The main aim of the thesis is to define creative accounting and describe selected techniques, which can be encountered in real life, including with their effect on accounting reports. For proper understanding of the issues this thesis also defines accounting in accordance with applicable laws and standards. However, the technique of creative accounting is the result of work of people who are part of an interest group which aims to present the status of the company in a distorted form. For this reason ethics in accounting is also a part of this thesis. The practical part of the work is focused on creative accounting practices and their implications are presented with examples. These examples are accompanied by diagrams presenting the impact of the respective values on selected accounting reports and include explanatory comments.

A literatura trata a suavização do lucro líquido como uma das proxies para medir a qualidade da informação contábil (DECHOW; GE; SCHRAND, 2010). Porém, pesquisas sobre suavização do lucro líquido são divergentes em responder se essa suavização aumenta ou diminui a qualidade da informação. Existem trabalhos que testam se o aumento da suavização do lucro líquido aumenta a qualidade da informação por meio da persistência do lucro (TUCKER; ZAROWIN, 2006). Sabe-se, todavia, que os investidores não projetam fluxos de caixa futuros das empresas utilizando somente o lucro líquido, mas as contas de resultado que compõem esse lucro, pois são consideradas relevantes no processo de decisão sobre determinado investimento (BARTON; HANSEN; POWNALL, 2010). Entretanto, desconhecese qual o impacto da suavização sobre as contas de resultado que compõem o lucro líquido. Assim, esta pesquisa procura analisar como o objetivo de suavizar o lucro líquido afeta a persistência das contas de resultado que compõem esse lucro. Nesse sentido, as empresas que fazem parte da amostra foram separadas em empresas que mais e menos suavizam o lucro líquido de acordo com três modelos de suavização encontrados na literatura (LEUZ; NANDA; WYSOCKI , 2003; TUCKER; ZAROWIN, 2006). Posteriormente, foram testadas a persistência das contas de resultado, utilizando o modelo de persistência adaptado de Dechow; Ge e Schrand (2010). Os resultados apontam que as empresas que mais suavizam o lucro líquido possuem contas de resultado mais persistentes em relação às contas das empresas que menos suavizam esse lucro. Além disso, as empresas que mais suavizam o lucro líquido com maior quantidade de accruals discricionários possuem determinadas contas de resultado mais persistentes quando comparadas às empresas que mais suavizam esse lucro com menor quantidade de accruals discricionários. Portanto, os resultados sugerem que o gestor esteja suavizando o lucro artificialmente aumentando a persistência de determinadas contas de resultado, o que caracteriza estas persistências como artificiais. Assim, o investidor que projetar fluxos de caixa de empresas que mais suavizam o lucro líquido com maior quantidade de accruals discricionários poderá ter sua decisão prejudicada / The literature treats the income smoothing as one of the proxies to measure the earnings quality (DECHOW; GE; SCHRAND, 2010). However, research on the income smoothing diverges in whether this smoothing increases or decreases the earnings quality. There are studies that test whether the increase in income smoothing increases the quality of information through the earnings persistence (TUCKER; ZAROWIN, 2006). It is known, however, that investors do not project future cash flows of companies using only net income, but the profit and loss accounts that make up this profit since they are considered relevant in the decision process on an investment (BARTON; HANSEN; POWNALL, 2010). However, the impact of income smoothing on the income statements that make up net income is not known. Thus, this research seeks to analyze how the objective of smoothing the net profit affects the persistence of the income accounts that compose this profit. In this sense, the companies that are part of the sample were separated into companies that more and less smooth the net profit according to three models of income smoothing found in the literature (LEUZ; NANDA; WYSOCKI , 2003; TUCKER; ZAROWIN, 2006). Subsequently, the persistence of the profit and loss accounts was tested using the persistence model adapted from Dechow; Ge and Schrand (2010). The results show that the companies that smoothed the net profit have more persistent profit and loss accounts in relation to the accounts of the companies that least smooth their profit. In addition, companies that the most smoothed their net income with greater amount of discretionary accruals have more persistent profit and loss accounts when compared to the companies that most smooth their profit with less amount of discretionary accruals. Therefore, the results suggest that it is possible for the manager being artificially smoothing the profit, making certain profit and loss accounts more persistent, which characterizes persistence as artificial. Thus, the investor who projects future cash flow from companies that the most smooth the net income with greater discretionary accruals may have their decision impaired, since the projection of future cash flow may not represent the expected future financial performance of the company

Examensarbetets titel: Obeskattade reserver - Vilka företagsspecifika variablerpåverkar användandet av obeskattade reserver i små företag? Presentationsdatum: 2018-05-29 Ämne, kurs: FÖ2023, Examensarbete för kandidatexamen i företagsekonomiFörfattare: Lina Eriksson, Riina MyrsellHandledare: Åsa GrekExaminator: Christoffer RydlandSyfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att förklara vilka företagsspecifika variabler sompåverkar användandet av obeskattade reserver.Metod: Uppsatsen är ett naturligt experiment. Studiens syfte uppnås genom enkvantitativ analys av data hämtad från Retriever Business.Resultat och slutsats: Uppsatsens regressionsanalys visar att lönsamhet ochbranschtillhörighet påverkar de små företagens avsättningar till obeskattade reserver. / Title of the essay: Untaxed reserves - Which company-specific variables affectthe use of untaxed reserves in small Swedish companies?Presentation date: 2018-05-29Subject, course: FÖ2023, Thesis for Bachelor Degree in Business AdministrationAuthor: Lina Eriksson, Riina MyrsellSupervisor: Åsa GrekExaminer: Christoffer RydlandPurpose: The purpose of this essay is to explain which company-specific variablesthat affect the use of untaxed reserves.Method: The essay is a natural experiment. The purpose of the study is achievedthrough a quantitative analysis of data retrieved from Retriever Business.Result and conclusion: The essay's regression analysis shows that profitability andindustry affiliation affect the small companies' depositions to untaxed reserves.

In this thesis, I examine earnings management issues in the UK context. The thesis consists of three essays. The first chapter investigates whether managers base their trade-off decisions among real earnings management, accruals-based earnings management, and classification shifting, on the costs, constraints and timing of each strategy in the UK. The empirical evidence suggests that some, but not all, costs and constraints play a role in managers’ trade-off decisions. Further, contrasting between firms that are most likely to have manipulated earnings and firms that are not likely to have manipulated earnings, I find no difference in the relation of constraints towards all earnings management forms. This indicates that cost and constraints do not capture entirely what they are designed to, in the first place. Finally, I document evidence that is consistent with managers using real and accruals-based earnings management as substitutes but fail to find evidence that classification shifting acts as a substitute. The second essay studies the effect of income smoothing via accruals-based and real earnings management on the relationship between current stock returns, current earnings and future earnings. I measure income smoothing as the contemporaneous correlation between changes in earnings management proxies and pre-managed income. Using a sample of non-financial publicly listed firms in the UK, I show that both accruals-based and real income smoothing measures are associated with significantly positive share price anticipation of earnings. These results are robust to different stock returns specifications, income smoothing measure calculations, abnormal accruals models and accumulation periods of stock returns. In the third and final essay, I investigate the impact of the level of accruals-based and real earnings management on measures of the amount of performance commentary in annual reports for a large sample of UK public firms. I use automated textual analysis to construct disclosure scores based on the amount of performance and causal commentary. The results suggest that firms with higher levels of earnings management have lower levels of disclosure of performance and causal commentary. The presence of bad news for the firm (missed analyst forecast, underperformance or earnings decline) affects the relationship between disclosure and accruals-based earnings management but not the relationship between disclosure and real earnings management.

盈餘對公司來說是最簡單、最直接之績效衡量指標，故盈餘之報導對公司相當重要，也因此過去有關盈餘管理及損益平穩化行為之相關研究將重點放在報導水準受到各種因素、各類利害關係人之影響。公司之控制權掌握在股東手中，因此股東對盈餘報導之影響不容忽視；但股東（同時也是投資人）之投資目的及投資策略不盡相同，對盈餘之影響亦可能不同。此外，同產業之公司間會因投資人對其所做之相對績效評估而有相互競爭之行為，致使同產業之行為可能有趨向一致之情況，不同產業則可能不同。 　　本研究以民國八十三年至民國八十八年為研究期間，針對我國上市公司研究其損益平穩化行為，從股權結構觀點（以長、短期投資之股東持股比率）探討其與公司損益平穩化行為之關係，藉以瞭解投資人之投資目的不同對公司長期盈餘之趨勢有何關聯性。其次，針對我國電子產業與非電子產業進行產業效果之研究，探討損益平穩化行為之不同是否與產業有關，以及電子產業損益平穩化之傾向。 　　實證結果發現：(1)公司之平穩化行為與股權結構有顯著關聯性；(2)當公司長期投資之股東持股比率愈高時，公司傾向不採行損益平穩化；(3)當公司短期投資之股東持股比率愈高時，公司愈傾向平穩化其損益；(4)產業因素與我國上市公司損益平穩化行為有顯著關聯性，不同產業之平穩化行為不同，且電子資訊產業傾向不從事損益平穩化。 / Earnings is the simplest and most straightforward indicator of a company's performance. Therefore, earnings reporting could be a crucial concern for an investor's decision-making. There are a lot of researches regarding earnings management and income smoothing focused on how the role of stakeholders and other possible factors would affect the accuracy of a company's earnings reporting. For most companies, their shareholders control the core business activities, and thus it is hard to ignore their impact on the earnings performance. However, due to the discrepancy of investing policies and activities of different types of investor, the extent to which the types of shareholders could influence a company's earnings can be varied. Besides, since companies in the same industry always compete for better performance resulted from investors' relative performance evaluation, there is also a trend that the companies in the same industry would behavior in a similar way when reporting their earnings. 　　In order to prove that there's a significant relationship between a company's trend of reported earnings and its shareholders' investing goals, this thesis collects the overall market data from 1994 to 1999 and then examines each company's income smoothing behavior. In addition to testing whether a company's decision to exerting income smoothing is contributed to the portions of long-term and shot-term shareholders, this thesis also tries to identify whether the industry effect exists among the electronic industry and other industries that can make different industries have discrepant income smoothing behaviors, and find the electronic industry's income smoothing intent. 　　The empirical results document that: (1) A company's income smoothing behavior is significantly related to its ownership structure; (2) A company with larger portion of long-term shareholders tends to not adopt income smoothing strategy; (3) A company with larger portion of short-term shareholders tends to adopt income smoothing strategy; (4) The industry effect is significantly related to companies’ income smoothing behaviors. Different industry has different pattern of income smoothing behavior. The companies in the electronic industry tend to not adopt income smoothing strategy.

<p>Small firms often have inadequate access to the capital necessary for sucessful management. The Swedish Government introduced in the mid-1990s allowance rules that facilitate retention of profit for sole proprietorships and partnership firms. The tax credits arising from the allowances give certain benefits as a source of financing compared to traditional forms of credits. Among the more essential benefits are that the payment for some parts of the tax credit can be put on hold almost indefinitely, or alternatively never be paid. The firms are free to use these means, and the responsibility of future payment of the postponed tax debt stays with the individual firms. The comprehensive purpose of the dissertation may be stated as to increase the understanding of small Swedish firms, especially sole proprietorships, utilizing possibilities for allowances for income smoothing and internal financing. At the beginning the dissertation describes case studies, comprising a smaller selection of microfirms. With a starting-point from the accounted and reported income-tax returns, alternative calculations are made where additional positive tax and finance effects appear possible to obtain. One purpose of these studies is to increase the insight regarding the possibilities of income smoothing and internal financing that arise from utilizing these allowances. </p><p>These studies also illuminate, to what extent and in what way they are being used in reality. Another objective of these studies is to give a more substantive insight into the technics behind the different allowances, appropriation to positive or negative interest rate allocation appropriation or dissolving of tax allocation reserve appropriation or dissolving of “expansion fund” Theories regarding the creation of resources, through building of capital, and theories on financial planning and strategy are studied. The purpose is to find support for the choice of theoretical grounded underlying independent variables that can be used in cross-sectional studies to explain the use of the possibilities of appropriations. Theories of finance that are of greatest interest, in the operationalisation of these variables, are theories that discuss the choices of different financing alternatives for small firms. The “pecking order theory”, describes the firm’s order of priority when choices of finance alternatives are made. The concept of “financial bootstrapping” expands the frame for different forms of financing choices that especially very small firms have at their disposal.</p><p>The last part of the theoretical frame deals with the phenomenon of “income smoothing,” which can be translated as leveling out profits/losses. A number of financial and non-financial variables are supported by and operationalised from these financial theories e.g., return on sales, capital turnover, quick ratio and debt-to-equity ratio, respectively age, gender and line of business. Cross-sectional studies are implemented for the taxation years of 1996 and 1999, on databases that have been extracted from Statistics Sweden. The group of 87,276 sole proprietorships included in the study were required to complete tax returns and pay taxes for the business activity according to the supporting schedule, N2, information from the sole proprietorships’ income statement and balance sheet in an accounting statement that comes with the income tax return form. The possibilities of allowances are considered as dependent variables. The intention of the cross-sectional studies is to survey and describe the utilization of possible allowances, with the support of the financial and non-financial independent variables. The connection of these variables to the decision of sole proprietorships to appropriate to the tax allocation reserve is also summarized in a logistic regression model. A number of theoretically based propositions are made for the purpose of observing how the variables are connected to the chances that sole proprietorships actually appropriate to this form of allowance. Appropriation to the tax allocation reserve stands out as the most practiced form of allowance. The studies also clarify that utilization varies among different forms of allowances, but that not all firms that have the prerequisites to utilize the possibilities really do so to the full. A further utilization of the different possibilities of allowances is often conceivable. For the sole proprietorships that are not utilizing these possibilities, the allowances should be considered eligible as a contribution to internal financing and to increase access to capital.</p>

Small firms often have inadequate access to the capital necessary for sucessful management. The Swedish Government introduced in the mid-1990s allowance rules that facilitate retention of profit for sole proprietorships and partnership firms. The tax credits arising from the allowances give certain benefits as a source of financing compared to traditional forms of credits. Among the more essential benefits are that the payment for some parts of the tax credit can be put on hold almost indefinitely, or alternatively never be paid. The firms are free to use these means, and the responsibility of future payment of the postponed tax debt stays with the individual firms. The comprehensive purpose of the dissertation may be stated as to increase the understanding of small Swedish firms, especially sole proprietorships, utilizing possibilities for allowances for income smoothing and internal financing. At the beginning the dissertation describes case studies, comprising a smaller selection of microfirms. With a starting-point from the accounted and reported income-tax returns, alternative calculations are made where additional positive tax and finance effects appear possible to obtain. One purpose of these studies is to increase the insight regarding the possibilities of income smoothing and internal financing that arise from utilizing these allowances. These studies also illuminate, to what extent and in what way they are being used in reality. Another objective of these studies is to give a more substantive insight into the technics behind the different allowances, appropriation to positive or negative interest rate allocation appropriation or dissolving of tax allocation reserve appropriation or dissolving of “expansion fund” Theories regarding the creation of resources, through building of capital, and theories on financial planning and strategy are studied. The purpose is to find support for the choice of theoretical grounded underlying independent variables that can be used in cross-sectional studies to explain the use of the possibilities of appropriations. Theories of finance that are of greatest interest, in the operationalisation of these variables, are theories that discuss the choices of different financing alternatives for small firms. The “pecking order theory”, describes the firm’s order of priority when choices of finance alternatives are made. The concept of “financial bootstrapping” expands the frame for different forms of financing choices that especially very small firms have at their disposal. The last part of the theoretical frame deals with the phenomenon of “income smoothing,” which can be translated as leveling out profits/losses. A number of financial and non-financial variables are supported by and operationalised from these financial theories e.g., return on sales, capital turnover, quick ratio and debt-to-equity ratio, respectively age, gender and line of business. Cross-sectional studies are implemented for the taxation years of 1996 and 1999, on databases that have been extracted from Statistics Sweden. The group of 87,276 sole proprietorships included in the study were required to complete tax returns and pay taxes for the business activity according to the supporting schedule, N2, information from the sole proprietorships’ income statement and balance sheet in an accounting statement that comes with the income tax return form. The possibilities of allowances are considered as dependent variables. The intention of the cross-sectional studies is to survey and describe the utilization of possible allowances, with the support of the financial and non-financial independent variables. The connection of these variables to the decision of sole proprietorships to appropriate to the tax allocation reserve is also summarized in a logistic regression model. A number of theoretically based propositions are made for the purpose of observing how the variables are connected to the chances that sole proprietorships actually appropriate to this form of allowance. Appropriation to the tax allocation reserve stands out as the most practiced form of allowance. The studies also clarify that utilization varies among different forms of allowances, but that not all firms that have the prerequisites to utilize the possibilities really do so to the full. A further utilization of the different possibilities of allowances is often conceivable. For the sole proprietorships that are not utilizing these possibilities, the allowances should be considered eligible as a contribution to internal financing and to increase access to capital.

Background: The question on how to account for goodwill has long been a subject that causes big debates among actors within financial accounting. In 2004, the IASB released a new standard, IFRS 3 – Business Combinations, that changed the accounting for goodwill. The interpretation for goodwill impairments according to IAS 36 has led to findings in studies that show patterns of earnings management and that a possible gap exists between the standard setter’s basic aim of IAS 36 and what actually is done by the practitioners. Purpose: Examine what determines the amount of reported goodwill impairment for firms listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm (OMXS). Method: To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, the authors takes a quantitative research approach by a using a multiple linear regression model. The regression model is based on proxies for economic impairment, earnings management and corporate governance mechanisms from previous literature (Stenheim &amp; Madsen, 2016; AbuGhazaleh, Al-Hares, &amp; Roberts, 2011; Riedl, 2004). The data used for the regression model has been collected from published annual reports of 69 firms listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm OMX (OMXS), between the years 20072016. Conclusion: The findings of the thesis show that the accounting behaviour of “Big Bath” is exercised for firms listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm OMX (OMXS). The proxies for economic impairment have, to some extent, an impact on the amount of reported goodwill impairment, but the majority of the proxies for corporate governance mechanisms does not affect the amount of reported goodwill impairment. These findings might suggest that the standard IAS 36, which regulates the accounting for goodwill, may not entirely fulfil its purpose of creating a more transparent financial reporting.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:31:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ana Cristina Pereira 1.pdf: 934370 bytes, checksum: 081eb64c0e784ec6da19cafba2aacf31 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-10-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The aim of this study was to examine whether managers practice income smoothing, when exercising the power to judge and choose the accounting practices aimed a particular debt. It is an empirical-analytic study, with descriptive longitudinal nature. The population consists of all open Brazilian non-financial companies listed on the BM&FBOVESPA. Company data were collected in the database of Economática. The sample comprised 273 companies in the period between 2008 and 2013 for the independent variables Smoothing Results and Debt, lagged values were used as the starting point was the assumption that each period, managers adjust the capital structure to the desired goal - target debt. Initially straightening companies and non-smoothers have been identified, according to the methodology proposed by Eckel (1981). Then the degree of smoothing trowels companies was calculated according to the model of Leuz, Nanda and Wisocky (2003). Finally we proceeded to the regression model with unbalanced panel data with fixed effects after the Hausman test. There was no evidence that income smoothing after IFRS adoption were found. Also the results were not statistically significant for claiming that income smoothing affects the debt. Finally, it was found that the current debt is influenced by past debt, ie, firms adjust their capital structure. / O objetivo geral deste trabalho foi analisar se os gestores praticam o alisamento de resultados, quando exercem o poder de julgar e escolher as práticas contábeis, objetivando um determinado endividamento. Trata-se de um estudo empírico-analítico, com natureza descritivo-longitudinal. A população é composta por todas as companhias abertas brasileiras não financeiras listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. Os dados das empresas foram coletados no banco de dados da Economática. A amostra foi composta 273 empresas no período entre 2008 e 2013. Para as variáveis independentes de Alisamento de Resultados e Endividamento, foram utilizados valores defasados, pois partiu-se da premissa de que a cada período, os gestores ajustam a estrutura de capital ao objetivo desejado endividamento alvo. Inicialmente foram identificadas as empresas alisadoras e as não alisadoras, conforme a metodologia proposta por Eckel (1981). Em seguida foi calculado o grau de alisamento das empresas alisadoras conforme o modelo de Leuz, Nanda e Wisocky (2003). Por fim procedeu-se a aplicação do modelo de regressão com dados em painel balanceado com efeitos fixos após o teste de Hausman. Não foram encontradas evidências de que houve alisamento de resultados após a adoção das IFRS. Também os resultados não foram significativos estatisticamente para afirmar que o alisamento de resultados afeta o endividamento. Por fim, foi constatado que o endividamento atual é influenciado pelo endividamento passado, ou seja, as empresas ajustam a sua estrutura de capital.

Submitted by Marcello Barreto (mbarreto@cbab.com.br) on 2012-08-02T19:43:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Marcello Barreto - Versão Final - 02-08.pdf: 1121539 bytes, checksum: d24a321be480e9de11d37f89b5312e4d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2012-08-03T18:32:20Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Marcello Barreto - Versão Final - 02-08.pdf: 1121539 bytes, checksum: d24a321be480e9de11d37f89b5312e4d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2012-08-07T20:31:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Marcello Barreto - Versão Final - 02-08.pdf: 1121539 bytes, checksum: d24a321be480e9de11d37f89b5312e4d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-08-07T20:31:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Marcello Barreto - Versão Final - 02-08.pdf: 1121539 bytes, checksum: d24a321be480e9de11d37f89b5312e4d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-27 / The main objective of this dissertation is to investigate the impact of accruals on the corporate earnings variability (EVAR) results that influence the practical application of income smoothing in Brazilian capital market firms. Initially, it approaches the importance of financial statements that must be evidenced in compliance with accounting principles generally accepted. Its disclosure should represent the reality of the economic-financial firm to the process of decision-making of shareholders and creditors. But at certain times, managers are motivated to practice the earnings management in an attempt to reduce the variability of profits through the use of accruals. The accruals represent the difference between net income and operating cash flow. In the process for reducing results volatility managers use the practice of income smoothing that represents a smoothing of profits, reducing any distortions in the market price of the firm. In this study, the sample is formed by a group of 163 capital market firms listed on Bovespa and presenting financial information in the period 2000 to 2007, categorized by sector, using data obtained in Economática. The statistical model used for this research was the regression analysis in order to explain the different cross-sectional models. These survey results indicate that accruals are significant to explain the EVAR of Brazilian companies. Our results suggest that the identification of structural model corporate earnings variability (EVAR) in Brazilian companies should be evidenced by non-financial variables that differ from those made by U.S. firms. / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal investigar o impacto dos accruals na variabilidade dos resultados corporativos (EVAR) que influenciam a aplicação prática do income smoothing nas firmas brasileiras de capital aberto. Inicialmente, é demonstrada a importância das demonstrações contábeis que devem ser evidenciadas em cumprimento aos princípios contábeis geralmente aceitos. Sua evidenciação deve representar a realidade econômico-financeira da firma para o processo de tomada de decisão dos acionistas e credores. Porém, em determinados momentos, os gestores se sentem motivados a praticar o gerenciamento dos resultados contábeis na tentativa de reduzir a variabilidade dos lucros por meio da utilização dos accruals. Os accruals correspondem à diferença entre o lucro líquido e o fluxo de caixa operacional. Nesse processo de redução da volatilidade dos resultados, os gestores se utilizam da prática do income smoothing procurando reduzir eventuais distorções no preço das ações da firma. A amostra neste estudo é composta por um grupo de 163 firmas de capital aberto listadas na Bovespa e que apresentaram informações financeiras no intervalo de 2000 a 2007, categorizadas por setores através de dados obtidos na Economática. O modelo estatístico utilizado na pesquisa foi a análise de regressão para explicar os diferentes modelos de cross-sectional. Os resultados desta pesquisa indicam que os accruals são significativos para explicar a variabilidade dos resultados corporativos (EVAR) de empresas brasileiras. Além disso, nossos resultados sugerem que o modelo estrutural de identificação do EVAR nas empresas brasileiras deve ser explicado por variáveis não contábeis diferentes das que são apresentadas pelas firmas norte-americanas.