Dissertation interfaces two current accounting issues: International Financial Reporting Standards and financial reporting quality. Theoretical framework begins with historical development and contemporary position of IFRS. It is followed by financial accounting quality where overview of methods is used for assessment of accounting quality. The literature underpinning represents the final part of theoretical part. Dissertation examines publicly traded Czech companies on Prague stock exchange and together their financial statements are presented under Czech accounting standards and later on switched on International Financial Reporting Standards. Final sample consists of 15 companies (222 firm-year observations) during period 1993-2013. World accepted models were adjusted before its application to be more convenient for Czech environment. Research results show that there are only limited improvements in financial reporting quality in IFRS period, only some companies are models applicable and therefore law and professional environment play significant role within quantitative methods.

The financial difficulties following the Covid-19 pandemic have been many. Typically in situations of financial distress, firms are incentivized to utilize earnings management techniques to alter the picture of their financial situation, due to market-based pressure. However, studies have shown that in times of crisis, institutional and macroeconomic factors may be more influential as increased scrutiny and an acceptance of abnormal results may make it less attractive to engage in such practices. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the use of earnings management with a sample of 942 firms, amounting to 5 652 firm-year observations between the years of 2015-2020. The results show a statistically significant increased amount of income-decreasing accrual-based earnings management, indicating the use of “big bath” accounting. This suggests that managers were incentivized to utilize earnings management techniques in an attempt to present boosted earnings to the market in future periods, by exploiting the pandemic and reporting worse than necessary numbers. However, the study does not find any significant changes in the use of real earnings management, which could be due to managerial limitations in making operational decisions during severe financial distress.

Den här studien avser främst att bestämma huruvida nordiska förvärvare som finansierar uppköp via apportemissioner brukar sig av resultatmanipulation i kvartalen kring förvärvet. Syftet sträcker sig dessutom till att avgöra om den effekten är större för serieförvärvare än för enstaka förvärvare. För att studera resultatmanipulationen används en uppskattning av diskretionära periodiseringar som härleds från den modifierade Jonesmodellen samt ett antal kontrollvariabler. Datainsamlingen har utförts via databasen Refinitiv Eikon. Resultatet bekräftar med statistisk signifikans hypotesen att förvärvare som använder emitterade aktier som transaktionsmedel manipulerar resultatet genom diskretionära periodiseringar innan förvärvet för att sedan återvända till en naturlig nivå. Slutsatsen bör dock tolkas försiktigt då regressionsanalysen kännetecknas av volatila förklaringsgrader. En deskriptivt lägre nivå av diskretionära periodiseringar kan även utläsas från serieförvärvare relativt enstaka förvärvare men utan statistisk signifikans. / The purpose of this study is primarily to determine whether Nordic acquirers that finance their acquisitions through stocks manage their earnings by using discretionary accruals around the time of the event to increase the stock price. Furthermore, the paper investigates if this effect would be larger for serial acquirers. The database Refinitiv Eikon has been used to collect data and the modified Jones model has been applied to estimate levels of discretionary accruals. The results confirm with statistical significance that acquirers that issue stock for payment manage earnings prior to the acquisition relative to cash-paying acquirers and then gradually decrease to a non-discretionary level. Although this conclusion should be interpreted conservatively due to volatile explanatory power. As for serial acquirers, a lower level of discretionary accruals can be observed but with no statistical significance.

IFRS 15 trädde i kraft 1 januari 2018, och innebar en stor förändring för intäktsredovisningen. Det saknas studier genomförda i en svensk kontext som undersöker om IFRS 15 haft någon påverkan på redovisningskvaliteten. Studien visar att redovisningskvaliteten, som mäts genom graden av resultatmanipulering, har ökat sedan införandet av IFRS 15 med avseende på de intäktsrelaterade periodiseringarna. Sett till de totala periodiseringarna har ingen förbättring skett, vilket innebär att det fortfarande förekommer resultatmanipulering hos företagen noterade på Stockholmsbörsen. / IFRS 15 took effect January 1st 2018, and resulted in a major change in revenue recognition. There are no studies conducted in a Swedish setting that examine whether IFRS 15 has had any impact on the accounting quality. The study shows that the accounting quality, which is measured by the extent of earnings management, has increased since the introduction of IFRS 15 with respect to the revenue related accruals. In terms of the total accruals, no improvement has been made, which implies that there is still earnings management conducted by the companies listed at the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Titel: A Game of Nods and Winks - En studie om faktorer som påverkar svenska börsbolagsanvändning av resultatmanipulering Bakgrund: Resultatmanipulering är att omdiskuterat ämne i Europa såväl som i USA.Resultatmanipulering har konstaterats frekvent användas i svenska bolag. Vi frågar oss vilkabakomliggande faktorer kan påverka mängden av resultatmanipulation. Syfte: Studiens syfte avser att förklara hur analytikers prognoser och andelen kvinnligastyrelseledamöter påverkar resultatmanipuleringen i svenska noterade bolag. Metod: En tvärsnittsstudie med en deduktiv ansats genomförs där teorier testats viahypotesprövning. Teorierna Positiv redovisningsteori, Agentteori, Prospect theory och Critical Mass theory avser att behandla de incitament som ligger till grund förresultatmanipulering. Urvalet består av Stockholmsbörsens Large, Mid, Small Cap bolagunder åren 2012 till 2016. Slutsatser: Resultatet påvisar att företag har en stark vilja nå analytikers prognoser samt atten hög andel kvinnliga styrelseledamöter har en negativ påverkan på företagets vilja atttillämpa resultatmanipulering. Vi kan i studien även visa en interaktionseffekt mellan de tvåfaktorerna. / Title: A Game of Nods and Winks - A study on underlying factors that affect the use of Earnings management in Swedish public companies Background: Earnings management is a subject of discussion in Europe as well in the United States. Earnings management has been found to be frequently used in Swedish companies. We ask ourselves what the underlying factors are and how can they affect the amount of Earnings management. Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate how analysts’ forecasts and a high proportion of female board members affects how public Swedish companies manage their earnings through Earnings management. Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study with a deductive approach are performed and theories constitutes the basis for our hypothesis. The theories; Positive accounting theory, Agency theory, Prospect theory and Critical Mass theory intends to deal with the incentives behind Earnings management. The observation period is 2012 to 2016 and consists of companies from the Stockholm stock exchange market. Conclusions: The result concludes that companies have strong incentives to reach analysts’ forecasts and that a high percentage of female representation on the board have a negatively impact on company’s willingness to manage their earnings. In the study, we can also detect an interaction effect between the two variables.

I början på år 2020 klassificerades spridningen av covid-19 som ett globalt hälsoproblem. I mars samma år fick utbrottet benämningen pandemi, vilket är den högsta nivån av en folksjukdom. Spridningen av covid-19 har inneburit stora konsekvenser som medfört omställningar för världens alla länder, företag och människor. Pandemins oförutsägbara framväxt resulterade i en ekonomisk kris, som innebär att en rubbning skett i marknadens finansiella funktion att tillgodose likviditetsbehov och omfördela risker inom ekonomin. Tidigare studier har påvisat att företag som befinner sig i ekonomiskt turbulenta perioder, likt kriser, har medfört att företagsledningar vänder sig till redovisningstekniker som medför positiva effekter i rapportsammanställningar. I vetenskapligt sammanhang benämns dessa redovisningstekniker som earnings management. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om earnings management förekommit i svenska marknadsnoterade företag åren innan utbrottet av covid-19. Dessutom ämnar studien till att kontrollera om pandemins utbrott ökat förekomsten av earnings management bland svenska börsnoterade företag.Studiens genomförande grundade sig i en kvantitativ forskningsansats där kvantifierbara data sammanställts genom företags årsredovisningar från börslistorna large cap, mid cap och small cap för urvalsperioden 2012 till 2020. Mätningen av earnings management har skett genom sammanställningar av godtyckliga periodiseringar framräknade genom den modifierade Jones-modellen. Studiens resultat visade att de analyserade företagen tillämpade earnings management under perioden innan utbrottet av pandemin. Vidare visade resultatet att tillämpningen av earnings management inte ökat signifikant efter utbrottet av pandemin, vilket gick emot författarnas antaganden baserade på tidigare forskning och studier. Resultatet visade däremot en signifikant skillnad på tillämpad earnings management med hänsyn till företagsstorlek, i enlighet med tidigare studier och redovisningsteorier. Studiens slutsats innebar att fenomenet earnings management förekommer i svenska marknadsnoterade företag. Studien har däremot inte kunnat påvisa en signifikant ökning av tillämpad earnings management efter utbrottet av pandemin. Dessutom har forskarna påvisat att mindre företag tillämpar earnings management i en större utsträckning i jämförelse med större bolag. / In early 2020, the spread of covid-19 was classified as a global health problem. In March of the same year, the outbreak was designated a pandemic, which is the highest level of a public disease. The spread of covid-19 has had a major impact that has caused upheaval for every country, business and person in the world. The unpredictable emergence of the pandemic resulted in an economic crisis, disrupting the financial function of the market to meet liquidity needs and reallocate risk within the economy. Previous studies have shown that firms in economically turbulent periods, like crises, have caused managers to turn to accounting techniques that produce positive effects in reporting summaries. In the scientific context, these accounting techniques are referred to as earnings management. The aim of this study is to investigate whether earnings management has occurred in Swedish listed companies in the years prior to the outbreak of Covid-19. In addition, the study aims to test whether the pandemic outbreak has increased the prevalence of earnings management among Swedish listed companies. The study was based on a quantitative research approach in which quantifiable data were compiled through firms annual reports from the large cap, mid cap and small cap listings for the sample period 2012 to 2020. The measurement of earnings management was done through compilations of arbitrary accruals computed by the modified Jones model. The results of the study showed that the analyzed firms applied earnings management in the period before the outbreak of the pandemic. Furthermore, the results showed that the application of earnings management did not increase significantly after the outbreak of the pandemic, which was contrary to the authors assumptions based on previous research and studies. However, the results showed a significant difference in the application of earnings management with respect to firm size, in line with previous studies and accounting theories. The study concluded that earnings management is a used phenomenon in Swedish listed companies. However, the study did not find a significant increase in the use of earnings management after the outbreak of the pandemic. In addition, the researchers have shown that smaller companies apply earnings management to a greater extent in comparison with larger companies. This master's thesis is written in Swedish.