With contribution of Modigliani and Miller in 1958, capital structure has attained animportant place in finance field. The path breaking contribution has stimulated subsequentresearchers to put emphasis on this topic. Therefore, other theories and researches have beenrevealed and many aspects have been included to capital structure studies so far. However, it has always been controversial topic and the consensus has not been reached yet. Nevertheless,there are many important theories and hypotheses, which explain and investigate this topicvery well such as agency cost theory, trade-off theory, pecking order theory, signalling theory,efficiency-risk hypothesis and franchise-value hypothesis. When we reviewed the literature and extended our understanding of these theories andhypotheses, we found that the relationship between capital structure and firm performance isinteresting aspect and worthwhile to research. Therefore, we started an extensive literaturereview and found a research gap, which is the relationship between capital structure and afirm's financial performance from the perspective of capital structure theories in the Swedishcontext during the period 2002-2011. Since researchers investigate the relationship betweencapital structure and firm performance in many different countries and there is nothing in theSwedish context, we thus decided to write the thesis about it. Accordingly, our study began with discussing the problem background. We also stated theresearch question, the objectives, and the expected contribution to clarify the scope ofresearch. After that, we present the existing theories regarding capital structure and providetheir interplay with firm performance. After we constituted research question and reviewed literature, we knew what kind of data weneeded to utilize. Therefore, we started to search the best database provider for our study. Asa result, we decided on using Thomson Reuter’s database, DataStream. The study sampleincluded 174 non-financial Swedish firms listed on Nasdaq OMX (Stockholm StockExchange). We used ordinary least squares regression analysis over a period of ten years from2002 to 2011. After we collected the data, we imported it to SPSS and ran regression anddescriptive analysis. According to our empirical findings and analysis, we identify that there is a significantnegative relationship between capital structure and firm performance of listed Swedish firms.In other words, the financial performance of Swedish listed firms for the past decade isnegatively influenced by its leverage ratio. In practical terms, the more debt in relation toassets that firm takes in to finance its operations, the worse does the firm perform financially.When we elaborated our investigation and looked at each industry, we found no differencefrom the general results when dividing the Swedish firms into four major industry categories.However, health care industry has a different relationship. With this study, we provide further evidence about the interplay between capital structure andfinancial performance and make a contribution both to theory regarding capital structure andfinancial performance as well as giving practical insight for Swedish CFO’s and CEO’s.

This study addresses the importance of cost accounting and performance evaluation for organizations. Further, this study explains the purposes of cost accounting and performance evaluation. The chosen method is a single case study which investigates how product costing is made within a food manufacturing company, called Omega in this study. Interviews have been an important tool for collecting data; data used to create a snapshot of Omega’s current operations. Cost concepts, cost allocation methods, and performance evaluation theories are presented and later compared with the snapshot of Omega. Dissatisfaction concerning product costing in Omega was first expressed by a business unit manager. Search revealed that the issue concerning product costing was not a problem per se; instead it was a symptom of a more fundamental issue. The more fundamental issue is Omega’s cost accounting and financial performance evaluation used throughout the organization. Omega evaluates its business units using financial operating results measures based on information from its cost accounting system. Uncertainty within Omega has been observed concerning a performance measure called operational result. Search has revealed that the business units within Omega do not have the ability to control costs upon which they are evaluated, and further that all costs are not relevant for business unit performance evaluation. Three cost categories for cost accounting have been constructed with the purpose of serving as a base for financial performance evaluation. Treating costs differently based upon their characteristics enables organizations to form a well-functioning financial performance evaluation system which can lead the organization in the right direction. Ultimately, a well-functioning financial performance evaluation system enhances motivation and commitment in business units as well as it gives the top management a correct performance indicator.

The financial sector due to the particularity of the industry, the government set a lot of control provisions, therefore most of the earnings management research will set financial sector excluded. In fact, the financial sector, in order to comply with the legal provisions, which the motives of earnings management may be even higher than the average company. This study used The Modified Jones Model to calculate the proxy of discretionary accruals as an earnings management¡Ffinancial holding company engaged in the amount of the core subsidiary of the format category to measure the extent of its related diversification¡Fand the implementation of SFAS No. 34 divided into two study period, to explore the relationship between the relevant level of diversification and earnings management, earnings management and financial asset disposition gains and losses, earnings management and financial performance is different. Empirical results show that: (1)Before and after of SFAS No. 34 implementation , the higher the degree of diversification of financial holding company, the earning management were higher.(2) Before and after of SFAS No. 34 implementation, the financial holding company will make use of the disposal of financial assets in order to increase the gain on disposal for earnings management.(3) Before and after of SFAS No. 34 implementation, the financial holding company will engage in earnings management operations in order to enhance the company's financial performance.

The number of building projects in Taiwan has rapidly increased each year, and the vacancy rate has reached a peak at 19.7%, an astonishing number. Therefore, this study examines the financial performance of property firms who execute building projects by calculating their Economic Value Added (EVA) and Economic Value Added Momentum (EVA Momentum). In addition, because numerous financial factors may affect EVA, this study examines how these factors influence the EVA of property firms to ascertain which factors are relevant. Furthermore, this study monitors the EVA of these firms to determine their relationship with the property cycle index to establish whether a causality exists between them.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a subject long debated since the 1930s, but the premises of the topic in regards to the what, how, why, and to whom it should be remain in question. The relation between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP) has emerged at the forefront of this debate, particularly within the last 30 years, yet no unified theory has been reached. Other scholars interested in CSR have criticized the emphasis on CFP as a means of economic justification for what they believe to be a broader social issue, and have attempted to redirect the focus in CSR research to include other motivations and outcomes associated with organizational stakeholders other than shareholders. Using a descriptive and instrumental stakeholder theory approach, the focus of the current study was to explore CSR practices in both a dependent and independent sense. These theoretical underpinnings reflect stakeholder management decisions based on organizational characteristics, and the strategic management of various organizational stakeholders, respectively. The study population consisted of a diverse array of 353 U.S.- based corporations, 80 percent from the Fortune 500. Data included eleven corporate classification variables that represented organizations’ geographical location, industry, executive leadership dimensions, and financial health. It also included six CFP variables that represented accounting and market-based measures, and seven CSR variables that represented the key organizational stakeholders of the local community and environment, employees, and customers. The corporate classification variables were utilized to assess CSR performances, while CFP was assessed by analyzing differences among levels of the CSR practices. These assessments were performed for organizations for the twelve years within 1991-2002. Several results that assisted in informing descriptive and instrumental stakeholder theory were produced through the examination of previously used and under-explored variables. Specifically, the study results included new insights regarding how several organizational characteristics related to their CSR practices. Study findings provided elaboration regarding how performance differences in seven key CSR categories affected six representative accounting and market-based measures of corporate financial performance. Implications for practice for organizational decision-makers are provided along with detailed information pertaining to how, with inferences as to why, firms engage in CSR. Additionally, associated financial outcomes from different levels of CSR implementation are reported. Key findings from the study were that the CSR practices regarding employees and the environment remained stable over the twelve-year time period. Additionally, organizations’ geographical location, financial health, and corporate leadership dimensions had an impact on CSR practices for various stakeholder groups, with the exception of employees. A high level of investment in CSR for certain stakeholder groups did not produce the best financial outcomes in all cases; however, organizations that emphasized CSR in the categories relative to the community and its employees outperformed others with respect to certain financial performance measures.

From the Asian Finance Crisis in 1997, to many scandals in U.S.A. in 2001, and lots of fraudulent practices for many years in Taiwan, these cases severely injured the investors and the whole society. In fact, before these fraud cases happening, a lot of scholars have proposed that manager can manipulate reports with accounting tactics to manage earnings and window dress the performance of the company. After these scandals bursting, the researches which discuss how to regulate CEO¡¦s behavior by using corporate governance mechanism get more attentions. A lot of researches point out that CEO¡¦s option-based compensation might be one of the reasons which result in the self-interested behavior, and provide their views about the monitoring effects of the corporate governance mechanism. However, the researches that discuss whether CEO¡¦s self-interested behavior will influence the monitoring effects of the corporate governance mechanism are few. This paper divides the pubic listed company that had issued warrants to CEO from 2001 to 2005 into two groups by the ratio of option-based compensation in CEO¡¦s total compensation. We want to know that whether the corporate governance mechanism has the same influence in earnings management and company¡¦s performance in different CEO¡¦s option-based compensation ratio. The corporate governance and compensation variables we used are institutional ownership in the firm, the number of institutional directors, board size, percent of independent outside directors on the board, percent of inside directors on the board, director and executive officer stock ownership, company size, and CEO¡¦s option-based compensation ratio. The conclusions as follows: 1. CEO¡¦s option-based compensation ratio forms the threshold effect to the monitoring effect of the corporate governance mechanism. When CEO¡¦s option-based compensation takes particular proportion of total CEO¡¦s compensation, the corporate governance mechanism will be more effective. 2. The corporate governance mechanism that has significant influence in earnings management and operating performance will be different when CEO¡¦s option-based compensation ratio is different. 3. Among these corporate governance mechanism, percent of independent outside directors on the board is the only one that can have similar and significant influence in earnings management no matter how high the CEO¡¦s option-based compensation ratio is. It may relate to the independence of independent outside directors.

Η διπλωματική εργασία διερευνά τη σημασία του θεσμού της Εταιρικής Κοινωνικής Ευθύνης και της Χρηματοοικονομικής Απόδοσης μέσα στη σύγχρονη επιχειρηματική δραστηριότητα. Για το σκοπό αυτό, αρχικά παρουσιάζονται οι δυο αυτές έννοιες και στην συνέχεια γίνεται αναφορά στο πώς διάφορες έρευνες καταλήγουν στην σχέση τους. Η εργασία χωρίζεται σε δυο μέρη. Το ποιοτικό που περιλαμβάνει το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της εργασίας και στηρίζεται κυρίως σε ένα μεγάλο εύρος παγκόσμιων και ευρωπαϊκών βιβλιογραφικών πηγών που αφορούν την Εταιρική Κοινωνική Ευθύνη και την Χρηματοοικονομική απόδοση και το ποσοτικό που χρησιμοποιείται κυρίως για την χρήση των αριθμοδεικτών στο 5 κεφάλαιο. / This thesis explores the importance of the institution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance in contemporary business. For this purpose, initially presented these two concepts, and then referring to how various investigations resulting in the relationship. The task is divided into two parts. The quality that includes the majority of the task and is mainly based on a wide range of global and European literature sources relating to Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance and quantitative used mainly for using the indicators in Chapter 5.

Οι επιχειρήσεις ιδρύονται και λειτουργούν με σκοπό τη μεγιστοποίηση του κέρδους από την εκμετάλλευση των διαφόρων πόρων μέσω των επιχειρησιακών διαδικασιών. Αυτή η αυστηρά τεχνοκρατική τοποθέτηση εγκυμονεί τον κίνδυνο, ιδιαίτερα όταν στόχος είναι η βραχυπρόθεσμη μεγιστοποίηση του κέρδους, να οδηγηθεί η επιχείρηση σε καταχρήσεις των πόρων και στην παράβλεψη του αντίκτυπου των επιχειρησιακών δραστηριοτήτων της πάνω στους άλλους κοινωνικούς εταίρους και στο περιβάλλον. Επιπρόσθετα, διάφορα σκάνδαλα αδιαφάνειας και κακοδιαχειρίσεων από διεθνείς επιχειρήσεις-κολοσσούς, είχαν ως αποτέλεσμα την επέκταση της Εταιρικής Διακυβέρνησης και των αρχών της Εταιρικής Κοινωνικής Ευθύνης σε όλες τις οικονομίες, ξεκινώντας από τις αναπτυγμένες. Τα θέματα της διαφάνειας στη διαχείριση και της ευθύνης έναντι της κοινωνίας μιας επιχείρησης είναι δύο από τα δυναμικότερα και προκλητικότερα ζητήματα που αντιμετωπίζουν σήμερα οι ηγετικές επιχειρήσεις. Η Εταιρική Διακυβέρνηση – ΕΔ - (Corporate Governance) και η Εταιρική Κοινωνική Ευθύνη – ΕΚΕ - (Corporate Social Responsibility), αποτελούν στοιχεία για την εξισορρόπηση της οικονομικής, κοινωνικής, και περιβαλλοντικής επίδρασης της επιχειρησιακής δραστηριότητας με ταυτόχρονη ανάπτυξη της αξίας για λογαριασμό των μετόχων, αλλά και γενικότερα όλων των συμμετεχόντων σε αυτή (stakeholders). Στην παρούσα μελέτη γίνεται εκτενής παρουσίαση των εννοιών της ΕΔ και της ΕΚΕ. Αρχικά, παρουσιάζονται διάφορες βασικές έννοιες και θεωρίες, οι οποίες είναι στενά συνυφασμένες με τα εν λόγω αντικείμενα, όπως οι Αρχές Εταιρικής Διακυβέρνησης που διατύπωσε ο ΟΟΣΑ, τα κλασικά εργαλεία αντιμετώπισης του προβλήματος της Εταιρικής Διακυβέρνησης καθώς και τα Συστήματα Εταιρικής Διακυβέρνησης και Εταιρικής Κοινωνικής Ευθύνης, ενώ εξετάζεται η διάσταση της ΕΔ στη διαχείριση των συνταξιοδοτικών ταμείων. Στη συνέχεια της μελέτης παρουσιάζονται διάφορες μελέτες από τη διεθνή βιβλιογραφία, οι οποίες διερευνούν την ύπαρξη συσχέτισης μεταξύ Εταιρικής Διακυβέρνησης, Εταιρικής Κοινωνικής Ευθύνης και Χρηματοοικονομικής Επίδοσης των επιχειρήσεων (benchmarking). Επιπροσθέτως, γίνεται αναφορά στην εξέλιξη της ΕΔ και της ΕΚΕ στην Ελλάδα, καθώς και στο ισχύον θεσμικό πλαίσιο στην Ελλάδα. Στο τέλος, παρουσιάζουμε συνοπτικά τα συμπεράσματα που αφορούν την ΕΔ, την ΕΚΕ και την συσχέτισή τους με τη χρηματοοικονομική επίδοση των επιχειρήσεων. / The enterprises are founded and function aiming at the maximisation of profit from the exploitation of various resources via the operational processes. This strictly technocratic placement gestates the danger, particularly when objective is the short-term maximisation of profit, is led the enterprise to abuses of resources and to the ignoring of impact of her operational activities on to other social partners and to the environment. Additionally, various scandals of opacity and mismanagement by multinational enterprises had as result the extension of Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility in all economies, beginning from the rich countries. The issues of transparency in the management and responsibility to the society of enterprise are two from the most dynamic and provocative questions that face today the leading enterprises. Corporate Governance - CG - and the Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), constitute elements for balancing economic, social, and environmental effect of operational activity with simultaneous growth of value on behalf of all the shareholders, but also more generally participating in this (stakeholders). In the present study it takes place extensive presentation of the meaning of CG and CSR. Initially, they are presented various basic significances and theories, that are closely interwoven with the objects in question, as the theories of Corporate Governing that the OECD formulated, the classic tools of confrontation of problem of Corporate Governing as well as the Systems of Corporate Governing and Corporate Social Responsibility, while it is examined the dimension of ED in the management of retirement funds. Afterwards the study presents various studies by the international bibliography, that investigate the existence of cross-correlation between Corporate Governing, Corporate Social Responsibility and Financing Performance of enterprises (benchmarking). In addition, a report takes place in the development of CG and CSR in Greece, as well as in the being in effect institutional frame in Greece. In the end, we present concise the conclusions that concern the CG, the CSR and their cross-correlation with the financing performance of enterprises.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuota ir įvertinta dabartinė Lietuvos įmonių sistema, iškeltos šalies verslo plėtros problemos ir apibendrinus tyrimo rezultatus pateikti siūlymai. Magistro darbas sudarytas iš trijų pagrindinių dalių. Pirmoje šio darbo dalyje, remiantis įvairiais moksliniais šaltiniais, yra analizuojama ir apibrėžiama įmonės samprata ir jos svarba šiuolaikinės organizacijos kontekste. Antroje šio darbo dalyje analizuojama įmonių steigimo tvarka, apibrėžiami įmonių verslo aplinkos ypatumai bei analizuojami mokestiniai įmonių veiklos aspektai. Trečia magistro tiriamojo darbo dalis skirta šalies įmonių veiklos dinamikos analizei penkerių metų laikotarpiu, apžvelgiant įmones pagal įvairius kriterijus: įmonių veiklos bei darbuotojų skaičių, veiklos trukmę, ekonominės veiklos rūšis, juridinę įmonės formą. Taip pat analizuojama ir vertinama bendra šalies ūkio būklė analizuojant įmonių finansinius rodiklius, pateikiamos esminės tiriamojo darbo išvados, teikiami siūlymai tolimesnei temos analizei bei apibrėžiamos šalies ūkio sistemos perspektyvos. / Master's thesis examined and evaluated the current system of Lithuanian companies, defined the country’s business development issues, and summarized the results of the investigation and submits suggestions. Master's thesis consists of three main parts. The first part of this work based on a variety of research sources. The concept of the company analyzed and defined and its importance in the context of modern organizations. In the second part of this work is the analysis of start-up procedure, defining characteristics of business environment analysis and tax aspects of corporate activity. Third Master's research work is devoted to domestic companies operating dynamics analysis of a five-year period, the review of companies according to various criteria: corporate and business employees, the duration of economic activity, legal form of company. As well as analyzing and evaluating, the overall condition of the country's economy by financial indicators, outlines the main findings of a study, submitted proposals for the further analysis of the subject and defines the country's economic system perspective.

This study examines the relationship between investments in human capital and financial performance among U.S. profit-seeking firms. Specifically, it examines whether companies with greater emphasis in human capital are associated with higher profitability later on. The literature covers material ranging from accumulated information on the economy, organizational psychology, academic papers, national surveys, management literature, and workforce studies. The methodology tests a sample of companies from the Fortune 100’s Best Companies to Work For rank. Using correlations, regression analyses, and an analysis of further tests on Fortune 100 firms, the study provides evidence of a positive relationship between higher rankings and higher accounting ratios of NPM, ROE, and ROA. The paper has implications for managers to use human capital as a profit lever. Proper investments can be made using accounting and finance tools to better assess and invest in their employees.