Cette thèse contient trois essais distincts sur la publication d’information sectorielle que les entreprises européennes ayant plusieurs secteurs opérationnels effectuent en vertu des IFRS 8 Secteurs Opérationnels. Chaque essai vise à améliorer notre compréhension collective sur la politique de communication financière des cadres dirigeants en examinant diverses caractéristiques des informations sectorielles. Le chapitre I, “L’interaction entre la qualité et la quantité des publications sur l’information sectorielle” examine le choix des cadres dirigeants à l'égard de la quantité et de la qualité, ainsi que l’utilité de ces deux caractéristiques pour les analystes financiers. J’utilise le nombre de segments opérationnels publiés comme mesure quantitative et la variation inter-sectorielle de la profitabilité comme mesure qualitative et soutiens que plus de pouvoir discrétionnaire peut être exercé par les dirigeants sur la qualité que sur la quantité. Je trouve que les cadres dirigeants résolvent les préoccupations liées aux renseignements commerciaux de nature exclusive soit en déviant de a quantité recommandée par la norme, ou, lorsqu’ils suivent la norme, en réduisant la qualité de l’information sectorielle. Les analystes financiers n’apprécient pas toujours la qualité de l’information sectorielle, ce qui suggère que le modèle business crée des difficultés même pour des utilisateurs avertis. Mes résultats informent les normalisateurs lorsque ceux-ci initient le développement d’un nouveau cadre conceptuel et lorsqu’ils semblent envisager l’approche du modèle business pour le reporting. Le chapitre II s'intitule «La non-conformité des secteurs opérationnels à travers des documents d'entreprise. » Les régulateurs de marché examinent des cas de présentations lorsqu'une entreprise fournit des informations différentes sur le même sujet dans différents documents. En mettant l’accent sur les secteurs opérationnels, cet essai utilise des données recueillies manuellement auprès de quatre documents d’entreprise afin d'analyser l'impact de la publication d’information non-conforme sur l’exactitude des prévisions de résultat des analystes financiers. La non-conformité qui découle de la déségrégation supplémentaire des secteurs semble introduire de nouveautés et contribue à l’exactitude des prévisions. La publication des segmentations difficilement réconciliables entraine une exactitude réduite des prévisions. Ces résultats contribuent à notre compréhension des effets de la politique de communication des dirigeants à travers plusieurs documents et ont des répercussions sur le travail les régulateurs. Le chapitre III s'intitule « Prévisions managériales au niveau sectoriel. » Je considère les prévisions au niveau sectoriel (PNS) comme un type d'information désagrégé que les entreprises fournissent ensemble avec leur stratégie de gestion. J’examine l’utilité de cette information pour l’exactitude des prévisions de résultat par les analystes ainsi que l’impact de cette information sur la manipulation du résultat. Je constate que les entreprises de haute technologie réputées pour l’incertitude supplémentaire liée à profitabilité sont moins susceptibles de fournir des PNS et que le PNS est associé à une prévision améliorée. Cependant, alors que la communication de davantage de PNS désagrégé par secteur a tendance à améliorer la précision, plus de précision ne semble pas avoir d’importance. Du point de vue des cadres dirigeants, les PNS les incitent à manipuler le résultat comptable, mais le PNS désagrégé par poste semble décourager la manipulation, fort probablement due à une surveillance supplémentaire. Dans un contexte où une orientation narrative et désagrégée est considérée comme la solution pour empêcher la vision à court terme, comprendre quel type d'information permet d’atteindre cet objectif, et de quelle manière, est tout autant pertinent pour les cadres dirigeants, les investisseurs et les régulateurs. / This thesis contains three stand-alone essays on the operating segment disclosures that European multi-segment companies make under IFRS 8 Operating Segments. Each essay aims to improve our collective understanding about managers’ disclosure strategy by examining various characteristics of operating segment disclosure. Chapter I, entitled “The Interplay between Segment Disclosure Quantity and Quality,” investigates managers’ choices with respect to both disclosure quantity and disclosure quality, and the usefulness of these two characteristics for financial analysts. Focusing on segment disclosures under the management approach, I measure quantity as the number of segment-level line items and quality as the cross-segment variation in profitability, and argue that greater managerial discretion can be exercised over quality than over quantity. I hypothesize and find that managers solve proprietary concerns either by deviating from the suggested line-item disclosure in the standard, or if following standard guidance, by decreasing segment reporting quality. Moreover, financial analysts do not always understand the quality of segment disclosures, which suggests that a business-model type of standard creates difficulties even for sophisticated users. My results inform standard setters as they start working on a disclosure framework and as they seem to consider the business model approach to financial reporting. Chapter II is entitled “Inconsistent Segment Disclosure across Corporate Documents.” Market regulators in the U.S. and Europe investigate cases of inconsistent disclosures when a company provides different information on the same topic in different documents. Focusing on operating segments, this essay uses hand-collected data from four different corporate documents of multi-segment firms to analyze the impact of inconsistent disclosure on financial analysts’ earnings forecast accuracy. Inconsistencies that arise from further disaggregation of operating segments in some documents seem to bring in new information and increase analyst accuracy. However, when analysts must work with different, difficult-to-reconcile segmentations, their information processing capacity and forecasts are less accurate. These findings contribute to our understanding of the effects of managers’ disclosure strategy across multiple documents and have implications for regulators and standard setters’ work on a disclosure framework. Chapter III is entitled “Management Guidance at the Segment Level.” Prior research has found that managers add information to their earnings guidance to justify, explain, or contextualize their forecasts. I identify segment-level guidance (SLG) as a type of disaggregated information that multi-segment firms provide with their management guidance, and investigate its usefulness for financial analysts’ earnings forecasting accuracy, as well as its influence on managers’ earnings fixation. I further characterize the level of precision (point and range, maximum or minimum estimate, or simply narrative) and of disaggregation of SLG. I find that companies in high tech industries known for increased uncertainty in future performance are less likely to provide SLG, and that SLG is associated with better forecasting accuracy. However, while providing more item-disaggregated SLG improves accuracy, increased precision has no impact on forecast accuracy. From the manager’s point of view, SLG creates incentives to engage in earnings management, and the more precise the SLG is the greater the incentive. In contrast, more item-disaggregated SLG discourages earnings management, perhaps by improving monitoring. In a context where qualitative, narrative, and disaggregated guidance is regarded as a solution to avoid earnings fixation and short termism, understanding which types of information achieve this goal, and how, is relevant for managers, investors, and regulators alike.

The diploma thesis is focused on reporting, which provides a comprehensive system for transmitting information to users, who require this information. And in such a way that allows them to review quickly and easy required information. The reports of the selected company are described and then evaluated on the basis of theoretical requirements for reporting. Subsequently, the advices and recommendations are defined on how to adjust the selected reports to meet users requirements.

x, 84 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / In this dissertation,I examine whether financial reporting quality increases following the appointment of an accounting expert to the audit committee. Prior literature documents positive cross-sectional associations between maintaining an accounting expert on the audit committee and financial reporting quality. Although this suggests that accounting expertise enhances the quality of a firm's financial reports, it is unclear whether financial reporting quality improves after appointing an accounting expert. Additionally, I explore how the strength of alternative governance provisions and the current expertise of the audit committee influence relations between appointing an accounting expert and changes in financial reporting quality. I hypothesize that accounting experts possess the financial backgrounds needed to detect accounting manipulations and the reputational capital to warrant actions that limit exposure to financial reporting failures. Therefore, I predict that newly appointed accounting experts have the ability and incentive to strengthen financial reporting systems and increase the quality of financial reports. Furthermore, I predict that incremental improvements in reporting quality following the appointment of an accounting expert are larger for strong governance firms because they possess the infrastructure necessary to act on audit committee recommendations and for firms with no prior accounting expertise because of opportunities for new accounting critiques by financially minded individuals. I test these predictions on a sample of 1,590 audit committee appointments between 2003 and 2005. Overall, I do not find empirical evidence of a change in financial reporting quality following the appointment of an audit committee accounting expert. However, I find that firms with strong governance that appoint an accounting expert experience larger post-appointment improvements in reporting quality than do firms with weak governance, as highlighted by more income-decreasing discretionary accruals, larger increases in earnings response coefficients, and higher quality accruals. Additionally, my evidence suggests that strong governance firms appointing their first accounting expert increase their reporting quality following the appointment. Therefore, my results imply that accounting expertise complements other governance mechanisms involved in financial monitoring. Overall, I provide evidence regarding the audit committee's influence over financial reporting and the conditions associated with effective use of accounting expertise. / Committee in charge: Steven Matsunaga, Chairperson, Accounting; David Guenther, Member, Accounting; Xuesong Hu, Member, Accounting; Larry Singell, Outside Member, Economics

I examine the impact of the trend of private class actions targeting alleged violations of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). I document the specific allegations in GAAP lawsuits and find that allegations involving revenue recognition and asset impairment recognition are two of the most common areas of GAAP cited. I test whether lawsuits lead to a reduction in the allegedly improper behavior, whether sued firms and their peers make other financial reporting changes, and whether these changes change firms’ stock price characteristics. I find that following relevant lawsuits, sued firms, firms in the same industry, and firms with a shared auditor generally exhibit less aggressive revenue recognition, but firms may increase aggressive revenue recognition in certain cases. Next, I examine the impact of asset impairment recognition allegations on the reporting of negative special items. I find few changes directly associated with these allegations but show that other litigation is associated with both increases and decreases in the propensity and size of negative special item reporting. I note that GAAP violations most often arise in an attempt to meet or beat analysts’ estimates, and I show following litigation firms are often more likely to beat analysts’ expectations by a larger margin. I also find significant increases in real earnings management of sued firms and their peers following many lawsuits, indicating a shift away from accruals-based management towards real activities management. Finally, I find mixed evidence of changes in stock return attributes. In some cases I observe significant changes consistent with reduced litigation risk and in others I observe the opposite. The results have implications for accounting standard setting and show that the legal system plays a critical role in shaping the financial reporting environment.

Many organisations today are still not making use of Management Accounting tools to assist in providing sustainability information for decision-making and the influence this can have on the financial performance of an organisation. This may have a negative impact on the financial performance of organisations, the result of the number of errors and miscalculations that can occur, including obsolete cost drivers; miscalculated business decisions, inaccurate information and human errors. Without applying Management Accounting tools, managers of organisations may find it difficult to improve the day-to-day operations and to take decisions to enhance the financial performance of their business. In this study, information was collected from interviews to determine whether Management Accounting tools could provide sustainability information for decision-making, and how this would influence the financial performance of an organisation. The research was carried out in organisations listed on the JSE. This study found that Management Accounting tools are important in providing sustainability information for decision-making and in determining how this information influences the financial performance of JSE listed organisations. Furthermore, Management Accounting tools provide strategies that influence decision-making and performance, although decision-making is the responsibility of executives or directors of the organisations. The study also found that Management Accounting tasks are performed by financial managers who focus solely on financial statements and reporting. Hence future research should focus on the importance of devolving Management Accounting roles to financial accountants or managers to enable the organisation to focus on different reports for different outcomes. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Management Accounting)

The increasing use of the internet has created a new opportunity for companies to disseminate different types of information to their current and potential investors via the internet. This type of voluntary disclosure, Corporate Internet Reporting (CIR), can improve the disclosure quality and the transparency to satisfy all users’ needs. Furthermore, corporate governance has attracted considerable global attention, especially after the collapses that have occurred in the financial markets. Recently, a growing interest has evolved in exploring corporate governance in emerging markets due to the increased demand for transparency by stakeholders. To provide new insights, this study aims to explore the extent of CIR, examine its relationship with some corporate governance and firm characteristics variables, and to determine the impact of CIR on firm financial performance. These associations are investigated by employing a quantitative method dependant on a multi-theoretical framework. The study uses a self-constructed disclosure index, which includes 196 items, to measure the CIR of 170 Saudi listed companies. The findings indicate that the level of CIR is, on average, moderate compared to their counterparts in developed countries. Further, the empirical results reveal that firms which are large in size, with low liquidity rate, distribute dividends, have board which is meet less frequently and have less independent members in the audit committee are more likely to have high CIR level. In addition, the results indicate that firm growth, leverage, industry type, audit type, board size, board independence, role duality, block holder ownership, directors ownership, institutional ownership, government ownership, audit committee size and audit committee frequency of meeting appear to be insignificant predictors for CIR total. However, the findings show that the significance of these variables varies among the CIR components: content, presentation, timeliness, usability and audit. Finally, it is statistically evident that CIR has no significant impact on firm financial performance in Saudi listed companies. These findings suggest that further effort is required to enhance the awareness of good corporate governance and that other variables may be more relevant to CIR in the Saudi context.

Den nya regleringen medför att cirka 1600 svenska bolag ska upprätta en hållbarhetsrapport från och med räkenskapsåret 2017 med bland annat krav på sitt hållbarhetsarbete kring frågor som miljö, social, personal, mänskliga rättigheter och korruption. Syftet med studien är att undersöka och förklara hur införandet av hållbarhetsredovisning enligt årsredovisningslagen påverkat företags hållbarhetsredovisning. För att undersöka eventuella skillnader genomfördes innehållsanalyser av företags års- och hållbarhetsrapporter. Denna innehållsanalys kvantifierades sedan utifrån en checklista. Den teoretiska referensramen är uppbyggd kring fenomenet hållbarhetsredovisning och relevanta redovisningsteorier. Empirin består av data från innehållsanalysen av företags års- och hållbarhetsrapporter. Utifrån den insamlade empirin analyseras de förändringar som skett mellan åren de inte fanns någon reglering och efter införandet av hållbarhetsredovisning enligt årsredovisningslagen. Tidigare studier tyder på att företag uteslutit negativ information för att skapa en mer positiv bild av företaget. Efter införandet av regleringen redovisar företag i allt större grad aspekter som kan tolkas som negativa. / The new regulation that has been introduced requires approximately 1600 Swedish companies to produce a sustainability report of the financial year 2017 with their work surrounding questions like environment, social, personal, human rights as well as corruption. The purpose of this study is to examine and explain how the introduction of sustainability reporting according to the new regulations affect the company’s work with sustainability. To examine the potential differences, we performed a content analysis on the company’s annual reports and sustainability reports. The empirical evidence consists of the data collected from the content analysis of the company’s annual reports and sustainability reports. With the collected empirical evidence an analysis was completed on the differences through the examined years. Previous studies have shown that companies tend to leave out negative information about the company to project a more positive image. With the new regulation companies include negative aspects of their business.

The present study is based on the critical discourse analysis, and it aims to examine the relationship between linguistic expressions and underlying values in the news reports. The study focuses on the incident of parallel traders happened in Hong Kong in the year of 2015, and it tries to examine how the incident was framed by the two local newspapers, and hopes to unpack the repo11ing perspectives represented in the two newspapers. 本研究基于批评性话语分析，它旨在表达新闻报道中的语言表达和价值之间的关系。此研究关注于香港2015年发生的水货客的抗议事件，着力探讨香港两家地方报纸如何报道此次事件，并试图对两家报纸的报道角度做简单分析。

Thesis (Masters Diploma(Technology)--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 1988 / The project entails designing and installing an emergency fire telephone system (EFTS) for the 23 storey Cape Town Administrative Civic Centre. The original system, with its mostly analogue circuitry, has no documentation available, is difficult to maintain and has become unreliable. After considering alternative systems the most economical option was to expand the original system by adding more extension telephones and to redesign the control section. The new EFTS briefly operates as follows: The status of ninety six extension telephones, installed at the emergency exits on each floor, are displayed on a mimic status display which both operators can monitor. Any emergency call can be identified by a green flashing LED and a distinctive bleep. The LED indicates the exact position and number of the telephone in the building, Each operator has a keypad and a two digit numeric display fitted his telephone. The operator can immediately answer incoming calls by pressing the queue button. Calls queue on a first in first out basis. The number of the extension telephone will be displayed on a numeric display. The operator can also select the extension he wishes to contact, by dialling the extension number on the keypad. The EFTS consists of nine printed circuit boards. A rack mounted Microcomputer board, made up of a Motorola MC6809 microprocessor, six 6821 PlAs, 2 kilobyte RAM, up to 16 kilobyte ROM and a watchdog timer controls the EFTS.Two Telephone Controller boards process voice signals and generate logic control signals for the CMOS voice switching circuitry on the Multiplexer Monitor boards. Six Multiplexer Monitor boards switch the two operators to any of the ninety six extension telephones and continuously monitor the extension telephone lines for faults and handset statuses. Noise and over voltage line protection is provided. The multiplexing of the 192 LEDs on the Mimic Status Display is controlled by the Microcomputer board. An unusual principle used in this design is the combination of low frequency AM and audio to affect communication. Two uninterruptable power supplies provide user independence from mains. Software used for the EFTS is written in 6809 Assembly Language. A Real time interrupt controls the Mimic Status Display. Operator actions are interfaced with the program logic by means of hardware interrupts.

Introdução: Erros envolvendo medicamentos ocorrem frequentemente em hospitais, possuem natureza multidisciplinar e podem ocorrer nas várias etapas da terapia medicamentosa. Objetivos: Avaliar a seriedade, o tipo e os medicamentos envolvidos nos erros de medicação notificados no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Verificar a qualidade do conteúdo das notificações obtidas pelos instrumentos de notificação disponíveis na Instituição. Classificar os erros através de árvore de decisão para atos inseguros, quando aplicável. Métodos: Foram analisadas notificações comunicadas por escrito em 2010-2011. A amostra foi composta por 165 notificações. Os erros identificados foram classificados de acordo com a seriedade, o tipo e a classe farmacológica. Foram analisadas 114 notificações, nas quais um erro de fato ocorreu, quanto à qualidade das informações contidas. A qualidade foi avaliada considerando-se os itens preconizados pela ANVISA. A árvore de decisão para atos inseguros foi utilizada para verificar fatores individuais ou sistêmicos nos erros notificados. Resultados: Apesar de um maior número de notificações comunicadas em 2011, comparativamente a 2010, não houve uma alteração significativa no perfil de seriedade destes eventos. Os erros ocorridos ao longo do processo geraram, em algumas situações, novos erros de medicação associados. O tipo de erro mais frequente foi o de prescrição (40%). Nas 114 notificações de erro foram citados 122 medicamentos. O conteúdo das notificações demonstrou que todos itens preconizados pela ANVISA estavam presentes, mas informados em frequências diferentes. A caracterização dos atos inseguros foi realizada com as 30 notificações comunicadas por ficha padronizada pela Instituição. Constatou-se que 19 ações se enquadram como possíveis violações por imprudência e 9 ações, como erros induzidos pelo sistema. Conclusão: A segurança dos pacientes depende do processo de comunicação, do registro adequado das informações e do monitoramento propriamente dito no uso dos medicamentos. / Background: Errors involving medications occur frequently in hospitals, they are multidisciplinary and can occur at many stages of drug therapy. Objectives: Assess the seriousness, the type and drugs involved in medication errors reported on Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Checking the quality of the reports obtained by the notification tools available in the institution. Classifying errors by decision tree for unsafe acts, when applicable. Methods: The sample consisted of 165 notifications. The errors identified were classified according to the seriousness, type and pharmacological class. We analyzed 114 notifications, in which an error has occurred, as to the quality of information. The quality was evaluated considering the items recommended by ANVISA. The decision tree for unsafe acts was used to identify individual or systemic factors in the errors reported. Results: Although a greater number of notifications reported in 2011 compared to 2010, there was no significant change in the profile of seriousness of these events. The errors occurred during the process, have in some situations, new medication errors associated with it. The most common type of error is the prescription error (40%). In 114 reports, 122 medication errors were cited. The content of notifications showed that all items recommended by ANVISA were present, but reported at different frequencies. The characterization of unsafe acts were performed with 30 notifications from a standardized form by the institution. We verified that 19 actions were classified as potential violations recklessness and 9 actions, such as errors induced by the system. Conclusion: Patient safety depends on the communication process, the suitable recording of information and monitoring the appropiate use of medicines.