings per Share (EPS) and carbon emission disclosure, indicating that companies with higher EPS are more likely to disclose their carbon-related activities as a strategic move to enhance their financial image. However, the analysis shows no significant relationship between Return on Assets (ROA) and carbon emission disclosure, suggesting that asset utilization efficiency may not directly influence environmental reporting practices. Additionally, the study finds a significant relationship of Total Assets on carbon emission disclosure, indicating that the size of a company, as indicated by its Total Assets, plays a substantial role in determining the disclosure of carbon emission.  Finally, this research contributes to a deeper awareness of the relationship between financial performance indicators and carbon emission disclosure in the context of Sri Lankan listed companies. The study underscores the importance of integrating environmental considerations into corporate strategies and reporting frameworks, advocating for a comprehensive approach to decision-making that prioritizes long-term environmental sustainability alongside financial success. The findings enhance understanding of the interplay between financial performance and sustainability reporting, paving the way for further analyses in the growing field of corporate sustainability.

Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

It is acknowledged that the primary objective of any company should be the creation of shareholder-value. However, it is also recognised that there are other stakeholders, with their own financial and/or non-financial objectives, which could impact on a company's overall financial performance. Management should therefore identify stakeholder-groups which could impact on the company and formulate a model in addressing their objectives. This study integrates elements from the theory of shareholder-value, the agency-theory, the theory of property rights and different stakeholder orientation-models to develop the approach of responsible stakeholder-management in the creation of shareholder-value. Stakeholders can be grouped into economic, social and environmental components. The concept of sustainable development has exploded in recent years. Three main elements of sustainable development were identified, namely economic, social and environmental development, referred to as "Triple Bottom Line (TBL)". Several organisations have started focussing on the concept of sustainability by guiding the development of sustainability policies. However, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become the de facto global standard for reporting on sustainable development. The concept of TBL, and how the three elements of sustainability could contribute to the maximisation of shareholder-value, is discussed. The results of the empirical study, where the financial performance and shareholder-growth of companies listed on the JSE and which adopted and reported on the GRI-guidelines, were compared to a group of companies in the same index grouping of the JSE that had not formally adopted and reported on the guidelines, identified a clear trend that those reporting on their sustainability policies had had a much better growth in five of the six financial measures used than the comparative group. / Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

It is acknowledged that the primary objective of any company should be the creation of shareholder-value. However, it is also recognised that there are other stakeholders, with their own financial and/or non-financial objectives, which could impact on a company's overall financial performance. Management should therefore identify stakeholder-groups which could impact on the company and formulate a model in addressing their objectives. This study integrates elements from the theory of shareholder-value, the agency-theory, the theory of property rights and different stakeholder orientation-models to develop the approach of responsible stakeholder-management in the creation of shareholder-value. Stakeholders can be grouped into economic, social and environmental components. The concept of sustainable development has exploded in recent years. Three main elements of sustainable development were identified, namely economic, social and environmental development, referred to as "Triple Bottom Line (TBL)". Several organisations have started focussing on the concept of sustainability by guiding the development of sustainability policies. However, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become the de facto global standard for reporting on sustainable development. The concept of TBL, and how the three elements of sustainability could contribute to the maximisation of shareholder-value, is discussed. The results of the empirical study, where the financial performance and shareholder-growth of companies listed on the JSE and which adopted and reported on the GRI-guidelines, were compared to a group of companies in the same index grouping of the JSE that had not formally adopted and reported on the guidelines, identified a clear trend that those reporting on their sustainability policies had had a much better growth in five of the six financial measures used than the comparative group. / Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att kartlägga i vilken utsträckning företag på en svensk marknad arbetar med CSR och även att identifiera ett eventuellt samband mellan hållbarhetsarbetets utsträckning och lönsamhet i form av EPS och DuPont. Dessa lönsamhetsmått representerar dels ett investeringsperspektiv, dels ett internt företagsperspektiv. Metod: En kvantitativ studie har gjorts på Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap med en indelning av företagen på en hållbarhetsskala. Datan har analyseratstillsammans med lönsamhetsmåtten EPS och DuPont genomkorstabulering samt en statistisk analys. Slutsats: Denna studie finner att det finns ett engagemang för CSR inom LargeCap och det finns ett negativt samband mellan CSR-arbete och EPS.Studien finner inget samband mellan CSR-arbete och DuPont. Det finns en obalans i prioriteringen av TBL där det ekonomiska perspektivet är det främsta.

[pt] O presente trabalho analisa o movimento recente nos preços de eurobonds emitidos por empresas brasileiras e a sua relação com a evolução do risco soberano brasileiro. Com o objetivo de verificar possíveis assimetrias na reação dos preços desses títulos a novas informações sobre as empresas emissoras em diferentes níveis do CDS associado à dívida soberana brasileira, testamos o comportamento dos preços dos eurobonds à divulgação de informações indicadoras dos fundamentos específicos das firmas emissoras de dívida, a saber: (i) alterações do rating atribuído por agências especializadas e (ii) anúncio do lucro por ação trimestral das empresas de capital aberto. Em linha com a literatura sobre o assunto, encontramos evidências de uma relação importante entre risco soberano e corporativo para o caso brasileiro. / [en] The present work analyzes the recent movement in the prices of Eurobonds issued by Brazilian companies and its relationship with the evolution of Brazilian sovereign risk. To identify possible asymmetries in the price reaction of these securities to new information regarding the debt issuers at different levels of the CDS associated with Brazilian sovereign debt, we tested the behavior of eurobonds prices to the disclosure of information about the specific fundamentals of issuers (i) changes in the rating attributed by specialized rating agencies and (ii) announcement of the quarterly earnings per share of publicly traded companies. In line with the literature on the subject, we find evidence of an important relationship between sovereign and corporate risk for the Brazilian case.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-07-07T14:27:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Valeria Siebel.pdf: 545042 bytes, checksum: c4346d8576188fae938dc28a7dc561bf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-07T14:27:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Valeria Siebel.pdf: 545042 bytes, checksum: c4346d8576188fae938dc28a7dc561bf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-01-31 / Nenhuma / Esta é uma pesquisa sobre value-relevance. A despeito da existência de outros estudos deste tipo em finanças corporativas, os resultados são inconclusivos e instigam debates na academia e fora dela. Muitos autores sustentam que a contabilidade, por estar desenhada para uma economia do tipo industrial, não estaria mais apta a contribuir de forma relevante na determinação dos preços das ações. Trabalhos conduzidos por outros autores em diversos mercados não apontam direções únicas, alguns mostrando perda de relevância do valor patrimonial da ação (VPA) e/ou do lucro por ação (LPA) na determinação do preço dos ativos, outros mostrando situação diversa (COLLINS, MAYDEW e WEISS, 1997; BROWN, LO e LYS, 1999; LEV e ZAROWIN, 1999; TRABUCHO, 2007; ZANINI, CANIBANO e ZANI, 2010). Com o objetivo de contribuir para esta discussão, este estudo analisou as variáveis contábeis tradicionais LPA e VPA na determinação dos preços das ações nos últimos 22 anos, abarcando amostra com empresas listadas nas bolsas de valores em alguns países da América Latina: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México e Peru. O modelo para as análises foi o Modelo de Ohlson (1995), já utilizado em inúmeros outros trabalhos. A técnica estatística utilizada foi a análise de regressão múltipla, com dados em painel padronizados, que proporcionaram a comparação direta dos resultados entre os países e a eliminação do efeito escala. Os resultados apontaram para alguma perda de relevância do VPA no Brasil, perda da relevância do LPA na Argentina e no Chile e aumento da relevância do LPA no Peru. Outro resultado importante foi o de que o VPA parece perder relevância no seu poder explicativo em momentos de crises econômicas, situação em que os resultados de curto prazo, espelhados no lucro das empresas, parecem ser mais importantes para os investidores. / This is a study about value relevance. Despite the existence of other such studies in corporate finance, the results are inconclusive and instigate debates in academia and beyond. Many authors argue that accounting, being designed for an industrial economy, would no longer be able to contribute significantly in the determination of stock prices. Studies conducted by other authors in several markets do not indicate unic directions, showing some loss of relevance for book value (BV) and / or earnings per share (EPS) in determining asset prices, others showing different situation (COLLINS, MAYDEW and WEISS, 1997; BROWN, LO and LYS, 1999; LEV and ZAROWIN, 1999; TRABUCHO, 2007; ZANINI, CANIBANO and ZANI, 2010). Aiming to contribute to this discussion, this study analyzed the traditional accounting variables EPS and BV in the determination of stock prices over the past 22 years, in a sample of companies listed on stock exchanges in some Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The model for the analysis was the Ohlson Model (1995), already used in many other works. The statistical technique used was multiple regression analysis with panel data standarized, which provided a direct comparison of results between countries and the elimination of the scale effect. The results showed some loss of relevance of BV in Brazil, loss of relevance of EPS in Argentina and Chile, and increased relevance of EPS in Peru. Another important result was that the BV seems to lose relevance in its explanatory power in times of economic crises, in which the short-term results, based in corporate profits seem to bemore important for investors.

長期性資料(longitudinal data)，是指對同一個觀察個體(subject)或實驗單位(experiment unit)，在不同時間點上重複觀察或測量一個或多個變數。雖然觀察個體之間互相獨立，但就同一個個體而言，不同時間的觀察或測量常常是有相關性的。且觀察的個體之間可能由於一些無法測量的環境因素造成個體之間有差異，因此在傳統橫斷面分析中，假設其有相同迴歸係數的邊際模型可能不合理。隨機效果模型可以解決長期資料分析的相關，並假設每個個體的迴歸係數不同；此模型不但可以說明橫斷面資料的cohort效果，也可直接解釋長期資料的age效果；更可以區分個體之間與個體之內的變異。 本研究以1995年至2000年台灣11個產業中的100家公司之每股盈餘與各財務比率，作為實證分析的資料；分別配適每股盈餘與時間、產業別、時間產業別交互作用及財務比率及排除每股盈餘有異常值後之邊際效果模型(一般迴歸分析)及隨機效果模型，並比較其參數估計之異同。實證結果顯示，一般迴歸分析與假設誤差不相關且等變異下的隨機效果模型參數估計相似，但後者能區分變異為個體之間(between-subjects)與個體之內(within-subject)的變異。而假設誤差不相關且不等變異與假設誤差服從AR(1)且不等變異下的隨機效果模型估計相近。實證結果並顯示，在排除異常值後的模型參數估計，一般迴歸分析不論是估計值及顯著性大多沒有很大差別；而隨機效果模型的估計在排除異常值前後較有差別。特別是現金流量比率(CFR)原本為不顯著變數，在排除異常值後的模型配適全部變顯著性變數。 / The defining characteristic of a longitudinal study is that individuals are measured repeatedly through time. Although it is independent between subjects, the set of observations on one subject tends to be inter-correlated. Because there is some natural heterogeneity due to unmeasured factors between subjects, it is not corrected to assume they have the same regression coefficients. A random effect model is a reasonable description about the different regression coefficients, and it can resolve the inter-correlation of the observations on one subject. The major advantages of the random effect model are its capacity to separate what in the context of population studies are called cohort and age effects, and it can distinguish the variations between subjects and within subjects. This study describes the marginal model and random effect model, and shows their difference by real data analysis. We apply these models to the earnings per share (EPS) and other financial ratios of one hundred companies in Taiwan, which are distributed in eleven industries. The results show that the parameter estimates of the marginal model and random effect model are similar when error structure is independent and of equal variance. Furthermore, the latter can distinguish the variations between subjects and within subjects. However, the residual analysis reveals that the error structure may not be constant. Therefore, we consider heteroscedasticity error in random effect model. We also assume that error follows an autoregressive process (e.g. AR(1) model), which leads to the optimum among our results in terms of residual analysis. There are some observations that appear to be outlying from the majority of data. The results show little difference in the marginal models no matter whether those outliers are included. However, we obtain different results in the random effect models. Especially, the variable of “cash flow ratio” becomes significant once those potential outliers have been excluded, while it is not significant when all cases are fitted in the model.

Dividend policy is widely researched in financial management, but determining whether it affects the market price per share is difficult. There has been much published on the subject, which presented theories such as the Modigliani, Miller, Gordon, Lintner, Walter and Richardson propositions and the relevance and irrelevance theories. However, little research has been done on the impact of dividend policy on shareholders’ wealth while considering the short- and long-run effects. The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was used to describe the short-run and long-run dynamics or the adjustment of the cointegrated variables towards their equilibrium values in South Africa. This study attempts to explain the effect of dividend policy on the market price per share. A sample of 46 companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) was selected for the period 1995-2010. Three variables were used, namely the market price per share, the dividend per share and the earnings per share. The market price per share was used as a proxy in measuring shareholders’ wealth and the dividend per share was used as a proxy in measuring the dividend policy. Fixed and random effects models were applied to panel data to determine the relation between dividend policy and market price per share. The fixed effects method was used to control the stable characteristics of the companies over a fixed period. The random effects model was applied when the companies’ characteristics differed. Results for both models indicated that dividend yield is positively related to market price per share, while earnings per share do not have a significant impact on the market price per share. To test the strength of the long-run relationship, the VECM was applied. The coefficient for dividend per share in the co-integrating equation was positive, while the coefficient for earnings per share was negative. This confirms previous research findings. The results suggest that there is a long-run relationship between dividend per share and market price per share. The Granger causality test indicates there is bi-directional Granger causality between market price per share and dividend per share in South Africa. Therefore dividend policy does have a significant long-run impact on the share price and therefore provides a signal about the company’s financial success. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Financial Management / Unrestricted