Inför ett företagsförvärv måste potentiella köpare göra en undersökning av det aktuella företaget. Denna process kallas för Due Diligence och syftar till att minska informationsasymmetrin mellan säljare och köpare. I denna uppsats beskrivs hur köpare genom Due Diligence kan identifiera och värdera det som döljer sig i informationsasymmetrin. Studien är genomförd som en tvärsnittsstudie bestående av personliga intervjuer med tre företagsförmedlare och sju aktörer som varit delaktiga vid företagsförvärv. Slutsatserna är att köparnas beteende huvudsakligen stämmer överens med teorin. Respondenterna förespråkar tillämpningen av Due Diligence, men processens omfattning och kunskapen kring den varierar. Den faktor som kan vara avgörande för en lyckad respektive misslyckad Due Diligence är köparens förståelse för sina egna begränsningar samt förmågan att ta hjälp av andra specialister under de områden som hen inte klarar av på egen hand. Företagsförmedlare, revisorer och jurister kan därför ha en stor betydelse för processens genomförande. Det finns områden som respondenterna väljer att studera särskilt noga under Due Diligence. Gemensamt för samtliga respondenter är att de studerar årsredovisningar. Andra områden varierar beroende på de involverades erfarenheter och berör bland annat företagskultur,externa relationer, kapacitetsutnyttjande och miljöfrågor. Tack vare den omfattande och i huvudsak goda användningen av Due Diligence kan det anses att det inte föreligger ett generellt marknadsmisslyckande på företagsmarknaden, trots att vissa överlåtelser är mindre lyckade. / Prior to acquisitions, potential investors must conduct a survey on the company of interest. This process is called Due Diligence and it aims to reduce the asymmetric information between sellers and investors. This essay describes how investors through Due Diligence canidentify and evaluate the information hidden within the asymmetric information. The study is conducted as a cross-sectional study consisting of personal interviews with three business brokers and seven actors who have participated in business transfers. The conclusions are that buyers’ behavior in general are consistent with the theoretical framework. All respondents recommend using Due Diligence, but the scope and knowledgeof the process differs. The factor that can be crucial for a successful or unsuccessful Due Diligence is the investors’ understanding of their own limitations and the ability to enlist thehelp from other specialists in the fields they cannot manage on their own. Consultants such as business brokers, accountants and lawyers are therefore of great importance for Due Diligence. There are some areas that the respondents choose to study with particular care during DueDiligence. The one area that is common to all respondents is the investigation of the data contained in Annual Reports. Other areas vary depending on the investors experiences and among others include the corporate culture, external relations, capacity utilization and environmental issues. Thanks to the extensive and overall good use of Due Diligence, it can be considered that thereis no general market failure in the corporate market, although some transfers are less successful.

Moroccan manufacturing firms generally choose to incorporate under one of two legal forms: ‘Société Anonyme’ (SA) and ‘Société À Responsibilité Limitée’ (SARL). This thesis is about that choice and its consequence for firms’ access to bank overdraft facilities. In 2001, Morocco made a radical change to its company law regime: it replaced a company law dating from 19th-century France with modern standards of corporate governance and accountability. In Chapter One, I use the two-period FACS/ICA panel to analyse that reform and to evaluate its impact upon manufacturing firms’ access to bank credit. I find that the reform induced a substantial share of SA firms to switch to SARL, and that — relative to firms remaining in the SA status — this caused a significant and substantial withdrawal of bank overdraft facilities. In Chapter Two, I develop a theoretical model in which an agent signals its continuous type by using a variable that may take one of only two values (a ‘binary signal’); this is intended to represent a firm’s choice of legal status. I show that this binary signal provides only ‘coarse information’, and I consider the consequences of this coarseness; I solve for equilibrium conditions and I consider both the role of a principal’s risk aversion and the role of other observable agent characteristics (‘indices’). Chapter Three uses the results of Chapter Two to develop a new structural methodology for the separate identification of information and incentive effects. I apply the method to the data used in Chapter One, on the subset of firms having an overdraft facility in both survey periods (approximately two-thirds of the total sample). I find that, among that limited sample, there is no relevant information asymmetry. I estimate the potential welfare loss and conclude that, in the 95% confidence region of potential information effects and incentive effects, the maximum median welfare loss from information asymmetry is equivalent to approximately only 3% of the median bank overdraft limit. For the sample of firms having an overdraft facility in both survey periods, this challenges the common narrative that information asymmetry is an important reason for bank credit market failure.

There are four primary objectives of this study. First, it examines the association between the disclosure of the Internal Control Deficiencies (ICDs), as a proxy for the internal control quality, and information asymmetry (IA) in the secondary loan market. Second, it identifies which types of ICDs exacerbate conditions of information asymmetry in the secondary loan market. Third, it investigates whether firms that remediate or take corrective actions to address ICDs lead to a reduction in information asymmetry in the market. Finally, it examines the effect of the loan specific characteristics such as debt covenants, credit rating and number of lenders (syndication) in the secondary loan market on the association between ICDs and IA. Results suggest that firms that disclose ICDs have significant positive association with IA and that ICDs reported under section 302 have significant positive association with IA. Although results on the association between the severity rank of ICDs by using Internal Control Material Weaknesses (ICMWs) as a proxy and IA are not supported, the use of Company Level (CL) internal control as a proxy for the severity rank of ICDs shows a significant positive association with IA. Overall, firms that remediate their ICDs have significant negative association with IA. Overall, there is a statistical negative association between the interaction term of ICDs and number of lenders (syndication) and IA. Same negative significant association is documented between the interaction term of ICDs and credit rating, and IA and the interaction term of ICDs and debt covenants and IA. The latter result suggests that the secondary loan market unique characteristics mitigate the negative consequences of the disclosure of ICDs and reduce the information asymmetry between lender and multiple arrangers. My results are consistent with prior studies’ (Bryan and Lilien, 2005; Ge and McVay, 2005; Doyle, Ge and McVay 2007 a,b; Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, and Kinney, 2007, Ashbaugh-Skaife, Collins, Kinney, and LaFond, 2008), which suggest that firms with reported ICDs are generally small, poor performing, financially weaker, and characterized by higher market risk than firms with effective internal control system.

This paper examines the behaviour and use of accruals management (AM) and real activities manipulation (RAM) under local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and if it has been altered following IFRS implementation in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The paper takes inspiration from Roychowdhury (2006) and Zang (2012) and use previously developed frameworks for earnings management. It provides empirical results with data from 1997 to 2016, focusing on companies around zero earnings and zero earnings growth. The results are mixed where the use of RAM through production suggests increased earnings manipulation. RAM, through discretionary expenditures, on the other hand are positive, which suggests that companies do not engage in these activities. The results regarding AM suggest downward adjustments. However, neither discretionary expenditures nor AM have a significant change following IFRS implementation. Overall, earnings management behavior in the sample appears to be limited. Although, increased RAM has been found regarding production costs, which suggest adjustments following IFRS adoption. Lastly the paper finds that studying one type of earnings management behavior, as often previously done in research, is insufficient in order to fully estimate earnings management.

Hedge fund activism announcements are associated with positive market reactions, and they introduce information asymmetry between insiders and outside investors. Target firm insiders have superior information about the campaign and play an important role in the campaign negotiation. This study examines insiders’ behavior as information asymmetry rises following the campaign announcement. Insiders increase trading in their own firms in response to the campaign announcement. These post-announcement insider trades have additional return predictability than insider trades in other times. Post-announcement insider buys predict higher probabilities of achieving successful campaign outcomes including management turnovers, increases in payout, and corporate restructurings, and higher value of these outcomes. I also find evidence that insiders use campaign resistance and trading interactively to achieve higher wealth gain.

A natureza de hedge (proteção) das operações financeiras realizadas em bolsas de valores, mercadorias e futuros e assemelhadas pelas companhias brasileiras é requisito legal para o aproveitamento do benefício da dedutibilidade integral das perdas auferidas e prêmios pagos no cálculo do imposto sobre a renda no Brasil. Entretanto, entraves na comprovação documental destas operações perante a Secretaria da Receita Federal do Brasil (RFB) têm resultado em autuações fiscais e aplicações de multas tributárias milionárias, colocando em cheque os instrumentos de gestão de risco utilizados pelas empresas justamente com o intuito de evitar resultados indesejáveis ou imprevistos. Neste contexto, com fundamento nas prescrições da teoria da agência e com base em estudos empíricos em contabilidade e tributação que discutiram as causas e os efeitos da assimetria de informação, o presente estudo teve por objetivo identificar fatores que afetam a assimetria informacional entre contribuintes e Fisco federal, especificamente no que se refere ao controle, contabilização e comprovação da natureza de hedge de operações financeiras praticadas e o consequente tratamento concedido às perdas no cálculo do Imposto de Renda da Pessoa Jurídica (IRPJ). Por meio da realização de estudo de caso em empresa comercial exportadora autuada em R$ 16.438.314,10 (valor equivalente a 41,08% de seu Patrimônio Líquido em 2004) pelo Fisco federal em 2008, no intuito de glosar as perdas excedentes aos ganhos auferidos com instrumentos derivativos e contratos de swap nos anos-calendários de 2003 e 2004, verificou-se que mesmo diante da existência comprovada de exposição ao risco ex ante de variação de preços de commodities agrícolas (açúcar e etanol) e de cotação de moeda estrangeira, a ausência na legislação brasileira de critérios gerenciais e contábeis claros para a elaboração de controles internos obrigatórios ou de formulários padronizados para a apresentação das informações relativas às operações com instrumentos financeiros em geral (com finalidade de hedge ou não) - os quais não foram integralmente supridos pelas normas contábeis relativas ao hedge accouting vigentes a partir de 2008 -, resultou no agravamento das perdas auferidas pela cobrança adicional do IRPJ. Ademais, por meio de pesquisa documental e análise de conteúdo de decisões administrativas da RFB relativas ao tema \"comprovação de hedge\", foram identificados como fatores decisivos para a redução ou eliminação da assimetria informacional por parte dos contribuintes a correta vinculação das operações financeiras às atividades operacionais da companhia, a modalidade dos instrumentos financeiros selecionados e a estratégia de hedge adotada e, principalmente, a assertividade dos documentos apresentados à fiscalização federal para este fim. Estes resultados corroboram que os mesmos fatores identificados no estudo de caso podem ser atribuídos às demais companhias brasileiras autuadas pela RFB sob o mesmo fundamento - sucesso ou não na comprovação da natureza de hedge das operações financeiras praticadas em determinado período. / The hedge purpose in the financial operations on stock and commodities exchange and similar carried out by companies is legal condition to benefit the full deductibility of accounted losses and paid prizes in the income tax assessment in Brazil. However, obstacles in the documental prove of these operations before Brazilian Federal Revenue Office (RFB) are resulting in tax deficiency notices and millionaire fines\' application, jeopardizing the risk management instruments applied by companies exactly to avoid unexpected and unwanted results. In this sense, based on the agency theory prescriptions and on empirical studies on accounting and tax which discussed the informational asymmetry causes and effects, this paper aimed to identify factors which affect the information asymmetry between taxpayers and federal tax authorities, specifically with regards to controlling, recording and proving financial operations with hedge purposes, and consequently their tax treatment in the Corporate Income Tax (IRPJ) assessment. By means of a case study with a Brazilian trading company which was notified to collect R$ 16,438,314.10 (value equal to 41.08% of its equity in 2004) by Brazilian tax authorities in 2008, in order to disallow the deductibility of losses excessive to gains assessed on derivatives and swap operations on the calendar-years 2003 and 2004, it was verified that even before the proved existence of ex ante exposure to risk of soft commodities (sugar and ethanol) prices and foreign currency variations, Brazilian legislation´s lack with regards to clear both managerial and accounting criteria in elaborating obligatory internal controls or standard sheets to present information related to operations with general financial instruments (with hedge purposes or not) - which was not sufficiently supplied by the accounting Standards related to hedge accounting in force since 2008 -, results in a marginal loss related to the IRPJ additional cost. Moreover, by means of a broad documental research and content analysis of administrative case law issued by RFB and related to hedge prove, it was verified as critical factors to information asymmetry reduction or elimination the adequate compliance of financial operations to company\'s operational activity, the financial instruments applied and hedge strategy selected and mainly the documentation repertory presented to Brazilian tax authorities. This results corroborate that the same factors raised on the case study can be projected to other Brazilian companies also notified by RFB under the same basis - success or not on the prove of hedge purposes of financial operations carried out in determined period.

O intento do trabalho é verificar se empresas com ações negociadas na Bovespa enfrentam restrição ao crédito. A análise de painel com base em dados de balanço patrimonial para o período de 2001 a 2005 revelou que, diferentemente do que se esperava, empresas de grande porte apresentam maior dependência dos fluxos de caixa para efetivar seus investimentos. Todavia, há argumentos teóricos na literatura que fundamentam esses resultados, bem como outras evidências empíricas semelhantes. / The paper focuses on evaluating whether Brazilian listed firms have faced financial constraints. Relying on data over the period 2001-2005, a panel data analysis was carried out, but the evidence raised turned out differently from the initially expected: large firms are more sensitive to cash flows to undertake their investment than smaller ones. Nonetheless, the recent literature provides theoretical rationale to deal with those findings as well as empirical evidence consistent with them.

O propósito do presente estudo foi investigar a relação entre qualidade das informações contábeis, restrição financeira e decisões de investimentos na América Latina. Para isso analisou-se uma amostra com 10.318 observações de 958 empresas não financeiras de capital aberto, oriundas de sete diferentes países, entre os períodos de 1992 a 2009. Com o uso do modelo probabilístico Logit estimou-se o impacto da qualidade dos lucros na probabilidade das firmas apresentarem superinvestimentos, subinvestimentos ou restrição financeira. Em seguida, utilizando o método dos momentos generalizados (GMM) e uma adaptação do modelo acelerador de investimentos, estimaram-se os determinantes dos investimentos. Os resultados indicam que uma pior qualidade nos lucros possa reduzir a probabilidade de decisões eficientes de investimentos e aumentar a possibilidade de subinvestimentos. Verificou-se haver indícios de que a pior qualidade nos lucros possa exacerbar os problemas causados pelo conflito de interesses entre os tomadores de decisões e os investidores das firmas latino-americanas, pois a baixa qualidade nos lucros mostrou-se positivamente associada às taxas de investimentos das firmas com superinvestimentos e negativamente relacionada às taxas de investimentos das firmas com subinvestimentos. Por fim, os resultados indicam que a qualidade dos lucros afeta a sensibilidade dos investimentos ao caixa das firmas que estejam em situação de restrição financeira. Assim, conclui-se que a qualidade das informações financeiras, como ferramenta para redução de assimetria de informações, pode impactar as decisões de investimentos das empresas da América Latina. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among accruals quality, financial constraint and investment decisions in Latin America. For this, it was analyzed a sample with 10,318 observations of 958 non-financial companies from seven different countries, between 1992 to 2009. Using the probabilistic model Logit it was estimated the impact of earnings quality on the probability of overinvestment, underinvestment and financial constraints. Then, using the generalized method of moments (GMM) and an adaptation of the accelerator model of investment, it was estimated the investment determinants. The results indicate that a poor accruals quality can reduce the probability of efficient investment decisions and increase the possibility of underinvestment. The results show that poor accruals quality could exacerbate the problems caused by the conflict of interest between decision-makers and investors from Latin American firms, because poor accruals quality was positively associated with investment rates for firms with overinvestment and negatively related to firms investment for firms with underinvestment. Finally, the results indicate that the accruals quality affects the investment-cash flow sensitivities for firms in financial constraint situation. Thus, we concluded that quality of financial information, as a tool to reduce information asymmetries, might affect the investment decisions in Latin America.

No presente estudo, salienta-se a necessidade por um referencial teórico destinado à compreensão de um fenômeno empírico recorrente no mundo real: as formas plurais de governança. Mais especificamente, ressalta-se a incapacidade da ECT em explicá-las. Essa limitação, aliada à ausência de um consenso teórico relativo à opção pelas formas plurais, motivaram o desenvolvimento do presente estudo, cujo principal objetivo consiste da exposição de uma nova abordagem relativa ao estudo das formas plurais de governança. Particularmente, pretende-se determinar a influência dos custos de informação quando da configuração dessas formas organizacionais. A abordagem teórica utilizada no presente estudo baseia-se na hipótese de que as firmas selecionariam simultaneamente duas ou mais das três tipologias organizacionais definidas por Williamson (1985) como um instrumento de monitoramento e incentivo, destinado à redução de assimetrias de informação, tanto no âmbito hierárquico quanto naquele contratual. Assim, desenvolve-se um modelo conceitual de decisão, didaticamente segmentado em duas etapas. Na primeira etapa, propõe-se que as formas plurais sejam motivadas pela existência simultânea de vantagens de custos de produção no mercado e de elevados custos de mensuração (BARZEL, 1982). Já na segunda, propõe-se a ocorrência de um tradeoff entre os custos de mensuração e os de agência, o que determinaria o grau ótimo de integração verical no contexto das formas plurais. Como objeto empírico, apresenta-se o caso da empresa Korin, que é interessante, pois a sua cadeia produtiva é caracterizada pela presença das formas plurais, tanto na produção quanto na distribuição de diversos produtos. Além disso, cada um dos produtos analisados - tomate, ovos e milho verde - apresenta diferentes arranjos organizacionais na governança de sua produção, na medida em que seus processos de produção requerem particularidades distintas. A análise empírica deste caso corrobora a primeira etapa do modelo conceitual apresentado no presente estudo, embora não permita avaliar o tradeoff entre os custos de agência e de mensuração e nem a existência de um grau ótimo de integração vertical. Independentemente das limitações apresentadas pelo presente trabalho, ele certamente constitui mais um avanço das teorias da firma em direção ao campo das formas plurais. / In this paper, it is highlighted the need for a theoretical framework aimed at understanding an empirical phenomenon that is recurrently observed in the real world: the plural forms of governance. More specifically, it is emphasized TCE\'s inability to explain them. This limitation, along with the absence of a theoretical concensous relative to the choice of a plural form, motivated the development of this study, whose main objective is that of exposing a new approach to the study of the plural forms of governance. In particular, it is intenteded to determine the influence of information costs on the configuration of those organizational forms. The thoeretical approach that is used in the present paper is based on the hypothesis that firms would simultaneously select two or more of the organizational forms defined by Williamson (1985) as a monitoring device and to proportion incentives aimed at reducing information asymmetries, both within the hierarchy and in contractual relations. Thus, a conceptual decision model is developed and diditically segmented into two steps. In the first step, it is proposed that plural forms are motivated by the simultaneous existence of production cost advantages at the marketplace and high measurement costs (BARZEL, 1982). Whereas in the second, a tradeoff between measurement and agency costs is proposed, determining the optimal vertical integration degree in the context of plural forms. As empirical object, we present the case of Korin company, which is interesting because its production chain is characterized by the presence of plural forms both when producing and distributing various products. In addition, each of the analysed products- tomato, eggs and corn - presents different organizational arrangements in the governance of its production, to the extent that their production processes require different particularities. The empirical analysis of this case supports the first stage of the conceptual model presented in this study, although ramaining unable to assess the tradeoff between agency and measurement costs, as well as the existence of an optimal vertical integration degree. Regardless of the limitations presented by this work, it certainly constitutes an advance of theories of the firm into the field of plural forms.

The peer to peer (p2p) lending industry has grown fast in recent years. This study put an eye on the credit evaluation system of one of the p2p platform named lending club. The author used the empirical method and discussed the determinants of the interest rate and the default risk in the p2p lending market. The author concluded that the evaluation system founded by lending club could predict the risk of loans. Collecting more information about borrowers’ credit history may increase the accuracy of the model.