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The primary objective of the thesis is to investigate whether African banks use loans loss provisions estimates to smooth reported earnings, and to determine the factors that influence the extent of earnings smoothing among African banks. Earnings smoothing via loan loss provision has been examined in several regions, but the case of Africa remain unexplored in the literature. In the thesis, earnings smoothing is viewed as an earnings management practice while loan loss provisions estimate is considered to be the tool used by African banks to smooth reported earnings. Using African bank data obtained from Bankscope database, I test the earnings smoothing hypothesis for 370 African banks during the 2002 to 2014 period using the specific-accrual approach. The specific-accrual approach estimates a specific discretionary accrual as a function of its non-discretionary determinants and other factors that influence the manipulation of the specific accrual. The model specification expresses discretionary loan loss provisions as a function of earnings before provisions and tax, its non-discretionary determinants and other factors that influence the decision regarding the level of bank provisions for each period. The findings indicate that African banks manipulate loan loss provisions estimates to smooth reported earnings and this behaviour is influenced by bank differences, accounting disclosure differences and institutional differences across African countries. The primary contribution to knowledge of the thesis is its extension of our understanding of the role of discretionary accruals in the bank financial reporting, focusing on African banks - a context that has not been extensively examined in the literature. Also, the thesis extends the bank earnings smoothing debate to the African context and the findings of this study are useful to bank regulators in Africa in their evaluation of whether bank loan loss provisions solely reflect credit risk considerations or whether bank loan loss provisions estimates reflect opportunistic considerations of African bank managers. Finally, the findings are useful to local accounting standard setters in the region in their evaluation of several accounting numbers that bank managers might use to manipulate reported earnings.

Government debt management, as a distinct policy, with a clear objective of managing risks and cost minimisation first started among the industrialised economies in the late 1980s. The need to improve government debt management arose with rising debt levels, caused by macro-economic imbalances especially in the mid-1970s and 1980s. In sub-Saharan Africa however, debt management as a strategy was undeveloped or lacking completely. A research in the area of debt management is significant to the economic growth and development of the sub – Saharan Africa. The significance of debt management is supported by empirical studies showing that effective public debt management could go a long way in protecting both low and middle income countries against the negative impact of the financial crisis. This research focus specifically on the choice between short and long term, domestic and external debts and how the process affects the economy as measured by per capita income and debt ratio or level of indebtedness. The work also looked at the extent of implementation of debt management among the SSAs especially as contained in the World Bank and IMF debt management performance guidelines. The research adopted the quantitative approach to answer questions raised in relation to the effect of government borrowing; the choice of debt maturity, and how sovereign debt and its management affect economic growth. It was found that debt is related negatively to economic growth; and the phenomenon of debt overhang actually exists. Debt management however was found to be relevant; where it was observed that the entire process of debt management is vital to economic growth and the development of a country. In particular, countries in sub-Saharan Africa need to put in place an effective and sound debt management strategy that would aid in promoting the needed stability, reduce risks in borrowing and guide in the prudent management of borrowed resources. The work contribute to both theoretical and empirical aspects of debt and its management.

This thesis investigates four interrelated research issues in the context of takeover likelihood modelling. These include: (1) the determinants of target firms’ takeover likelihood, (2) the extent to which targets can be predicted using publicly available information, (3) whether target prediction can form the basis of a profitable investment strategy, and – if not – (4) why investing in predicted targets is a suboptimal investment strategy. The research employs a UK sample of 32,363 firm-year observations (consisting of 1,635 target and 31,737 non-target firm-year observations) between 1988 and 2010. Prior literature relies on eight (old) hypotheses for modelling takeover likelihood – determinants of takeover likelihood. Consistent with prior studies, I find that takeover likelihood increases with the availability of free cash flow (Powell (1997, 2001, 2004)), the level of tangible assets (Ambrose and Megginson (1992)) and management inefficiency (Palepu (1986)), but decreases with firm age (Brar et al. (2009)). The empirical evidence lends no support to the firm undervaluation, industry disturbance, growth-resource mismatch or firm size hypotheses (Palepu (1986)). I extend prior research by developing eleven (new) hypotheses for target prediction. Consistent with the new hypotheses, I find evidence that takeover likelihood is an inverse U-shaped function of firm size, leverage and payroll burden. Takeover likelihood also increases with share repurchase activity, market liquidity and stock market performance and decreases with industry concentration. As anticipated, the new hypotheses improve the within-sample classification and out-of-sample predictive abilities of prior takeover prediction models. This study also contributes to the literature by exploring the effects of different methodological choices on the performance of takeover prediction models. The analyses reveal that the performance of prediction models is moderated by different modelling choices. For example, I find evidence that the use of longer estimation windows (e.g., a recursive model), as well as, portfolio selection techniques which yield larger holdout samples (deciles and quintiles) generally result in more optimal model performance. Importantly, I show that some of the methodological choices of prior researchers (e.g., a one-year holdout period and a matched-sampling methodology) either directly biases research findings or results in suboptimal model performance. Additionally, there is no evidence that model parameters go stale, at least not over a ten-year out-of-sample test period. Hence, the parameters developed in this study can be employed by researchers and practitioners to ascribe takeover probabilities to UK firms. Despite the new model’s success in predicting targets, I find that, consistent with the market efficiency hypothesis, predicted target portfolios do not consistently earn significant positive abnormal returns in the long run. That is, despite the high target concentrations achieved, the portfolios generate long run abnormal returns which are not statistically different from zero. I extend prior literature by showing that these portfolios are likely to achieve lower than expected returns for five reasons. First, a substantial proportion of each predicted target portfolio constitutes type II errors (i.e., non-targets) which, on average, do not earn significant positive abnormal returns. Second, the portfolios tend to hold a high number of firms that go bankrupt leading to a substantial decline in portfolio returns. Third, the presence of poorly-performing small firms within the portfolios further dilutes its returns. Fourth, targets perform poorly prior to takeover bids and this period of poor performance coincides with the portfolio holding period. Fifth, targets that can be successfully predicted tend to earn lower-than-expected holding period returns, perhaps, due to market-wide anticipation. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by developing new hypotheses for takeover prediction, by advancing a more robust methodological framework for developing and testing prediction models and by empirically explaining why takeover prediction as an investment strategy is, perhaps, a suboptimal strategy.

The thesis conveys three discrete, yet interconnected, studies embracing issues revolving around the exploration of integrated reporting adoption and embeddedness using an institutional theory lens. Integrated reporting can be described as ‘a holistic and integrated representation of the company’s performance in terms of both its finance and its sustainability’ (King III, 2009, p. 54). The first study explores the mimetic, normative and regulative institutional factors, at both an organisational field (meso) and country (macro) levels, affecting the adoption of integrated reporting. Moreover, it provides a portrayal for the adoption of the new practice among corporations. The study uses a relatively large sample driven from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) report list and tests it empirically using panel data from 2002- 2010. The second study develops a measure to capture sustainability embeddedness in corporate reports and uses the measure to explore and describe sustainability embeddedness in the integrated reports. Additionally, indicators on sustainability embeddedness in the de facto GRI guidelines are highlighted in comparison to the measure developed. Finally, the third study explores the determinants of sustainability embeddedness in integrated reports using a decoupling lens. More specifically, the study examines the effects of integrated reporting age (as a proxy for early and late adoption), the level of reporting of GRI sustainability guidelines (GRI application level), report assurance and corporate governance on sustainability embeddedness in integrated reports. The study finds that the application of integrated reporting emerged in 2001 amongst only a few corporations in Europe and South America, and was spread among all continents by 2010. While mimetic and normative factors at a meso level were significantly related to integrated reporting adoption, regulative and normative factors at a macro level were found to be of limited association with integrated reporting adoption. Interestingly, corporate size, a firm characteristic control variable, was found to be negatively associated with IR adoption. Exploring sustainability embeddedness in integrated reports in the second study reveals that on average integrated reporters covered 54.4% of the indicators on sustainability embeddedness on the constructed index. Integrated reporters were found to show that sustainability is embedded in some aspects as stakeholder dialogue, executive members’ commitment to sustainability and developing measures to report on various environmental impacts. Conversely, integrated reporters conducting business as usual and prioritised financial aspects in others aspects as remuneration, promotion and appraisal, employee sustainability engagement and investor dialogue regarding sustainability. The results also show that there are great discrepancies in the levels of sustainability embeddedness coverage between integrated reporters. Sustainability embeddedness scores were found to decline, especially in the most recent years of adoption. Regression results in the third study did not find evidence that early adopters of integrated reporting had significantly higher sustainability embeddedness than later adopters. Additionally, corporate governance mechanisms were also unable to explain sustainability embeddedness scores, with the exception of the positive association between corporate two-tier boards and sustainability embeddedness. Embedding sustainability was found to be mainly associated with GRI application level. There was limited evidence to suggest that integrated reporters providing assurance for their reports had higher sustainability embeddedness scores. The studies, taken together, contribute to the body of literature on CSR adoption in general and the adoption of integrated reporting and its practices in particular. The studies also provide contribution and implications by testing institutional theory in a new context.

This thesis employed a case study approach to explore the rules and routines that have evolved within the Investor Relations (IR) functions of a large Canadian public company (ABC) from the inception of their IR website in 1997 to 2010. Utilizing weblog analysis, institutional theory (specifically, the Burns and Scapens (2000) institutional framework), and a detailed case study analysis of the interviews undertaken, the findings of this study illustrate that rules and routines of operation within an IR web team are likely to be dynamic and will evolve at a quick pace if the business is actively seeking to employ best practice in its IR website strategy. The results also show how both internal and various external influences are likely to play key roles in altering the rules and routines of IR websites operation. Within the case study presented, five distinct stages of institutionalization were recognized. The analysis framework used provided an effective tool to analyze the internal aspects of these stages. However, it was also enlarged to incorporate specific external influences to show how they play a parallel part in affecting activity in this domain specifically. The findings further show that there is minimal normative isomorphism occurring in this domain. It is proposed that the lack of formalized education in the IR website management and operation area may be playing a key role in constraining the further development of this. Further, the thesis concludes by highlighting the critical need for senior management ‘buy-in’, identification and development of a suitable lead for this activity within the company, and the right context in which they can be allowed freedom to innovate and explore best practices applicable to the online IR function, where-ever they may be found. These features must then be balanced with the overall strategic placement of the IR website as a best practice driver, or follower, to ensure a successful, strategically aligned operation in this domain. While these issues individually have been found to be important in other rapidly innovating business domains, this thesis illustrates and explores their need for the first time, in the IR field in the context of a recognized leader in its field.

The audit firms play an important role in the capital markets by verifying that auditors provide reliable information to the decision makers. However, trust in auditing firms has been questioned following Enron‘s failure and accounting scandals at WorldCom and other companies. As a result, Arthur Anderson failed and the number of big audit firms fell to four firms and no one knows who might be next. Defond and Francis (2005) believe that a critical trigger occurred when Deloitte & Touch issued a “clean” peer review report on Arthur Andersen in December 2001, just a few weeks before Andersen publicly announced that it had shredded documents related to Enron audit. The credibility and integrity of the profession‘s self-regulation program was immediately in doubt. To protect public interests and to restore confidence in the capital markets, the USA government issued the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002. Similarly, the Financial Reporting Council in the UK provided the Professional Oversight Board with similar mission. This thesis aims to explore the role of independent audit regulators in promoting confidence in the audit profession, and analyse the big four firms’ strategies that react toward these regulatory changes in the audit markets. The lack of studies in this area supports the use of grounded theory as a research methodology. 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the top management level of the audit regulators and big four firms’ partners. This study contributes to the literature as it provides a better understanding of the satisfaction of the big four audit firms toward the new independent regulators, and how these firms react toward the additional requirements of the independent inspectors.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T19:12:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 3 / Nenhuma / A informação é o principal produto da contabilidade, e a sua confiabilidade está diretamente relacionada aos critérios e técnicas empregados na sua elaboração. As empresas norte-americanas estabelecidas no Brasil necessitam traduzir suas demonstrações contábeis pelos critérios estabelecidos pelo FASB, através do seu pronunciamento nº 52. É neste contexto que se desenvolve o presente estudo, onde o principal objetivo foi avaliar a conveniência do pronunciamento nº 52 do FASB para a qualidade da informação contábil, à luz da teoria da contabilidade, ao mesmo tempo em que se aplica um terceiro método de conversão, inspirado na Correção Monetária Integral. Para tanto, foi desenvolvida uma simulação das operações empresariais, onde cada operação foi convertida pelos métodos Câmbio de Fechamento, Monetário/não-monetário e Correção Monetária Integral. Através do método de pesquisa empregado, possibilitou-se concluir que a subjetividade de escolha da moeda funcional possibilita a obtenção de duas demonstrações contáb / Information is the main product of accounting and its confidence is directly connected with criterions and techniques used. To such an extend, the north american companies settled up in Brazil need to have translated their financials reporting by the criterions determined by FASB, thru its statement number 52. In this context is developed the present study. The main aim is to evaluate the convenience of the nº 52 statement from FASB concerning the quality of the accounting information under the light of the accounting’s theory. At the same time, a third method of conversion is presented inspired in the Integral Correction of Balance. In such a way, a simulation of enterprise’s operation is developed where each operation is converted by Closing Exchange Methods and Monetary/non-monetary besides a third method is suggested. The method of the research used gave us the chance to conclude that the subjectivity of choosing the functional coin makes possible to obtain two distinctive financials reporting so much as

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:35:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago_Morais_de_Castro.pdf: 1342136 bytes, checksum: bf015b66106a0b404f6f9a7b695bbf36 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-20 / The study of the relevance of accounting information has come to prominence with the development of capital markets and the pursuit of timely information, quality and which are able to influence its users. As relevant accounting information, this essay adopts the concept of quality that the information owns to influence prices in the capital markets. Taking advantage of the timely convergence of brazilian accounting standards to IFRS (International Financial Reports Standards), this study aimed to determine whether the adoption of international accounting standards (IFRS) affected the relevance of accounting information of non-financial companies listed in Brazil and whether there are differences in the relevance of accounting information among the published statement sunder IFRS on a voluntary and compulsory way. The first objective examined whether there were differences in the relevance of the information through an analysis of ordinary least squares (OLS) of the financial statements of 2009 prepared in BR GAAP and IFRS, and through the analysis of panel data from the annual financial statements period 2005 to 2010. The second objective of the analysis used panel data from annual financial statements for the period 2005 to 2010, and considered as those published in voluntary IFRS for prior periods to fiscal the year of 2010. All analyzes used models of Ohlson (1995) and Barth, Cram and Nelson (2001). The models were used as dependent variables price (P) and stock returns (RET), however the results were suitable only to the dependent variable (P). The analysis indicated that there are differences in the relevance of the information of non-financial companies listed in Brazil, on its financial statements prepared in BR GAAP and IFRS. The analysis of the model of Ohlson (1995) in OLS and panel data confirmed this difference and pointed to the financial statements prepared under IFRS as the major importance. The model of Barth, Cram and Nelson (2001) in OLS also revealed differences in the relevance of the information prepared in BR GAAP and IFRS, but pointed to statements in BR GAAP as the major importance. The model of Barth, Cram and Nelson (2001) on panel data found no differences in the relevance of accounting information between BR GAAP and IFRS standards. The second objective, the results indicate that there are no differences in the relevance of accounting information between the statements prepared under IFRS on a mandatory or voluntary way, from non-financial companies listed in Brazil / O estudo da relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis vem ganhando destaque com o desenvolvimento dos mercados de capitais e com a busca de informa????es tempestivas, de qualidade e que sejam capazes de influenciar seus usu??rios. Como informa????o cont??bil relevante, esta disserta????o adota o conceito da qualidade que a informa????o possui de influenciar os pre??os praticados nos mercados de capitais. Aproveitando o momento oportuno da converg??ncia das normas cont??beis brasileiras para as IFRS (International Financial Reports Standards), este trabalho teve por objetivo verificar se a ado????o das normas internacionais de contabilidade (IFRS) afetou a relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis das empresas n??o financeiras listadas no Brasil e se existe diferen??a na relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis entre as demonstra????es publicadas em IFRS de forma volunt??ria e obrigat??ria. O primeiro objetivo verificou se haviam diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es atrav??s de uma an??lise em M??nimos Quadrados Ordin??rios (MQO) das demonstra????es cont??beis do ano de 2009 elaboradas em BR GAAP e em IFRS; e atrav??s da an??lise de dados em painel das demonstra????es cont??beis anuais do per??odo de 2005 a 2010. O segundo objetivo utilizou da an??lise de dados em painel das demonstra????es cont??beis anuais do per??odo de 2005 a 2010, e considerou como demonstra????o cont??bil volunt??ria aquelas publicadas em IFRS para per??odos anteriores ao exerc??cio 2010. Todas as an??lises utilizaram dos modelos de Ohlson (1995) e Barth, Cram e Nelson (2001). Os modelos utilizados tinham como vari??veis dependentes o pre??o (P) e o retorno das a????es (RET), por??m, os resultados foram adequados somente com a vari??vel dependente (P). As an??lises apontaram que existem diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es das empresas n??o financeiras listadas no Brasil, relativo ?? suas demonstra????es cont??beis elaboradas em BR GAAP e em IFRS. A an??lise do modelo de Ohlson (1995) em MQO e dados em painel comprovaram esta diferen??a e apontaram paras as demonstra????es elaboradas em IFRS como as de maior relev??ncia. O modelo de Barth, Cram e Nelson (2001) em MQO tamb??m revelou diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es elaboradas em BR GAAP e IFRS, por??m apontou para as demonstra????es em BR GAAP como de maior relev??ncia. O modelo de Barth, Cram e Nelson (2001) em dados de painel n??o encontrou diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis entre os padr??es BR GAAP e IFRS. Quanto ao segundo objetivo, os resultados apontam que n??o existem diferen??as na relev??ncia das informa????es cont??beis entre as demonstra????es elaboradas em IFRS de forma obrigat??ria ou volunt??ria, das empresas n??o financeiras listadas no Brasil

Submitted by Rosangela Silva (rosangela.silva3@unioeste.br) on 2018-05-21T12:45:52Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Samuel Lyncon Leandro de Lima.pdf: 1808970 bytes, checksum: b2b1050659f01e1b4764283ecaec7480 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-21T12:45:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Samuel Lyncon Leandro de Lima.pdf: 1808970 bytes, checksum: b2b1050659f01e1b4764283ecaec7480 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-06 / Voluntary disclosure of financial information consists of a theme with a fundamental role in Accounting, and in this sense, many authors have discussed for some decades, mainly with the studies of Verrecchia (1983) and Dye (1985). Among the aspects worked on the issue of voluntary disclosure is the reduction of informational asymmetry. From this perspective, considering the importance of maximizing transparency, arising from the practice of voluntary disclosure, sought to perform analyzes with eight logit regression models, based on Brazilians non-financial companies listed on the Brazil Bolsa Balcão S.A., in 2016. The research differential was to distinguish the respective dependent variables with the aid of a quality metric for the comparison amongst published information of the companies in question. We have Murcia’s study (2009) as a reference to establish which variables, in principle, more explain the willingness of companies to publish voluntarily information. Therefore, we tried to answer the following research question: "What is the probability of the explanatory variables selected influence the practices of voluntary disclosure in Brazilian non-financial companies listed on the Brazil Bolsa Balcão S.A, in 2016?”. Thereby, we have carried out the analysis of the data in two stages. The first one consisted of an in-depth survey on the content of the publications carried out by the sample companies, aiming to qualify, comparatively, the information evidenced by the companies, under the parameter of a metric constructed contemplating the quality of the information. This first stage of the analysis was performed in addition to identifying the level of voluntary disclosure of companies, by segment of activity and economic sector for the construction of dependent variables. Therefore, in the second stage of the data analysis, we worked with the logit regression models proposed in the research, with the objective of estimating the probability of practicing the voluntary disclosure of financial information. As the main results, when verified the data presented by the estimated regression models, it was found that the coefficients associated with corporate governance and audit have a positive influence expressive on a probability of disclosure of information, so coefficients of the first variable were statistically significant in the integral of the estimated models. In addition, regarding the results presented by the coefficients associated with the explanatory variables related to the economic and financial performance of the companies, none presented statistical significance. Finally, although the theme of voluntary disclosure has been, extensively, discussed in the literature, it still has gaps to be explored that would contribute to the advancement of these discussions. / A divulgação voluntária de informações financeiras consiste em uma temática com papel fundamental na Contabilidade, e nesse sentido, vem sendo discutida há algumas décadas, principalmente com os estudos dos autores Verrecchia (1983) e Dye (1985). Dentre os aspectos trabalhados na questão da divulgação voluntária de informações financeiras está a redução da assimetria informacional. Nessa perspectiva, considerando-se a importância pela maximização da transparência, decorrente da prática de evidenciação de informações financeiras voluntária, buscou-se empreender análises com oito modelos de regressão logit, com base nas companhias brasileiras não financeiras de capital aberto, listadas na Brasil Bolsa Balcão, no exercício de 2016. O diferencial de pesquisa, aqui proposto, foi distinguir as respectivas variáveis dependentes, com o auxílio de uma métrica de qualidade para a comparação entre a publicação de informações das companhias em questão. O estudo de Murcia (2009) foi utilizado como referência para se estabelecer quais as variáveis, que em princípio, mais explicam a disposição das empresas a publicarem informações voluntárias. Diante disso, buscou-se responder à seguinte questão de pesquisa: “Qual a probabilidade das variáveis explicativas selecionadas influenciarem as práticas de disclosure voluntário de informações financeiras das companhias brasileiras não financeiras de capital aberto listadas na Brasil Bolsa Balcão no ano de 2016?”. Assim sendo, a análise dos dados foi realizada em duas etapas, de modo que a primeira consistiu no levantamento em profundidade sobre o conteúdo das publicações realizadas pelas companhias da amostra, objetivando qualificar, comparativamente, as informações evidenciadas pelas empresas, sob o parâmetro de uma métrica construída contemplando a qualidade da informação. Essa primeira etapa da análise prestou-se para além de identificar o nível de divulgação voluntária das empresas, por segmento de atuação e setor econômico, também para construção das variáveis dependentes. Por conseguinte, na segunda etapa da análise dos dados, trabalhou-se com os modelos de regressão logit propostos na pesquisa, com o objetivo de estimar a probabilidade da prática do disclosure voluntário de informações financeiras. Como principais achados da pesquisa, quando verificado os resultados apresentados pelos modelos de regressão estimados, constatou-se que os coeficientes associados à governança corporativa e auditoria apresentaram uma significativa influência positiva sobre a probabilidade de divulgação das informações, sendo que os coeficientes da primeira variável foram estatisticamente significantes na integralidade dos modelos estimados. Ademais, quanto aos resultados apresentados pelos coeficientes associados às variáveis explicativas relacionadas ao desempenho econômico e financeiro das companhias, nenhum apresentou significância estatística. Por fim, embora a temática da divulgação voluntária seja extensivamente discutida na literatura, ainda possui lacunas a serem exploradas, que contribuiriam com o avanço dessas discussões.