This dissertation examines changes that companies made in order to obtain Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, and the role that provincial governments have played in the implementation of this emerging market-based form of governance. It analyzes the indirect roles that governments have played in either encouraging or inhibiting the adoption of certification through their policies, as well as the direct roles played in response to particular certification attempts that occurred on public land. Through the use of case studies of individual operations in each province, the interaction between state and non-state authority is explored, as well as the role that forest tenure played in each operation’s ability to obtain certification. The results reveal that the changes required to obtain certification were substantial but associated with only a small subset of the FSC’s Principles and Criteria, heavily weighted towards environmental issues. While corrective action requests are issued to the company pursuing certification, the results show that non-exclusive tenure limits a company’s ability to respond to these requests without the cooperation of the provincial government and resource users with overlapping tenure rights. However, limited duration of forest tenure does not preclude certification, and for the most part, provincial governments are found to play important facilitative roles in certification, both through their policies and regulations, and as providers of information and technical support. Further, the majority of the corrective actions were not required to be implemented prior to certification being awarded, but within the five year term of the certificate. This appears to have acted as a flexibility mechanism, allowing the certification system to secure the participation of companies in the short term, with the hope of leveraging greater change in the long term from the company, the government in question, and other resource users with overlapping tenure rights.

Prior literature finds that firms incur a lower cost of debt capital when they voluntarily disclose information. However, the economic literature demonstrates that creditors' lending standards become more stringent (lax) when credit is rationed (abundant) suggesting that they value voluntary disclosure from borrowers differentially across credit market regimes. I draw upon the economic and finance literature on credit rationing to test whether the effects of voluntary disclosure on firms' cost of debt capital is greater during periods of credit rationing. I provide some evidence that confirms this prediction. Moreover, I provide some evidence that this relation is stronger for smaller firms than larger firms during periods of credit rationing suggesting that creditors value voluntary disclosure more from firms that have fewer resources to cover the increased agency cost of lending during periods of credit rationing.

The horticultural industry is responsible for approximately half of the invasive plant introductions in North America. To reduce these introductions, voluntary initiatives are preferred over government regulations. This thesis aims to evaluate the effectiveness of two types of voluntary initiatives. At the gardener level, I investigated the effectiveness of alternative species promotion campaigns, called “Grow Me Instead” programs. Adult gardeners visiting the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario, as well as customers at two garden centres, participated in a conjoint analysis which measured their preferences for various traits of potential ground cover species. Results showed that gardeners generally prefer plant species having invasive characteristics, suggesting these programs may not be as effective as initially believed. At the retailer level, this study aimed to build upon the work done by Burt and colleagues (2007) to obtain further understanding of the relative strength of internal (ethical motivations) and external (legislation, stakeholder pressures and economic opportunities) factors for motivating participation in voluntary initiatives. Telephone interviews were conducted with 30 industry professionals from southern Ontario to assess their adoption of the St. Louis Voluntary Codes of Conduct. Results found that participation rates of industry professionals in southern Ontario were lower for every specific initiative than those interviewed by Burt et al. (2007). Industry professionals presently experience the most pressure to participate from a sense of personal responsibility and the desire to create a green business image. Pressure was significantly higher from these sources than from pressure from employees. Together these two studies identified several barriers to the efficacy of voluntary initiatives as well as some reasons for optimism. To ensure the success of future voluntary initiatives, efforts must be made to encourage these two groups to work together. Understanding how both retailers and gardeners respond to voluntary initiatives will assist in the development of more effective programs and lead to fewer horticultural invasive species introductions in the future.

This dissertation presents two studies on the value relevance and perceived credibility of pro forma earnings. In the first study, I investigate the value relevance of pro forma earnings relative to two alternative earnings measures GAAP earnings and analysts actual earnings. Value relevance is assessed using two approaches. The first approach examines whether the markets expectations (contemporaneous returns or price) is best reflected in future pro forma earnings, future GAAP earnings, or future analysts actual earnings. The second approach is to determine through pair-wise comparisons of the three earnings measures (e.g., pro forma earnings versus GAAP earnings), which has the greatest explanatory power (comparing adjusted R2s) in explaining price and returns. Across approaches and models, each of the three earnings measures tends to be value relevant. However, Pro forma is consistently the most value relevant, followed by analysts actuals, with GAAP earnings having the least value relevance. That is, pro forma earnings have the greatest information content. This finding is consistent with managers, in aggregate, using pro forma to inform rather than to manage expectations or to mislead. <p>In the second study, I examine the impact of credibility attributes board characteristics, auditor quality and overall information quality on the value relevance of pro forma earnings. It is hypothesized that the credibility attributes will have a statistically significant impact on investors reaction to pro forma earnings. Consistent with the predictions, I find that stronger board characteristics, higher auditor quality and higher overall information quality are positively associated with higher market reaction to the pro forma announcement. That is, credibility attributes increase the value relevance of pro forma earnings. This finding is consistent with some firms providing pro forma earnings that are perceived to be credible and others providing pro formas that are perceived as less credible and possibly provided to manage expectations or to mislead.

Sammanfattning Magisteruppsats i företagsekonomi, Handelshögskolan i Jönköping, VT 2012 Författare: Sigge Kleen Titel: Revisionens vara eller icke vara, Det är frågan? Bakgrund och Problem: 2010 avskaffades revisionsplikten för de minsta aktiebolagen i Sverige, syftet var att hjälpa mindre företag med kostnadsbesparingar då revisionen ansågs som betungande. För att inte förändringen skulle bli för stor för samhället valde regeringen att sätta gränsvärdena för vilka företag som fick omfattas av frivillig revision relativt lågt. Genom SoU 2008:32 kan utläsas att en trolig utveckling i EU är att gränsvärdena för vilka företag som får undantas av revisionsplikten kommer att höjas i framtiden varav frågan är hur de svenska företagen ser på denna utveckling. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att få ett klarare perspektiv på hur företagsgruppen som idag omfattas av revisionsplikt men som vid en eventuell lagändring till EUs maximala gränsvärden inte kommer att omfattas ser på revisionsplikten och revisionens roll i sin helhet. För att få en helhet i huruvida företagen kan påverkas av att bortse från revision är syftet också att undersöka hur företagets intressenter skulle ställa sig till att företaget inte längre påvisade en revision. Avgränsningar: Uppsatsen berör företag mellan dagens satta gränsvärden och EU direktivets maximala undantag. Företagen som har valts ut är belägna i en mindre stad på västkusten i Sverige. Rapporten har valt att avgränsa företagets intressenter till banker. Bankkontoren har valts ut efter samma utgångspunkt som företagen. Metod: Uppsatsens problematik har behandlats utifrån ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt, där datainsamlingen har gjorts via tio personliga intervjuer. Resultatet har sedan ställts mot referensramen med syftet att kunna besvara uppsatsens uppsatta frågeställningar. Resultat och slutsatser: Företagen var väldigt positiva till revisionsplikten och ansåg att den fyllde en viktig funktion i samhället. Företagen hyste en oro att den höga rättssäkerheten som vi idag har i Sverige skulle försämras vid ett avskaffande av revisionsplikten. Till skillnad mot den svenska utredningen SoU 2008:32 var företagen av uppfattningen att ett borttagande av revisionen skulle innebära ökade kostnader. Bland annat trodde företagen med långfristiga lån att deras upplåningskostnad skulle bli dyrare samt att deras möjligheter till utökade krediter troligen skulle försämras. Resonemanget kunde till viss del styrkas utav bankerna, men bankerna kommenterade dock att andra faktorer även hade betydelse kring fastställandet av företagens räntor. Förslag till vidare forskning: Då företagen i denna studie var betydligt positivare till revisionsplikten jämfört med studier av företag i andra EU- länder är förslag till vidare forskning att utforska varför de svenska företagen skiljer sig i sin syn på revisionspliktens betydelse. Då företagen inte är av åsikten att ett avskaffande av revisionsplikten kommer att uppfylla sitt syfte, anses det även intressant att forska kring hur man utefter svenska företag kan minska den administrativa kostnaden utan att påverka rättssäkerheten. / Abstract Master thesis in Business Administration, Jönköping International Business School, Spring 2012 Author: Sigge Kleen Title: Audit´s to be or not to be, That is the question? Background and problem: In 2010, Sweden abolished the audit requirement for smaller limited companies. The aim was to help small companies with cost savings as the audit was considered to be burdensome. In order that the change would not be too extensive for the society, the government chose to set the limits of a voluntary audit, relatively low. From SoU 2008:32 it can be deduced that a likely development in EU is that the limits on which companies may be waived by the audit´s requirement will be increased in the future. The issue is how the Swedish companies will respond to this development. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to gain a clearer perspective of how the group that today is covered by the audit requirement, but at a possible change to EU maximum limits will not be covered, looks at mandatory audit. To get a complete picture of whether companies can be affected by disregarding the audit, the aim is also to examine how the company's stakeholders would react when the company no longer shows an audit. Delimitations: The thesis refers to enterprises between today's limits for voluntary audit and the EU´s Directive for maximum exemption. The companies that have been selected are located in a small town on the west coast of Sweden. The report has chosen to limit the company's stakeholders to banks. Bank offices have been selected with the same basis as the companies. Method: The problem of the thesis has been treated from a qualitative approach, where data collection has been made by ten personal interviews. The result has then been weighed against the reference frame with the purpose to answer the questions of the thesis. Results and conclusions: The companies were very positive about the audit requirement and felt that it fulfilled an important function in the society. The companies had a concern that the high level of legal certainty that we currently have in Sweden, would be impaired by the elimination of the audit requirement. Unlike the Swedish report SoU 2008:32, companies were of the view that removal of the audit would result in increased costs. The companies with long-term loans thought that their cost of borrowing would be more expensive and that their potential for increased credit lines would likely be impaired. The reasoning was partly supported of the banks, but the banks commented that other factors also were of importance when they determined corporate interest rates. Propositions for further research: Because companies in this study were much more positive to the audit requirement in comparison with previous studies from other EU countries is a proposal for further research to examine why the Swedish companies differ in their values. As companies are not of the view that the abolition of the audit requirement will fulfill its purpose, it is considered also interesting to research how the Swedish companies can reduce the administrative costs without affecting the rule of law.

Frågor kring frivillig redovisningsinformation har under senare år varit av växande intresse. Missnöjet med den obligatoriska redovisningen bland investerare och andra nyckelintressenter har bidragit till att kraven på företagen att förse dessa intressenter med mer information ökat. Företag uppmuntras därför att förbättra den ekonomiska rapporteringen. Syftet med studien är att beskriva och förklara vilka faktorer som påverkar företag att lämna frivillig information i årsredovisningar. Uppsatsen bygger på kvantitativ forskningsstrategi då den syftar till att kvantifiera förekomsten av frivillig redovisningsinformation i årsredovisningar. Genom en innehållsanalys av 389 slumpmässigt utvalda aktiebolags årsredovisningar med hjälp av ett kodningsschema kvantifieras den frivilliga informationen. Denna kvantitativa information har sedan statistiskt bearbetats för att kunna bidra till att testa de uppställda hypoteserna. Börsnotering är den faktor som har störst inverkan på mängden redovisad frivillig information och den teori som är mest tillämpbar för att förklara förekomsten av frivillig redovisning är legitimitetsteorin.

Background: Development of technologies and high pace of changes made a modern organization highly dependent on the expertise and assistance of technology specialists. To be able to compete and be cost efficient, but at the same time be on the cutting-edge of technology development, is an essential requirement for doing business in the contemporary world. Moreover, this requirement became a solid ground for the emergence of a technical consulting industry and a new type of human resources - technical consultants. On the one hand, technical consultants are the main resources of technical consulting organizations, but on the other hand, technical consultants can cause harm to technical consulting organization, particularly, in the case of voluntary turnover. Aim: Through the qualitative analysis of the four technical consultants’ voluntary turnover stories in Sweden and based on the literature review, this master thesis opens up the door to the world of technical consultants. The aim of this work is to seek new insights into the problem of voluntary turnover in a new context of technical consultants and discover what role multiple identities and perceived promises play in voluntary turnover decision. Results: Technical consultants are a type of knowledge workers with non-traditional work arrangements. Empirical evidence demonstrates that technical consultants’ decision to quit can be described using "Eight motivational forces", but the framework should be extended, due to developing multiple identities and receiving perceived promises from multiple sources.

Voluntary associations representing numerous types of recreation users and environmental issues have flourished across the landscape in America. However, the literature has not sufficiently studied these associations and their role in collaborative natural resource management. A lack of understanding of voluntary associations has not only limited managers’ ability to accommodate changing values of the American public, but also resulted in tremendous costs for land management agencies. This dissertation was aimed at gaining a better understanding of outdoor recreation and environmental voluntary associations and their involvement in collaborative forest management. Five objectives guided this study: (1) assessing the organizational characteristics of voluntary associations; (2) exploring organizational concerns about forest management issues; (3) examining organizational leaders’ experiences in collaborating with the Forest Service; (4) evaluating the perceived effectiveness of collaboration efforts with the Forest Service, and (5) developing and testing a social psychological model to predict members’ participation in organizational activities. To achieve our research goals, a case-study approach utilizing a mixed-methods research framework was employed. The Sam Houston National Forest (SHNF) located in New Waverly, Texas served as the geographic focus of this research. Semi-structured interviews and a web-based survey were conducted with members in selected voluntary associations that are currently involved in collaborative forest management at SHNF. The findings identified stakeholder attributes and interests, validated assumptions held regarding voluntary groups and assessed collaboration effectiveness, and helped to uncover alternative explanations for members’ differential participation in voluntary associations. The study offers a conceptual bridge linking several areas of study including inter-organizational collaboration, environmental communication, outdoor recreation studies, and volunteerism.

Abstract Recent years, owing to the changes of employment environment and structure of production industry, the problem of ¡§structural unemployment¡¨ is resulted in serious outgoing of the business to cause the ratio rising of unemployment. According to the latest data of National Statistics in 2002, the unemployment rate was high up to 5.17%, that is the top record since so many years. Facing to the difficult economic problem of Taiwan, our government needs to find out a solution for unemployment. Based on aforesaid motivation, by means of voluntary and involuntary leaving the job among unemployment people, this research studied from personal behavior, quality of work, and employment channel and applied the logistic regression to process the empirical analysis. The result proved that no matter for people who are voluntary or involuntary leaving the job, the successful reemployment rate is higher for those who are higher education, served in big company for service industry, and obtain the job from non-official channel. From this study, the result proves that the following suggestions are provided for business management and policy to the companies and government: 1. Establish a warning notification system: Advise early to the people who are going to be fired or dismissed and seek for another employment chance for them to lower down the strike of unemployment. 2. Retraining programming: Provide employees with re-training plan to cultivate them to have more specialization capability in the future new career whenever required for the business. As a result, they can be reemployment within a short time. 3. Responsibility of Enterpriser: Meet the demand for long or short term on manpower strategy and draft out a manpower plan for business operation to fit for economic interest outcomes and reasonable manpower application. 4. Establish lifelong learning environment: Set-up a mechanism to let employees return back to receive the education in schools and obtain more new knowledge through various learning for high potential power to cope with competitors. Also, let them free from afraid for the change of structure and leaving their job, so they can be reemployment easily under great confidence.

none