Esta pesquisa defende a tese de que a estrutura de propriedade das companhias influencia o conservadorismo contábil das companhias abertas brasileiras listadas em bolsa. Sugestões teóricas e recentes evidências empíricas subsidiam tal defesa. Empiricamente, LaFond e Roychowdhury (2008), Sánchez, Alemán e Martín (2011), Ramalingegowda e Yu (2012) e Haw, Ho, Tong e Zhang (2012) representam os principais trabalhos internacionalmente. No Brasil, Sarlo Neto, Rodrigues e Almeida (2010), até a publicação da tese, era o único trabalho nessa linha de pesquisa. Quatro características da estrutura de propriedade foram investigadas: a) concentração de direitos de votos pelo maior acionista último; b) divergência entre direitos de votos e fluxo de caixa do maior acionista último; c) presença de segundo maior acionista que não faz parte do bloco de controle; e d) controle exercido por meio de estruturas de propriedade piramidais. Os acordos entre acionistas foram levados em consideração nos cálculos. Ainda, as variáveis de estrutura de propriedade foram obtidas por meio das participações diretas e indiretas, a fim de o maior acionista último ser claramente identificado. Em relação ao conservadorismo, foram empregadas quatro métricas: duas advindas de Basu (1997) e as outras duas provenientes da pesquisa de Ball e Shivakumar (2005) e Khan e Watts (2009). Ademais, foram utilizadas as seguintes variáveis de controle nos modelos empíricos: tamanho, endividamento, market-to-book, governança corporativa e risco de litígio. O período da análise abrangeu dados de 2010 a 2013. Após o processo de seleção da amostra, restaram 260 companhias, que perfizeram um total de 887 observações. Para estimar a relação entre as variáveis foi empregada a técnica de dados em painel com efeitos fixos das unidades individuais e do tempo. Os resultados dos testes não indicaram haver efeito sistemático e significativo das características de estrutura de propriedade sobre o conservadorismo contábil. Não obstante, a tese apresenta contribuições tanto em nível internacional como nacional. Em comparação com as pesquisas internacionais na mesma linha de pesquisa, a tese é a primeira a considerar os efeitos dos acordos entre acionistas no cálculo das variáveis de estrutura de propriedade. Ademais, é a primeira a testar os efeitos das estruturas de propriedade piramidais sobre o conservadorismo. Em termos nacionais, a pesquisa contribui com a extensa linha acerca da estrutura de propriedade ao considerar o efeito do segundo maior acionista último, até então inédito na literatura nacional. Também, contribui com a linha de pesquisa em conservadorismo ao levar em conta o efeito de variáveis consideradas relevantes na literatura na estimação dos modelos, não apenas as variáveis de estrutura de propriedade. Além de escrutinizar os resultados por meio da utilização de quatro métricas para mensurar conservadorismo. / This research supports the thesis that the companies\' ownership structure influences the accounting conservatism of Brazilian public companies listed on the stock exchange. Theoretical suggestions and recent empirical evidence support such defense. Empirically, LaFond and Roychowdhury (2008), Sánchez, Alemán and Martín (2011), Ramalingegowda and Yu (2012) and Haw, Ho, Tong and Zhang (2012) represent the main international research studies. In Brazil, the work done by Sarlo Neto, Rodrigues and Almeida (2010), was the only study in this line of research until the publication of this PhD dissertation. For this dissertation, four components of the ownership structure were investigated: a) concentration of voting rights for the largest ultimate shareholder; b) divergence between voting rights and cash flow of the largest ultimate shareholder; c) presence of a second largest shareholder that is not part of the controlling block; and d) control exercised through properties of pyramidal structures. Shareholders\' agreements were taken into account in the calculations. In addition, the variables of ownership structure were obtained by direct and indirect equity participations, in order to clearly identify the largest shareholder. Regarding conservatism, four metrics were used: two coming from Basu (1997) and the other two from the studies conducted by Ball and Shivakumar (2005) and Watts and Khan (2009). In addition, the following control variables were used in the empirical models: size, leverage, market-to-book ratio, corporate governance and risk of litigation. The period of analysis covered data from 2010 to 2013. After the sample selection process, 260 companies remained, which resulted in a total of 887 observations. To estimate the relationship among the variables we used panel data analysis with fixed effects of individual units and time. Each component of the ownership structure was regressed individually on models. The test results did not indicate a systematic and significant effect of ownership structure components on accounting conservatism. Nevertheless, this dissertation presents contributions at both international and national levels. Compared with international studies in the same research line, this dissertation is the first to consider the effects of shareholders\' agreements in the calculation of ownership structure variables. Moreover, it is also the first to test the effects of pyramidal structures on the property of conservatism. Nationally, the research contributes to the extensive line about the ownership structure by considering the effect of the second largest ultimate shareholder, hitherto unheard of in the national literature. This study also contributes to the research line on accounting conservatism, taking into account the effect of variables that are considered relevant in the literature of model estimation, not just the variables of ownership structure. In addition, the use of four metrics to measure conservatism scrutinizes research findings.

Ainda existem muitas controvérsias práticas e acadêmicas sobre o modo adequado de se regular a contabilidade (Cole et al., 2012). Por um lado, autores como Sunder (2009), Schipper (2003) e d\'Arcy (2000) defendem que os padrões mais flexíveis (aqueles baseados em princípios) aumentam a variabilidade do produto final dos relatórios financeiros e como consequência diminuem a sua comparabilidade. Agoglia et al. (2011) e Collins et al. (2012), por outro lado, encontraram evidências empíricas exatamente do contrário, ou seja, os padrões baseados em princípios geraram resultados menos discrepantes, o que poderia sugerir uma maior comparabilidade dos relatórios financeiros. Nesta pesquisa, o objetivo foi avaliar diretamente o impacto de um movimento de flexibilização regulatória contábil sobre a comparabilidade dos relatórios financeiros. O país escolhido para análise foi o Brasil, pois ele foi um dos poucos países no mundo em que houve um processo radical de mudança regulatória de um padrão totalmente baseado em regras com forte vinculo com a contabilidade fiscal (Lopes, 2011) para um padrão baseado em princípios com maior necessidade de julgamento por parte dos gestores que elaboram os relatórios financeiros. Para medir a comparabilidade foi utilizado o modelo de similaridade da função contábil desenvolvido por DeFranco et al. (2011) e outras medidas alternativas para análise de sensibilidade. Para medir o impacto da flexibilização regulatória foram utilizados dois modelos. O primeiro modelo separou o período de transição por ano e comparou os resultados obtidos nos anos 2006 a 2012 individualmente com o período de referência 2004 e 2005. O segundo modelo separou o antes e o depois do impacto da adoção das normas internacionais que ocorreu em 2010. As companhias analisadas foram todas as de capital aberto que apresentaram dados completos para o período analisado e possuíam, no mínimo, uma companhia par dentro do mesmo setor de atividades econômicas. Os resultados obtidos comprovam que, na média, não houve uma diminuição significativa do nível de comparabilidade within-country durante o período de transição regulatória nem com o impacto da adoção do padrão IFRS no Brasil. Pelo contrário, houve um aumento da comparabilidade genuína com a adoção do padrão internacional no Brasil para as companhias analisadas nesta pesquisa. Para as medidas alternativas de comparabilidade, a uniformidade de movimentação do lucro (covariação) foi a única que apresentou variação negativa significativa durante o período de transição. Isto reforça o resultado da pesquisa e mostra que enquanto houve uma diminuição no nível de uniformidade dos relatórios financeiros a comparabilidade não diminuiu, contrariamente, aumentou. A principal conclusão deste trabalho é que aumentar o poder discricionário do gestor por meio da flexibilização dos padrões contábeis não diminui a comparabilidade dos relatórios financeiros. / There are still many practical and academic controversies about the proper way to regulate accounting (Cole et al., 2012). On the one hand, authors like Sunder (2009), Schipper (2003) and d\'Arcy (2000) argue that more flexibility allowed in standards (those based on principles) increases the variability of the end product of financial reporting and as a consequence their comparability is reduced. Agoglia et al. (2011) and Collins et al. (2012), on the other hand, found empirical evidences showing exactly the opposite, standards based on principles generated less variability in accounting outcomes, which could suggest a greater comparability of financial reporting. In this research, the objective was to directly assess the impact of a movement in accounting regulatory easing on the comparability of financial reporting . The country chosen for analysis was Brazil because it was one of the few countries in the world where there has been a radical process of regulatory change of a fully rule-based with a strong bond with the tax accounting (Lopes, 2011) for a standard based on principles with greatest need of judment for managers who prepare financial reports. To measure the level of comparability in financial reports this research choosed the model similarity of accounting function developed by DeFranco et al. (2011). To measure the impact of regulatory flexibility two approaches were used. The first approach separated the transition period by year and compared the results obtained in the years 2006 - 2012 with the reference period of 2004 and 2005. The second approach separated the adoption of IFRS in Brazil in two periods, before and after 2010. The companies surveyed were all public corporations with stocks traded in brazilian\'s stock market that had complete data and had at least one pair within the same company sector of economic activities. The results shows that, on average for the companies analysed in this research, there was no significant decrease in the level of within-country comparability during the regulatory transition in Brazil. They also show that impact of adopting IFRS was positive rather than negative. This fact proves that there was na increase in genuine accounting comparability with the adoption of international standard in Brazil for the companies analyzed in this research. For the alternative measures of comparability, the earnings co-movement was the only one that showed a significant negative change during the transition period. This reinforces the results of this work and shows that while there was a decrease in the level of uniformity of financial reporting, the genuine comparability has not decreased, in contrast, it rose. The main conclusion of this work is: the increase in the discretion of the manager through the flexibility of accounting standards does not reduce the comparability of financial reporting .

Este trabalho tem o objetivo de analisar os determinantes e as conseqüências econômicas das escolhas de práticas contábeis sob a ótica da Hipótese dos Covenants Contratuais. Mais especificamente, este estudo investiga se os administradores de empresas brasileiras com registro na Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) e que efetuaram captações de longo prazo (debêntures e créditos bancários) realizam mudanças de práticas contábeis voluntárias com o objetivo de evitar a violação de covenants (baseados em números contábeis) estabelecidos nos contratos de dívida. Na análise desse fenômeno, estudos anteriores sugerem que os administradores de empresas adotam práticas contábeis pouco conservadoras (que aumentam o resultado e o patrimônio líquido) com o objetivo de evitar a violação de covenants contábeis. Com base na análise de 125 companhias brasileiras (com registro na CVM) que captaram recursos de longo prazo no mercado de crédito via debêntures e créditos bancários (no período de 2000 a 2006), e utilizando testes estatísticos univariados (histogramas empíricos e teste qui-quadrado) e multivariados (regressão logística), foi possível demonstrar que as referidas empresas não realizam mudanças de práticas contábeis voluntárias com o objetivo de evitar a violação de covenants contábeis. Os principais motivos que fundamentam essa conclusão são: (a) os baixos custos nos casos de violação dos covenants contábeis; (b) a ativa normatização e fiscalização contábil das agências reguladoras de serviços públicos, especialmente no setor de energia elétrica; e (c) as empresas, em geral, já utilizam práticas contábeis pouco conservadoras. Tal resultado permite supor que, a fim de evitar a violação dos covenants contábeis, os administradores adotam ações reais que impactam o fluxo de caixa da companhia. A principal contribuição dos resultados observados é demonstrar que, apesar da existência de covenants contábeis nos títulos de dívida emitidos pelas empresas brasileiras analisadas, não existem evidências significativas de mudanças de práticas voluntárias oportunistas para evitar a violação dos covenants contábeis. Esse resultado indica a presença da Abordagem da Eficiência Contratual no contexto das empresas que realizam captações de recursos de longo prazo no mercado de crédito no Brasil. / The present study aims to analyze the economic motivations and consequences of accounting choices under the Debt Covenants Hypothesis. Specifically, this study investigates if managers of Brazilian companies that issued long-term debts make changes in accounting methods in order to prevent the breaking of covenants (based on accounting numbers) established in debt contracts. In the analysis of this fact, prior studies suggests that managers of those companies adopt accounting methods less conservatives (that increase earnings and equity) with the objective of preventing the breaking of debt covenants. Through the analysis of 125 public Brazilian companies that issued long-term debts (in the period 2000-2006), and using univariate (real histogram and chi-square test) and multivariate (logistic regression) statistical tests, it was possible to demonstrate those companies do not make changes in accounting methods in order to prevent the breaking of covenants established in debt contracts. The main reasons that underlying these results are: (a) the low costs in breaking debt covenants; (b) the active regulation and oversight public services regulatory agencies, especially in electric energy sector; (c) Brazilian companies, in general, already adopt less conservative accounting methods. Such results, allow us to suppose that managers, in order to prevent the breaking of debt covenants, take real actions that impact the companies cash flow. The main contribution of the observed results is to demonstrate that there is no evidence of significant opportunistic accounting choices with the purpose of preventing the breaking of debt covenants. Such results suggest the presence of the Contractual Efficiency Approach in the context of the companies that issued long term debts in Brazil.

Esta pesquisa investiga a relação entre o conservadorismo contábil e o mercado de crédito bancário no Brasil. O conservadorismo é considerado uma das práticas mais tradicionais e importantes da contabilidade. A literatura teórica e empírica argumenta que o conservadorismo condicional, caracterizado pelo reconhecimento oportuno e assimétrico de perdas econômicas nos números contábeis, aumenta a eficiência dos contratos de crédito, pois permite que os credores identifiquem tempestivamente a elevação do risco dos tomadores e adotem medidas para salvaguardar os seus capitais. O conservadorismo também restringe comportamentos oportunistas dos gestores e dos proprietários em relação aos lucros gerados pela empresa, protegendo os interesses dos credores. Devido aos benefícios proporcionados pelo conservadorismo condicional, os credores podem criar incentivos econômicos para motivar a adoção de práticas conservadoras pelas empresas, por meio da redução nas taxas de juros das operações de crédito. Esta pesquisa examina empiricamente se a adoção de práticas contábeis conservadoras leva à redução no custo do crédito bancário das empresas no Brasil. A amostra analisada é formada por dados de 1.300 empresas e aproximadamente 813 mil contratos de crédito, observados no período de 2000 a 2009. Os exames se basearam na especificação de modelos econométricos que associam o custo do crédito bancário ao grau de conservadorismo e a um conjunto de variáveis de controle, que inclui características das empresas, das operações de crédito e dos bancos credores, além de variáveis binárias de tempo que capturam fatores macroeconômicos. Os parâmetros dos modelos foram estimados pelo método dos momentos generalizado (GMM) sistêmico, para controle do problema de endogeneidade dos regressores. O custo do crédito bancário foi calculado de duas maneiras, uma considerando todos os contratos de responsabilidade da empresa e outra apenas as operações com recursos livres. Para mensurar o conservadorismo, foram utilizadas cinco métricas que capturam o fenômeno a partir de diferentes perspectivas. Não foram obtidas evidências de relação estatisticamente significante entre as medidas de conservadorismo e as taxas de juros das operações de crédito contratadas pelas empresas da amostra. Esses resultados são robustos a variações na especificação dos modelos, no método de estimação dos parâmetros e na definição operacional das variáveis. As evidências confirmam a hipótese de que a adoção de práticas contábeis conservadoras não leva à redução no custo do crédito bancário das empresas no Brasil. O ambiente institucional brasileiro de fraca proteção legal aos credores e baixa demanda de demonstrações contábeis com atributos de qualidade informacional não produz incentivos para que os credores estimulem a adoção de práticas contábeis conservadoras pelas empresas, por meio da redução nas taxas de juros das operações de crédito. Como as empresas não percebem benefícios econômicos associados ao reporte de números contábeis conservadores, a utilização de tais práticas é restrita no Brasil. Dessa forma, os resultados da investigação no mercado brasileiro não corroboram as predições teóricas. / This study investigates the relationship between accounting conservatism and the bank credit market in Brazil. Conservatism is considered one of the most traditional and important practices in accounting. The theoretical and empirical literature argues that conditional conservatism, characterized by asymmetric and timely recognition of economic losses in accounting numbers, increases the efficiency of debt contracts, because it permits creditors to identify increased risks of borrowers on a timely basis and take measures to protect their capital. Conservatism also restricts opportunistic behavior by managers and owners in relation to the companys earnings, thus protecting creditors interests. Due to the benefits provided by conditional conservatism, creditors can create economic incentives for firms to adopt conservative practices, by reducing interest rates on loans. This study empirically examines whether the adoption of conservative accounting practices leads to a reduction in the cost of bank credit of Brazilian companies. The sample analyzed is composed of data on 1,300 firms and approximately 813 thousand debt contracts, in the period from 2000 to 2009. The examinations are based on specification of econometric models that associate the cost of bank credit to the degree of conservatism and a set of control variables, which include characteristics of the firms, credit transactions and lending banks, besides time dummy variables to capture macroeconomic factors. The models parameters were estimated by the system generalized method of moments (GMM), seeking to control for the problem of endogeneity of the regressors. The cost of bank credit was calculated in two ways, one considering all loan agreements of the borrower firm and the other only considering the loans obtained from banks free resources. To measure conservatism, we used five metrics that capture the phenomenon from different perspectives. We did not find evidence of a statistically significant relationship between the conservatism measures and interest rates on the loans contracted by the firms in the sample. These results are robust to variations in model specifications, parameter estimation method and operational definition of the variables. The evidence indicates that the adoption of conservative accounting practices does not lead to a lower cost of bank credit of Brazilian firms. The Brazilian institutional setting is marked by weak legal protection of creditors and low demand for financial statements with high informational quality. This situation does not produce incentives for lenders to stimulate the adoption of conservative accounting practices by firms, by means of reducing interest rates. Since firms to not receive economic benefits associated with reporting conservative economic numbers, the use of such practices is restricted in Brazil. Therefore, the results for the Brazilian market do not corroborate the theoretical predictions.

With the increasing diversity of students attending university, there is a growing interest in the factors predicting academic performance. The objective of this study is to identify student endogenous factors (average Grade 12 grade, Grade 12 mathematics grade, Grade 12 English grade, gender, school quintile, home language, race, university gradepoint-average (GPA), university Accounting I grade and self-efficacy) that impact performance in the module, Corporate Governance I, and to identify any differences in self-efficacy levels of students of different genders and races completing this course. A quantitative research method was used, comprising multiple regression analysis, a Mann-Whitney U test and a Kruskal-Wallis H test. The data was obtained from a sample of students attempting Corporate Governance I in 2018 at the University of Cape Town. The findings indicate that on the first day of entering university, the average grade in the final year of high school was the most significant predictor of final performance in Corporate Governance I. GPA was the most significant predictor of performance at the point of registration for Corporate Governance I, before the student had embarked upon the course, as well as the point when the student had engaged with the course for a few weeks. Another interesting finding was that even though there were no significant statistical differences in the self-efficacy levels of students of different genders and races, females outperformed males while White students outperformed Black and Coloured students. This study adds to the existing literature on student performance in tertiary accounting programmes in South Africa with a particular focus on student endogenous factors. The findings could be useful for the University of Cape Town in determining its approach to teaching these students.

Typical accounting studies attempting to explain accounting method choice employ positive theoretical hypotheses and test for association between adoption method or adoption timing and economic measures that focus upon specific firm stakeholders. Such studies addressing the adoption and impact of SFAS 87, "Employer's Accounting for Pensions," yield mixed and contradicting results. Various researchers have suggested that traditional economic analysis often fails to capture important explanatory variables and is far too simplistic. The purpose of this study is to expand analysis by evaluating a particular accounting choice by means of three different characterizations. SFAS 106, "Employers' Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other than Pensions," allows management to choose between two very different methods of adopting the standard. The principal question explored in this study is: why did managers of firms that employ defined benefit postretirement plans for benefits other than pensions choose to adopt SFAS 106 using a particular method? The research question is explored by means of three different characterizations: 1) a traditional economic characterization; 2) a sociopolitical characterization); and 3) a joint decision characterization. Logit methodology is used with method of SFAS 106 adoption as the binary dependent variable of interest. Results indicate that all three characterizations are important in understanding the SFAS 106 adoption method choice. Further, each characterization adds separate information toward comprehension of the choice, supporting the notion of the complexity of accounting choice issues.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private sector rule making body. Congressional inquiries have questioned whether the setting of accountin standards should remain in the private sector. Congressional critics have charged that the FASB has been captured by special interests and recommended that a governmental agency assume responsibility for standard setting. Specifically, critics charge that large corporations capture the Big Eight accounting firms who, in turn, have captured the FASB. Previous capture studies have concluded that the standard setting process is pluralistic and that the FASB has not been captured. The studies have focused on the influence of the Big Eight to determine if the FASB has been captured. They assume if standards do not reflect the expressed preferences of the Big Eight, then Congressional criticisms are invalid. The studies also assume a unidirectional influence between participants in the process and have ignored the intensity of preferences of the respondents.The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical framework to specify selection of standards that would be expected to be subject to capture. This framework also recognizes the duo-directional nature of influence. The allegations of capture were tested using the standards selected in accordance with the theoretical framework. The following hypotheses were tested. HO_1 There is no positive statistically significant relationship between clients' preferences and an accounting firm's support for an outcome. HO_2 There is no positive statistically significant relationship between the preferences of large corporations and standards enacted by the FASB. HO_3 There is no positive statistically significant relationship between the preferences of the Big Eight firms and the standards enacted by the FASB. These hypotheses were tested for each Big Eight accounting firms and for each standard. A logist procedure was employed. The results of the tests, with three exceptions, indicate that any relationships that occurred happened by chance.

Importantes mudanças foram implementadas por órgãos normatizadores do mercado de capitais, no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos, relativas às atividades de controle e fiscalização na elaboração e divulgação de demonstrações contábeis. A percepção da necessidade dessas mudanças decorreu, em grande parte, das fraudes corporativas que se utilizaram de instrumentos contábeis, revelados a partir da segunda metade da década de 1990 nos dois países. Nos Estados Unidos, mais precisamente, nos anos de 2001 e 2002. Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de analisar, comparativamente, as principais normas publicadas no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos entre 1998 e 2004, que buscaram o aprimoramento da governança corporativa através da estruturação de controles internos e de fiscalização sobre a elaboração e divulgação de demonstrações contábeis em setores empresariais regulamentados. As normas estudadas foram: a Lei Sarbanes-Oxley, sancionada nos Estados Unidos em 2002, as Resoluções 2554 e 3198 do Conselho Monetário Nacional - CMN, editadas em 1998 e 2004, respectivamente, a Resolução 118 de 2004 do Conselho Nacional de Seguros Privados - CNSP e as Circulares 249 e 280 de 2004 da Superintendência de Seguros Privados - SUSEP. Para a realização da análise comparativa foram coletadas opiniões, através da aplicação de questionário junto a participantes especialistas ativos das indústrias bancária, de seguros e das companhias abertas brasileiras, sobre a eficácia e suficiência das normas estudadas e foram levantados artigos acadêmicos, teses, dissertações e outros trabalhos que já tenham se proposto a analisar as referidas normas. As principais conclusões obtidas revelam que as normas estudadas são em geral eficazes e eficientes e abordaram aspectos importantes para a redução dos riscos de elaboração e divulgação de relatórios financeiros inadequados; que as medidas determinadas na Seção 404 da Lei Sarbanes-Oxley revelam pouca eficácia para a redução daqueles riscos e a custos muito elevados, principalmente para pequenas empresas; que, no Brasil, é necessário que os órgãos normatizadores das indústrias bancária, de seguros e das companhias abertas, bem como da profissão de contabilidade e auditoria desempenhem suas atividades de fiscalização e monitoramento de forma mais ampla e ativa. / Stock market regulatory agencies in Brazil and the United States have effected major changes in the control and inspection of the preparation and disclosure of financial statements. The need for these changes was made mostly evident when corporate frauds perpetrated using accounting tools started to be disclosed in the second half of the 1990s in both countries. In the United States more precisely in 2001 and 2002. The purpose of this thesis was to compare the main regulations enacted in Brazil and the United States between 1998 and 2004, which sought to improve corporate governance by structuring internal and inspection controls over the preparation and disclosure of financial statements in regulated industries. The following regulations were studied: Sarbanes-Oxley Act approved in the United States in 2002, Resolutions No. 2554 and 3198 passed by the National Monetary Council (CMN) in 1998 and 2004, respectively, Resolution No. 118 of 2004 of the National Council of Private Insurance (CNSP) and Circular Letters No. 249 and 280 issued by the Superintendence of Private Insurance (SUSEP) in 2004. For a comparative analysis, opinions were collected by sending out questionnaires to experts from the banking and insurance industries and Brazilian public companies on the effectiveness and sufficiency of the regulation studied. Also, academic papers, dissertations, theses and other works that analyzed those regulations were surveyed. The main conclusions show that the studied regulations are in general effective and efficient and address major issues involved in reducing the risks of preparing and disclosing inadequate financial statements; that the provisions set forth in Section 404 of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act have little effectiveness in reducing those risks and the costs are very high, specially for small companies; that in Brazil regulatory agencies of the banking and insurance industries and public companies, as well accountants? and auditors? professional bodies, must perform their inspection and monitoring activities more actively and widely.

This study examines the impact of Statements of Financial Accounting Standards No. 141 and No. 142 (hereafter SFAS 141, 142) on the characteristics of financial analysts' earnings forecasts after mergers. Specifically, I predict lower forecast errors for firms that experienced mergers after the enactment of SFAS 141, 142 than for firms that went through business combinations before those accounting changes. Study results present strong evidence that earnings forecast errors for companies involved in merging and acquisition activity decreased after the adoption of SFAS 141, 142. Test results also suggest that lower earnings forecast errors are attributable to factors specific to merging companies such as SFAS 141, 142 but not common to merging and non-merging companies. In addition, evidence implies that information in corporate annual reports of merging companies plays the critical role in this decrease of earnings forecast error. Summarily, I report that SFAS 141, 142 were effective in achieving greater transparency of financial reporting after mergers. In my complementary analysis, I also document the structure of corporate analysts' coverage in "leaders/followers" terms and conduct tests for differences in this structure: (1) across post-SFAS 141,142/pre-SFAS 141, 142 environments, and (2) between merging and non-merging firms. Although I do not identify any significant differences in coverage structure across environments, my findings suggest that lead analysts are not as accurate as followers when predicting earnings for firms actively involved in mergers. I also detect a significant interaction between the SFAS-environment code and leader/follower classification, which indicates greater improvement of lead analyst forecast accuracy in the post-SFAS 141, 142 environment relative to their followers. This interesting discovery demands future investigation and confirms the importance of financial reporting transparency for the accounting treatment of business combinations.

This thesis consists of an introductory chapter and four self-contained essays on the value relevance of financial statement information. Essay 1: The purpose of this essay is to examine relevance of environmental information from an investor’s perspective. The study proposes that the market value of companies will reflect both financial and environmental performance. The theoretical foundation of the study is the accounting based valuation theory outlined by Ohlson (1995). This study provides new insights into how environmental performance is reflected in the market value of Swedish companies listed on the Swedish Stock market. Essay 2: In financial accounting research, much effort has been devoted to study the relation between accounting earnings and stock prices. The primary purpose of the second essay is to investigate the effect of alternative return-earnings model specifications to the estimated returns-earnings relation, that is, the earnings response coefficients. The returns-earnings models investigated include the traditional earnings levels and changes, and models including analysts’ earnings forecasts based on Ohlson’s (1995) extended residual income model. Essay 3: Fundamental analysis research that focuses on the use of accounting information to estimate equity value, has surfaced as a central theme in market based accounting research of the 1990s (Lee, 1999). The purpose of third essay is to compare two different approaches to valuation based on the theory presented in Ohlson (1995) in terms of explanatory and predictive power of the value estimates. Both approaches are implemented with and without the use of analysts forecasts. Essay 4: In this essay data from the Swedish stock market is used to investigate the profitability of two different types of investment strategies based on fundamental-to-value ratios and past insider trading activity. The purpose of the research is to explore four related research questions: (i) Do accounting based trading strategies generate abnormal returns on the Swedish stock market?; (ii) Do trading strategies based on insider trading behaviour generate abnormal returns on the Swedish stock market?; (iii) Do insiders who buy stocks tend to favour value stocks and do insiders who sell stocks tend to dispose growth stocks?; and (iv) Are insiders able to discriminate between temporary high/low fundamentals and temporary low/high prices when buying/selling value stocks and growth stocks?