The joint hypotheses of informationally efficient markets, transparent financial statements, and adequate accounting disclosure suggest that announcements of changes in the accounting treatment of employee stock options from footnote disclosure to expense recognition should not trigger stock price reactions because free-cash-flows will not change. Event study results from a sample of 241 firms that announce such changes reveal statistically significant negative price changes followed by positive price changes about equal in magnitude. We propose the learning, sophisticated investor, neglected firm, and firm size hypotheses to explain the observed announcement-period stock price reaction.

Based on the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No.39, the employee bonus plan is treated as an expense item rather than earnings distribution of a firm. The empirical study examines the relationship between complementary measures of expensing employee bonus plan and earnings management. This research hypothesizes that managers will have stronger incentives to manage earnings when the new regulation will start to implement. This research empirically tests the differences in earnings management behaviors between Taiwanese technology firms and Taiwanese nontechnology firms. This research used the Modified Jones model (1995) to measure the discretionary accruals and design a regression model to testify empirical tests. This research also used pair t-test to examining the mean difference tests. The empirical results indicate that there is a significant difference between the dummy variable for industry classification and discretionary accruals. There is a significant positive relationship between discretionary accruals and earnings. There is a significant negative relationship between discretionary accruals and cash flow from operations. There is a significant difference between the discretionary accruals and administrative expenses. There is a strong connection between new regulation and managers¡¦ bonus. In order to protect their self-interests, the results show the changeable of earnings management behaviors.

This qualitative and descriptive essay discusses pharmaceutical companies’ financial reporting of research and development expenditures, if separate acquisitions and development expenditure for internally generated intangible assets are expensed or capitalized, and the reason for this. The problem statements are: How do pharmaceutical companies report their development and research expenditures? Why do pharmaceutical companies choose to expense or capitalize their separate acquisitions and development expenditures for internally generated intangible assets? Interviews have been conducted with pharmaceutical companies that comply with IFRS in their consolidated reporting and which conduct research and development. It is internally generated intangible assets and separate acquisitions that are in focus of this study. Since 2005 it is mandatory for publicly listed companies in the EU to apply to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) in their consolidated reporting. Since IFRS rules are principle based this allows for a more flexible application of accounting standards, which contributes to a subjective interpretation. Expenditures for research and development should be reported either by direct expensing in the income statement or capitalization as an intangible asset in the balance sheet if certain criteria according to IAS 38 are met. Choice of method affects the company´s key ratios along with the balance and income statements and it is the companies themselves which are to determine whether these conditions are met or not. Institutional theory has been used to establish whether companies’ choice of expensing or capitalizing can be explained through different forms of isomorphism, habits and practices, or if choice of method is based on the organization and its environment´s mutual dependency and how the stake holders will perceive the company. Evidence shows that it is mainly coercive isomorphism through laws and regulations that govern the choice of method, but also habits and practices as well as mimetic isomorphism to achieve legitimacy affect choice of method.

In order to catch up the international trend, ¡§Expensing employee bonus¡¨ has been implemented in Taiwan since year 2008. Hence, all the cost concerning employees¡¦ bonuses have been recorded as expense in the income statement and recognized by fair market value. Since the company decides total amount of employees¡¦ bonuses after authorized by the board and annual general meeting, it can distribute the proportion of cash and stock bonuses. As the result of calculating the stock bonus by stock¡¦s fair value, employees gain much less stocks than before, which lessen the encouragement effect. Therefore, enterprises begin to increase the standard salary of employee or proportion of cash bonus. This study collects the data from the fourth quarter of year 1989 to the third quarter of 2009, and chooses the Taiwan Weighted Stock Index and the stock prices of listed electronic firms in Taiwan. Using the Markov Regime Switching Model as the research method, and add the macroeconomic and financial variables to separate the stock price into two regimes- recession and expansion regime. This research is in the employee¡¦s shoes, and to study what stock incentives strategies the company should adopt under the required expensing of employee stock bonus. The empirical results are summarized as follows: 1.Under the expansion regime, if the company¡¦s stock price was affected by both macroeconomic and financial variables, it will more likely rise further, which leads to the large gap between two regimes. For example: Cyberlink, Acer and Mediatec, which stock price gaps are over ten dollars. 2.According to the two arguments of this study: the company with long duration of expansion regime and is influenced by macroeconomic and financial variables should adopt the strategies based on stock bonus. Therefore, according to the empirical results, the study suggests that Acer is the suitable company to do the strategies.

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Bakgrund: För att skapa mer transparens i redovisningen bildades IASB (tidigare IASC) och EU beslutade att alla EU-länder skulle tillämpa IASB:s internationella standarder. Detta medförde att de svenska börsnoterade bolagen från och med 2005 blev tvungna att tillämpa IFRS 2, som innebar att aktierelaterade ersättningar skulle börja kostnadsföras, vilket tidigare inte krävts. Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att kartlägga huruvida företagens användning av aktierelaterade ersättningar till styrelse, VD och övriga anställda, har förändrats från 2001 till 2013, vilket utgör en tid innan, till en tid efter införandet av IFRS 2005. Metod: En longitudinell studie har genomförts av de 60 bolag som var noterade i Large Cap per den 31 december 2013. Studien är en totalundersökning av dessa bolag under åren 2001 till 2013 och datainsamlingen genomfördes genom dessa bolags årsredovisningar under dessa år. Det som granskats är huruvida bolagen använt sig av aktierelaterade ersättningar under perioden. Om en förändring har skett och i så fall hur den sett ut, vilka sorters aktierelaterade ersättningar de använt sig av, samt i vilken omfattning. Dessutom studerades hur stora tilldelningar som skett, förekomsten av nystartade incitamentsprogram, samt om användningen skiljer sig åt mellan företag inom olika branscher. Analysen utgår från de diagram och tabeller som kunnat tas fram genom den insamlade datan. Slutsatser: Användningen av aktierelaterade ersättningar har ej minskat under perioden 2001 till 2013. Tilldelningen minskade kraftigt från 2001 till IFRS införande år 2005, för att sedan öka från 2005 till 2013. Överlag använde cirka hälften av bolagen aktierelaterade ersättningar vardera år. Inom branschen Tillverkning & Industri tilldelades flest optioner och aktier i genomsnitt per företag under perioden. Den bransch som tilldelade minst antal optioner och aktier i genomsnitt per företag under perioden var Fastighetsverksamhet. Det gick att urskilja en stark minskning av användningen av personaloptionsprogram, samtidigt som en markant och stabil ökning av användningen av olika typer av aktieprogram kunde urskiljas. / Background: To create more transparency in reporting, the IASB (previously IASC) was formed and the EU determined that all the countries, which are members of the EU, are to apply the international standards of the IASB. This lead to the requirement that all the Swedish listed companies had to comply with IFRS 2 as of 2005, which meant that share-based payments were to be expensed, which had not previously been required. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify whether corporate use of share-based payments of directors, CEO and other employees, has changed from 2001 to 2013, which represents a time before, to a time after the introduction of IFRS in 2005. Method: A longitudinal study was conducted on the 60 companies listed in Large Cap on December 31, 2013. The study includes the total population during the years 2001 to 2013. The data collection was carried out through these companies’ annual reports for these years. What has been reviewed in the study is whether the companies have been using share-based payments during this period of time. If a change has occurred and, if so, how it appeared, which forms of share-based payments they have been using, and to what extent. Furthermore, the size of allocations, the presence of start-up incentive programs and if the use of share-based payments differ between companies in different industries were studied. The analysis is based on the graphs and tables that could be produced by the collected data. Conclusions: The use of share-based payments has not decreased over the period 2001 to 2013. The allocation decreased significantly from 2001 to the introduction of IFRS in 2005, to later on increase from 2005 to 2013. Overall, approximately half of the companies used share-based payments each year. Within the line of business Manufacturing & Industry, the highest number of options and shares were allocated on average per company over the period. The line of business that allocated the least number of options and shares on average per company over the period was Real estate activity. It was possible to distinguish a strong reduction in the use of employee stock option programs. At the same time a significant and steady increase in the use of different types of share programs could be distinguished.

Bakgrund och problem: Efter införandet av IFRS 2 ska svenska börsbolag behandla aktierelaterade ersättningar som en kostnad i redovisningen. Då detta inte krävdes tidigare, medförde de nya reglerna diskussioner om vilka konsekvenserna skulle bli. Frågan är om kostnadsföringen av dessa ersättningar lett till att bolag utformat sina aktierelaterade incitamentsprogram annorlunda efter införandet av IFRS 2. Syfte: Att undersöka om införandet av IFRS 2 har påverkat svenska börsbolags utformning av aktierelaterade incitamentsprogram samt förklara orsaken till en eventuell förändring. Metod/Empiri: Information har samlats in via årsredovisningar från 42 svenska noterade bolag under en tidsperiod av tio år. Datamaterialet analyseras genom observationer och regressionsanalyser där isolering sker av påverkan från företagsspecifika faktorer. Slutsatser: Studien visar på att förekomsten av optionsprogram minskar under åren 2003 och 2005 samtidigt som antalet aktieprogram ökar. Förändringen sker samtidigt som införandeprocessen av IFRS 2 och stämmer överens med antagandet om att kostnadsföringen av aktierelaterade ersättningar ligger bakom förändringen. Att kostnadsföring påverkar bolagsbeslut i utformning av incitamentsprogram överensstämmer med studier, som visar att beslutsfattare i bolag anser att bolagets intressenter koncentrerar sig på den redovisade vinsten. / Background and problem: Swedish listed companies treat share-based payments as an expense since the adoption of IFRS 2. The adoption meant a change compared to previous accounting treatment, which triggered discussions regarding the consequences of such expensing. The question is if the expensing of share-based payments resulted in changes in the design of share-based incentive programs. Aim: Investigate whether the adoption of IFRS 2 has affected the design of share-based incentive programs in Swedish listed companies and explain the reason for such change. Method/Empirics: Information has been collected through annual reports from 42 Swedish listed companies over a period of ten years. In order to analyze the impact of IFRS 2, observations are made together with regression analysis where the impact of firm-specific determinants is accounted for. Conclusions: The existence of option plans are reduced between 2003 and 2005, while the number of share plans is increasing. The change takes place at the same time as the implementation process of IFRS 2 and is consistent with the assumption that the mandatory expensing of share-based payments is causing the change. The reason for expensing affecting corporate decisions regarding share-based incentive programs is that decision makers believes that company stakeholders focuses on reported earnings.