This paper pioneered in examining the impact of diversification on financial performance of technology companies and comparing diversification and its impact between technology and media companies. Diversification and financial performance in 24 leading media companies and 19 leading tech companies from 2012 to 2017 were studied. The empirical results suggest diversification in general has a positive impact on ROE of tech companies. There is also some evidence for a positive impact from related diversification on ROA of media companies with market cap over $10B. The results also show that media companies are more diversified than tech companies. From 2012 to 2017, both tech companies and big media companies have steadily increased their related degree of diversification while slightly reducing their overall diversification. That seems to suggest that the media and tech conglomerates have increased their effort to create synergy.

Master’s thesis is focused on evaluation of financial health in selected company. The thesis consists of theoretical definition of the problem, description the company and its business. The following are the individual analysis of financial health and in conclusion there are suggestions for improvement the current situation in the company.

Magister Commercii - MCom / South Africa is ranked, by any measure, among the most unequal countries in the world. Despite having a relatively well-developed financial system, historic patterns of economic concentration continue to feed into the pattern of unequal and combined development (Kabakova & Plaksenkov, 2018). With record low saving rates and poor long-term financial planning, Financial Health (FH) has become an important issue for individuals and households. Individuals throughout the world endeavour to better their financial lives. They allocate funds to nondiscretionary expenses, save, take out loans and plan, etc., working towards growing their assets and growing their resources, in their quest for good FH. This study examined the relationship between FI and FH in South Africa, as well as whether and how individuals benefit from their relationship to the financial system. The study used a nationally representative demand-side survey, FinScope South Africa, for the periods 2011 and 2016. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to derive a Financial Inclusion Index (FII) and a Financial Health Index (FHI) to measure the range of FI and FH in South Africa. Probit regressions were run to measure the likelihood of being financially included and having good FH. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) were run to identify the sort of the relationship between the dependant and independent variables. Lastly, bivariate regressions were run to test the relationship between FI and FH.

The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the financial health of the town. Financial analysis methods which are traditionally used for the evaluation of the financial situation of the entrepreneurial entities are convenient to use for this purpose. There was designed a system of financial ratios/indicators suitable for the evaluation of the financial health of municipalities. It involves 10 indicators. Four financial ratios were adopted from the system of informative and monitoring indicators (SIMU) which is being watched by the Ministry of Finance of CR in the framework of the municipality management monitoring and they contain apart from the other things also representatives of the classic financial ratios of indebtedness and liquidity. Further indicators which are involved are particularly special ones focussed on municipality budgetary management. Next, there was selected a group of 10 comparable towns. For this selected sample including the investigated town the system of ratios was calculated. There were used all data which are accessible by means of the application of ARISweb and ÚFIS /kinds of servers ? translator´s remark/, i.e. reports for the period of 2001 ? 2012. The indicators were calculated for each year and aggregated by means of the weighted average. In order to evaluate the aggregated results there was used a point method, i.e. one of the mathematical and statistical methods used for indicators system analysis. Using this method the average values of the system indicators for the particular towns were transformed and synthesized into one indicator, while importance of the particulars indicators was expressed again by scales. This way there was possible to find out the level of each town in the selected set.

This dissertation investigates the interrelationships between a client's non-GAAP earnings disclosures, financial health (profit and loss status), and the external auditor's assessment of the client's going concern status. This dissertation comprises two essays. Essay 1 examines the informativeness and the quality of non-GAAP earnings disclosures in profit and loss firms separately. Using a large sample of non-GAAP earnings voluntarily disclosed by managers, I find that the informativeness and the quality of non-GAAP earnings vary in firms cross-classified by GAAP loss status and non-GAAP loss status. I also find that loss firms have higher quality non-GAAP exclusions relative to profit firms, although the expenses excluded by both profit and loss firms are associated with firms' future performance. Further, I posit and find that profit firms which voluntarily disclose non-GAAP losses have high-quality exclusions, while other non-GAAP reporting profit firms have low-quality exclusions. Having found that non-GAAP earnings in loss firms is opportunistic to some extent, I next study, in Essay 2, whether auditors understand the implications of low-quality non-GAAP reporting in these firms. Specifically, I examine 1) whether non-GAAP earnings disclosures are associated with the propensity of the auditor's going concern issuance to loss firms, and 2) whether non-GAAP earnings disclosures affect the accuracy of the auditor's going concern assessment. This is important because auditors often conduct audits of loss firms that disclose non-GAAP earnings, and the consequences of issuing wrong audit opinions can be severe. I find that the propensity of the auditor's going concern issuance is negatively associated with the magnitude of expense exclusions in loss firms, after controlling for determinants of going concern opinions that are derived from GAAP earnings. This finding suggests that auditors take into account information embedded in non-GAAP earnings when assessing clients' going concern status. Using bankruptcy outcome as a benchmark, I find that non-GAAP earnings disclosures could increase type II errors in auditors' going concern reporting. I further find that small size auditors and non-specialist auditors are more likely to be misled by non-GAAP reporting when making going concern decisions. In sum, my dissertation furthers our understanding of non-GAAP reporting and its implication for auditors' decision making for issuing going concern opinions.

The paper is focused on comparison of individual methods enabling evaluation of health care facilities and selection of the most suitable method with respect to the evaluation objective. The aim of the evaluation is to compare health care facilities by the indicators that can affect patient satisfaction. A financially sound hospital has enough resources to invest in new medical technology and equipment, it can afford to adequately pay quality health care staff and thereby influence treatment success and patient satisfaction. The partial objective is to select appropriate financial indicators for evaluation, as well as a method for comparing and ranking hospitals. The most suitable method of evaluation was the point method with the determination of weights and the definition of the required range of indicators. I proceed according to this method also in the current evaluation, with the alteration of indicators.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Ecology-Personal Financial Planning / Sonya L. Britt / There is limited research on physiological stress in the financial planning field. While the literature shows a clear relationship between physiological stress and physical health, little is known about the relationship between physiological stress and financial health perceptions. With Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) theory of cognitive appraisal serving as the framework for this study, three multivariate regressions investigated the relationship between chronic physiological stress and financial health perceptions as measured by changes in financial satisfaction, changes in financial strain, and expectations about one’s financial situation in the future. The sample consisted of 703 individuals that were recruited from 2011-2014 to participate in the Midlife in the United States Refresher study. Based on non-imputed data, respondents were evenly split between male and female and between 25 and 76 years old with a mean age of 51 years old. Respondents were also mostly white, working, married, and had some college education. The sample reported mean household income of $71,052 and a net worth of $586,329. The mean salivary cortisol level was 16.06 Nanomoles per litre (nmol/L), and respondents reported better than the median score for self-reported health status. When comparing before the recession to present day, the mean responses from respondents indicated that their financial strain remained about the same, but financial satisfaction declined. Respondents reported better than the median score for expectations about their financial future. An ordinary least squares regression was used to model changes in financial satisfaction. A cumulative logistic regression was used to model changes in financial strain and expectations about one’s future financial situation. The model results provided support for several key hypotheses formed from the theoretical framework. In particular, salivary cortisol, the proxy for chronic physiological stress, had a statistically significant negative relationship with expectations about one’s future financial situation. An increase in chronic physiological stress was associated with lower expectations about the financial future. There was not a statistically significant relationship between salivary cortisol and changes in financial satisfaction or changes in financial strain. Given the sparse physiological stress research that exists in the financial planning field, this study provides researchers and practitioners with new information regarding the impact of chronic physiological stress on financial health perceptions. Measuring physiological stress in a non-experimental setting gives researchers a different approach to understanding the impacts of physiological stress. For practitioners, uncovering the relationship between chronic physiological stress and financial health perceptions might promote the use of stress reductions as part of holistic approach to financial planning.

In my work I focus first on the theoretical part, which concerns itself with the financial analysis. I dealt with her description, a brief history of the order and importance, users of this financial analysis, sources of information for development and their limitations. Then I focused on the description of financial ratios, which are used in most businesses, and bankruptcy and secure prediction models. I then applied this knowledge in the practical part of this work, which I used data real-existing business of the Prague Water Supply and Sewerage and the aim of the work was so detailed assessment of the financial situation of the enterprise for the period 2005-2009 from the perspective of external users.

Financial analysis of the Lecebne lazne Bohdanec, a.s.

Higher education is in a challenging financial time. Overall, states are investing considerably less in higher education than they did a decade ago and students are paying significantly more in tuition and fees. Simultaneously, the higher education landscape is changing – changing in terms of demographics, modes of delivery, workforce needs, funding and cost structures, and perceptions of value. Almost every day there is a new media story about a college or university experiencing financial difficulties. With decreasing confidence from campus financial officers in the long-term sustainability of their institutions and campus closures expected to escalate in the coming years, there is a significant need to better understand higher education financial health so that colleges and universities can proactively address challenges as they arise. Research pertaining to higher education financial health, particularly with respect to public higher education, was found to be limited. This project, first explored the research and methods in use to measure higher education financial health. Then, utilizing the Composite Financial Index (CFI), the most widely adopted metric for measuring financial health identified during the literature review, addressed a research gap related to financial analysis in public higher education through conducting a quantitative analysis of the California State University (CSU) system. The CSU, the largest four-year public higher education system in the country, serves as an important litmus test for the higher education industry as a whole given its sheer magnitude in educating over 480,000 students each year and producing one out of every ten workers in California. In addition, leading indicators signal that California public higher education should be exceeding industry performance given that California is the 5th largest economy in the world during a lengthy period of economic growth, is one of only four states to invest more in higher education in 2018 than it did in 2008, and has the 7th highest tuition rate increases over the same time period. The quantitative analysis of the CSU consisted of a four-pronged approach: 1) Analyze system financial health over a 20 year period; 2) analyze campus financial health over a five-year period; 3) analyze the CSU’s CFI over a 20 year period in comparison to key variables - Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate trends, CSU state funding changes, and CSU tuition rate changes; and 4) analyze campus CFIs with campus enrollment size. Overall, results indicate significant underlying financial concerns for the CSU and disaggregating the results by campus indicate even greater financial concerns at a campus level, reinforcing the notion that smaller campuses experience disparate financial impacts and are more susceptible to closure if left unaddressed. In addition, this research establishes correlations with key variables analyzed and outlines recommendations for future research to further validate findings and more closely identify causality. These findings reinforce the need for colleges and universities to develop a sense of urgency to proactively address the changes and challenges that are occurring, with greater use of strategic financial analysis needed to achieve transformation.