This thesis examines the influence of financial reporting on present and potencial investors and creditors, in the context of the comparison of requirements and accounting policies applied by national regulations and U. S. GAAP. The comparison is done in the framework of the conversion of financial statements which is essensial for Czech companies simultaneously following different accounting principles. The theoretical part is devoted to examining the influence and role of financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting regulations and U. S. accounting standards, with a more detailed analysis of selected accounting areas of. Attention is also paid to the conversion process, possibilities of its implementation as well as limitations and problems associated with it. Based on the teoretical part the analysis of the conversion process is done on the example of a particular company.

Stock market investors are making investment decisions in an information-rich environment. In their attempt to afford investors all the decision-relevant information, standard setters are continually adding to the already weighty load seemingly oblivious to the cognitive limitations of humans. Information overload has long been recognized as a problem to decision-makers. The information overload literature is robust with studies supporting the inverted U hypothesis: Decision accuracy will increase with additional information to the point of maximum processing capability, then decline. The decision style literature has supported the theory that individuals can be classified according to the quantity of information that they are able to process effectively. This study combined the two theories to develop hypotheses about how investors with differing decision styles might behave differently in an information-rich environment. The hypotheses were tested in an internet-based stock market investment experiment. In general, the study did not find significant differences in the decisions of investors with different decision styles. Though the results of the experiment failed to support most of the hypotheses, the study revealed some interesting facts about the investors who participated in this study. There was an unusually high concentration of the analytic decision style in this group. This style, according to the theory, is the one best able to manage high information processing demands. A further analysis of the respondent style dominance reveals that all of the styles had significant analytic influence. This could explain the lack of variation in the decision accuracy of the respondents. It is also possible that the respondents in this study did not reach a point of information overload. Based on prior literature, the study incorporated ten information items. However, the particular items selected may not have created a sense of information overload for the respondents. Future research should increase the information available to respondents and observe whether differences in decisions can be explained by differences in decision styles in an information overload situation. This study provides a baseline for future studies examining how investors make decisions when so much information is available.

[pt] O objetivo da pesquisa é verificar a influência do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) na governança das empresas brasileiras listadas na BMFeBOVESPA. Existem muitos estudos na literatura que analisam o ativismo dos investidores institucionais na melhora da governança das empresas, em geral focados na atuação de fundos de pensão e fundos de private equity e venture capital. São poucos os estudos que analisam a atuação de um banco de desenvolvimento estatal na governança das empresas. No caso brasileiro, esse tema se torna ainda mais importante, uma vez que o BNDES possui a maior carteira de ações no país. Foram analisadas 275 empresas listadas no período de 2002 a 2009, das quais 117 estavam presentes na carteira do BNDES. Foram realizados testes de diferenças e estimados modelos econométricos, controlando por auto-seleção e endogeneidade, para verificar a relação entre a presença do BNDES e a governança das empresas. Os resultados demonstram que as empresas que contam com o BNDES como acionista apresentam melhor governança. / [en] The objective of this research is to examine the influence of BNDES in the governance of Brazilian companies listed on BMeFBOVESPA. There are many studies in the literature about the activism of institutional investors to improve corporate governance in general focused on the performance of pension funds, private equity and venture capital funds. There are few studies that analyze the influence of state development banks in corporate governance. In the Brazilian case, this issue becomes even more important, since BNDES has the largest equity portfolio in the country. We analyzed 275 listed companies from 2002 to 2009, of which 117 were present in the portfolio of BNDES. We perform tests of differences and run econometric models controlling for self-selection and endogeneity to investigate the relationship between BNDES and corporate governance. The results show that firms with BNDES as shareholder have better governance.

This diploma thesis focuses on the design of three portfolio variants for a fund of qualified investors operating in the Czech Republic, which focuses on investing in shares of Exchange Traded Funds investing in precious metals.

Titel: SPAC eller IPO, en retailinvesterares möjlighet till abnormal avkastning? Författare: Johan Petersson och William Stignäs Handledare: Öystein Fredriksen Bakgrund och problem: Traditionella börsnoteringar, på engelska Initial Public Offerings (IPO:s), har länge varit ett lukrativt sätt för investmentbanker och professionella aktörer att uppnå en god avkastning. De sistnämnda har möjlighet att teckna aktier till ett förutbestämt pris och har således en fördel gentemot retailinvesterare på den amerikanska marknaden. Ett annat sätt för ett företag att börsnotera sig är genom det på senare år populära fenomenet SPAC. Processen för det alternativa sättet att notera sig är att ett skalbolag noteras på börsen i form av en påse pengar. Skalbolaget har i syfte att förvärva ett onoterat företag som sedan tar den förstnämndas plats på börsen. Detta gör att retailinvesterare kan, till skillnad från IPO:s, i samband med annonseringen av förvärvet köpa aktier. Frågan som uppkommer är då om det finns en möjlighet för retailinvesterare att dra nytta av detta och om fenomenet i sig är något positivt för retailinvesterarna. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att med utgångspunkt från ett retailinvesterar-perspektiv analysera om det finns abnormal avkastning i SPAC:s och sätta det i jämförelse med traditionella IPO:s på den amerikanska marknaden. Även anledningar till populariseringen av SPAC:s trots den tidigare negativa historiken ska analyseras. Metod: Uppsatsen har ett kvantitativt tillvägagångssätt med en abduktiv ansats i syfte att beräkna den abnormala avkastningen för de två separata sätten att börsnotera sig samt testa ett antal utvalda förklaringsvariabler.   Slutsats: Uppsatsen finner att SPAC:s under studerad tidsperiod har presterat bättre än IPO:s och att SPAC:s ska ses som ett isolerat fenomen och inte jämföras med IPO:s. Anledningen är att det förstnämnda bidrar positivt då det blir ytterligare en möjlighet på aktiemarknaden för en retailinvesterare. / Title: SPAC or IPO, a retail investor's opportunity for abnormal return? Authors: Johan Petersson and William Stignäs Supervisor: Öystein Fredriksen   Background and problem: Traditional IPO:s have long been a lucrative way for investment banks and professional investors to achieve a good return. The latter can subscribe for shares before the listing to a predetermined price and thus have an advantage over retail investors in the US market. Another way for a company to list on the stock exchange is through the popular phenomenon SPAC. The process for the alternative way of listing is for a shell company, a SPAC, to be listed on the stock exchange in the form of a pile of cash. The purpose of the shell company is to acquire a private company which then takes the former's place on the stock exchange. This means that the retail investors can, unlike in the case of an IPO, buy shares in connection with the announcement of the acquisition. The question that then arises is whether there is an opportunity for the retail investors to take advantage of this and whether the phenomenon itself is something positive for retail investors.   Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to, based on a retail investor perspective, analyze whether there is abnormal return in SPAC:s and compare it with traditional IPO:s in the US market. Reasons for the popularization of the phenomenon despite the previous negative history will also be analyzed.   Methodology: The thesis has a quantitative and abductive approach. The methodology used is a calculation of abnormal return for the two separate ways of listing on the stock exchange and then test a few selected explanatory variables.   Conclusion: The thesis finds that SPAC:s during the studied period have performed better than IPO:s and that SPACs should be seen as an isolated phenomenon and not compared with IPO:s. The reason is that the former contributes positively as it becomes an additional opportunity on the stock market for a retail investor.

Green bonds present a promising tool enabling investors in fixed-income mar- kets to finance environmental projects. Yet, the pricing of green bonds with respect to conventional bonds remains an open question. This thesis in- vestigates the existence of a yield differential between green and equivalent conventional bonds in the secondary market. By matching green bonds with synthetic conventional bonds and performing a fixed effects panel regression of the yield spread, we find evidence of a small negative premium associ- ated with green bonds ("green premium"): as a result of high demand from value-seeking investors, the yield of green bonds is on average 1.12 basis points lower than that of their conventional counterparts. The variation in the magnitude of the green premium with bond characteristics is further examined through a cross-sectional regression. We show that external ver- ification of the bond's green credentials and assurance on its post-issuance allocation report significantly increase the estimated green premium. Finally, the green bond's yield seems to decrease in case proceeds are used to finance new projects, while refinancing existing projects results in an increase in the bond's yield. Our findings provide valuable insights into the field of green bond pricing. While the...

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Sustainability reporting is something that has gained much ground lately, and there is no sign of it decreasing. The purpose of a sustainability report is to disclose the non-financial information between a company and its stakeholders. To present a sustainability report is mandatory for larger companies, many smaller companies do also provide its stakeholder with one voluntarily. In the last decade there has been a steadily increasing trend when it comes to being environmentally friendly. More companies need to take responsibility for their actions in the world, in order for it to sustain and last longer. There have been some scandals throughout the years when it comes to sustainability reporting which has made a negative impact on the reliability of the reports. Previous research and literature have shown that there are a lot of uncertainties when it comes to what exactly transparency means and how it can be interpreted from different perspectives and situations. The purpose with this study is to collect information and analyze the interpret transparency of a sustainability report from an investors perspective. The information collected can then be addressed to answer the research question “How is the transparency in a sustainability report perceived by an investor?.” The thesis is using a qualitative methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews and has an inductive research approach. The theories connected to the conceptual framework in this thesis is signaling theory and legitimacy theory. The semi-structured interview was made with people who own stocks in a company that presents a sustainability report, also called investors. Twelve investors were interviewed and provided good information to create a comprehensive answer for the research question. The result of this study shows that the investors do not think a sustainability report is transparent enough. They believe that companies do not show the whole truth in a sustainability report. The information is not fully complete, one hundred percent truthful, as objective as it can be/not angled, and the information is used in other purposes rather than just disclose non-financial information. These answers do not match up with a general definition of transparency which then means that a sustainability report is not interpreted as transparent by the investors participating in this particular study. The investors do also believe that one general definition of transparency or area specific definition would be better. They do also advocate for more external interference of the reports.

Large institutional actors in the financial arena are moving their capital in a sustainable direction. This implies a change of the institutional norms and rules regarding sustainable investing. One of the problematic aspects of sustainable investing is how investors use different strategies to influence their holdings and what implications this choice might have on a sector level. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine how the strategies from institutional investors are an expression of the current norms and rules in the field of sustainable investing. It also intends to illustrate how institutional pressures influence the strategies of investors and their holdings. By interviewing respondents from eleven institutional investors, we present data regarding norms and rules for sustainable investing and the consequences of the investor’s strategies. Our findings indicate there has been an immense increase in demand for sustainable products in recent years, resulting in institutional pressures that have influenced both the investors and their holdings. This exposes the field to selection processes which may force organizations to the point of adapt or die. Finally, our conclusion provides practical implications on what role institutional investors have in the quest for sustainable development.

Attitudes are based on motivations and are formed in anticipation that the person will handle similar information at a later date. Attitudes are, therefore, necessary collections of pre-determined behavioral intents toward certain information (Solomon et al., 2016). Attitudes and their underlying functions form using a hierarchical structure where certain elements hold the primacy of effect over the remainder. These elements affect, behavior, and cognition as presented by Solomon and colleagues (Solomon et al., 2016). This study aims to explore how investors form attitudes towards the adoption of unfamiliar attitude objects, specifically when confronted with communications regarding Bitcoin adoption. The reason for this study is threefold; firstly, congruent academia has only conducted temperature checks on already established attitudes towards Bitcoin from diverse crowds in a spread of non-western cultures (Gagarina et al., 2019; Anser et al., 2020). Secondly, the aforementioned studies incorporated loosely defined sample groups. Understanding technology adoption, following the theories of Rogers (1995), requires that inaugural research is done on those who are most likely to adopt the technology. Lastly, congruent research has yet to tackle attitude formation on Bitcoin as an asset. Established research all commit to researching already established attitudes on a less niched sample (Gagarina et al., 2019; Yoo et al., 2020). The conclusion of said studies found thematic, contextual antecedents to why certain participants had certain attitudes. However, these studies do not explore the underlying hierarchy or function of said attitudes. To fill such a gap, a study following a deductive, exploratory nature was developed. Through thematic coding of qualitative interviews, this study contributes to the existing literature in two aspects: first, active Swedish investors rely on affective reasoning when faced with this particular unfamiliar attitude object. Second, such affective reasoning is most likely a result of participants defaulting to the grouping of information within the knowledge function, as no cognitive baseline (in the form of understanding price developments in Bitcoin) could be established. The general attitude formation followed an affective dominant, low-involvement hierarchy created through the knowledge function.