Under det senaste decenniet har det förekommit flera företagsskandaler vilket har startat en debatt kring revisionsprofessionen. Intressenterna anser att revisorerna inte har utfört sitt jobb på ett yrkesmässigt korrekt sätt, när de inte ifrågasatt fortlevnaden hos bolag som senare gått i konkurs. Tidigare forskning har visat att revisorerna har dålig träffsäkerhet när de bedömer ”going concern” och när revisorerna utfärdar ”going concern” varningar formulerar de sig på olika sätt. I revisionsstandard 570 återfinns en formulering som revisorerna bör använda, men formuleringarna påverkas av revisorns kompetens och oberoende. Vår studie syftar till att kartlägga revisorernas träffsäkerhet när det gäller ”going concern” för svenska aktiebolag som har gått i konkurs. Vidare identifierar och kategoriserar vi hur ”going concern” varningar har formulerats. Vi utgick från material som vi fick från samhällsvetenskapliga institutionen på Mittuniversitetet i Sundsvall och som innehöll uppgifter från kronofogden beträffande juridiska personer i Sverige som försatts i konkurs av tingrätten under januari till augusti 2010. Vi kodade uppgifter från företagens årsredovisningar som visar att revisorerna har låg träffsäkerhet (16 procent) gällande ”going concern” varningar. När revisorerna ifrågasätter fortlevnaden, är tydligt formulerade varningar i majoritet. I den kategorin är underkategorin med formuleringar enligt revisionsstandard 570 i majoritet. Sammanfattningsvis visar både tidigare forskning och våra resultat att revisorerna har låg träffsäkerhet beträffande bedömning av ”going concern”. Om bedömning av ”going concern” skall ligga kvar hos revisorerna föreslår vi på basis av våra resultat att revisionsstandard 570 bör vara tvingande att använda. / Over the last decade, there have been several scandals which have sparked debate about the audit profession. Stakeholders believe that the auditors have not performed their job in a professionally correct way, when they questioned the viability of companies that subsequently went bankrupt. Previous research has shown that the auditors have poor accuracy when assessing the "going concern" and when auditors issue 'going concern' warning they formulate them in different ways. The auditing standard 570 found a formulation that auditors should use, but the formulations are affected by auditor competence and independence. Our study aims to identify auditors' accuracy in terms of "going concern" for Swedish companies that have gone bankrupt. Furthermore, we identify and categorize how "going concern" warnings have been formulated. We began with the materials we received from the Social Sciences at Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall, which contained information from the enforcement officer concerning legal persons in Sweden who has been declared bankrupt by the District Court from January to August 2010. We coded data from companies' annual reports that show that the auditors have low success rates (16 percent) regarding "going concern" warnings. When the auditors question the viability, are clear warnings in the majority. In that category is the category with the formulations according to the audit standard 570 in majority. In summary, both previous research and our findings that the auditors have low accuracy on the evaluation of "going concern". If the assessment of the "going concern" shall remain with the auditors, we propose on the basis of our results that the auditing standard 570 should be mandatory to use.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel, 2000.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

In recent years, the number of Chinese companies going public has grown significantly. Some of these companies have listed their shares locally in Shanghai and Shenzhen, while others have chosen a stock exchange with better access to international capital (e.g., Hong Kong). This thesis examines 1) the determinants of the firms’ choice regarding initial public offering (IPO) locations and 2) whether IPO locations might affect their subsequent performance. Our study focuses solely on firms in the real estate sector in which pre-IPO attributes as well as the underlying asset value can be identified and measured. Our dataset includes 29 Chinese real estate firms that have issued shares in Shanghai or Shenzhen and 28 Chinese firms with IPOs in Hong Kong during the period of 1992-2008. To explain their IPO location choice, the self-selection or signaling theory suggests that firms with higher quality would signal this information by issuing shares in Hong Kong. Given the more stringent listing requirements and better informational disclosure schemes in the Hong Kong market, if a firm has low quality, such information is more likely and quickly to be discovered in Hong Kong than in Mainland China. Therefore, it is costly for such firms to imitate good firms’ IPO location choice. Once the firms have been listed, the corporate governance literature suggests that firms listed in Hong Kong would demonstrate a greater performance increase than those listed in Mainland China, because Hong Kong has a mature system of information disclosure, analyst coverage, and law enforcement. We found that firms listed in Hong Kong achieved higher Return on Asset (ROA) than those listed in Mainland China. We then construct four proxies for firms’ unobserved quality based on ex post abnormal stock or profit returns after IPOs. We obtained support for the signaling and self-selection effects: firms having higher quality, non-state ownership, and larger leverage ratio were more likely to conduct IPOs in Hong Kong instead of in Mainland China. Also consistent with the signaling theory, we found that firms listed in Mainland China were more likely to use IPO underpricing as a signal for firm quality than firms listed in Hong Kong were. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

To gain insight into the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) impact on audit quality, this study investigates the association between PCAOB inspection exposure (akin to the threat of a PCAOB inspection) and auditor reporting decisions. Certain foreign governments prohibit PCAOB inspections of their domestic auditors of U.S. SEC registrants citing sovereign control. This unique setting provides an opportunity to observe variation in the reach of the PCAOB inspection program and isolate its' effect on auditor reporting. I find that auditors in jurisdictions allowing PCAOB inspections are more likely to report going concern opinions and material weaknesses relative to auditors in jurisdictions barring PCAOB inspections. I find no difference in these auditor reporting propensities in the pre-PCAOB regulatory. This study provides evidence that PCAOB inspection exposure is associated with auditor reporting incentives, and ultimately audit quality, which is the fundamental purpose of the PCAOB inspection program.

While the literature on underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs) of common stock is various and expansive, very little research has been undertaken in countries where capital markets are less developed.  This thesis therefore attempts to address the shortage of such research in Egypt, which has been witnessing an important phase of transition towards a broader adoption of market-oriented policies through the revitalisation of its stockmarket since 1991.  The aim is to measure the short-run performance of IPOs in an effort to compare the maturity of the Egyptian capital market with that of other nations, both of developed countries and a peer group of developing countries.  This thesis also seeks to determine whether the underpricing phenomenon is due to the usual factors suggested by classical IPO theories or is related to some specific features of the Egyptian market transformation.  This thesis employs a sample of 59 Egyptian IPOs listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange (ESE) during 1994-2005. This thesis suggests the winner’s curse model can be applied.  On average, Egyptian IPOs offer an initial return of about 10.16%, which is considered, to some extent, lower than the initial returns of many other developing countries.  Additionally, there is a general tendency for privatised IPOs (PIPOs) to be underpriced to a greater degree than private sector IPOs.  The industry of the firm and year of an IPO significantly affects the level of underpricing in Egypt.  Results are consistent with the political economy theory as the Egyptian government tried to build up investors’ confidence by underpricing PIPOs more than private-sector IPOs, underpricing regulated industries more than competitive industries and underpricing early IPOs more than late IPOs.

This paper examines the role of investment banks in initial public offerings. More specifically, we uncover whether or not bulge bracket banks, on average, more or less underprice IPOs than non-bulge bracket counterparts. Three different models are utilized to uncover the determinants of underpricing, with an emphasis on deal mechanics and quantitative measures of the going public firm.

Universiẗat, 2006--Münster (Westfalen).