Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Firm disclosures'

The disclosure of Corporate Governance (CG) information by firms has been found in prior studies to have an impact on the market value of firms. This thesis extends the research by studying the impact of voluntary CG disclosure by firms in Hong Kong, a market which provides a strong legal investor protection but characterized by a high insider ownership, on company valuation, as proxied by Tobin’s q. This thesis also examines the role of dividend payout on the CG of Hong Kong firms. Based on hand-collected data for a sample of 258 firm-years over the 2003-2005 period, the empirical results show that, firstly, voluntary CG disclosure is positively and significantly related to market valuation for small firms, but the relationship is not significant for large or medium firms. Combining large firms and small firms in a pooled sample, as done in most previous studies, thus misses the differential value relevance of voluntary CG disclosure for small versus large firms. Secondly, firms with higher CG disclosure are associated with lower dividend payout ratios, ceteris paribus. The evidence appears to suggest that CG disclosure can substitute for dividend payout. Thirdly, those small firms with medium levels of insider ownership are found to pay lower dividends than small firms with either low or very high levels of insider ownership, suggesting that investors would expect higher dividends from small firms that are prone to, or have either agency problems or entrenchment problems. Furthermore, controlling for the level of insider ownership, a small firm with high CG disclosure is always associated with a higher market valuation. The empirical evidence suggests that voluntary CG disclosure has a much stronger impact on the reduction of information asymmetry between investors (i.e., the outsiders) and managers (i.e., the insiders) for small firms than for large firms. Hence, by voluntarily disclosing more CG information, a small firm can be expected to enjoy the double benefits of receiving a higher market valuation and a lower demand for dividend payout from investors. This study contributes to the research of value relevance of CG disclosure in several ways. It provides clear evidence that voluntary CG disclosure enhances the valuation of small firms, which previous research may have overlooked. It also shows that voluntary CG disclosure and the level of insider ownership jointly affect a firm’s valuation and dividend payout. Voluntary disclosure of corporate governance information, even under a strong legal regime for investor protection, seems to be a company attribute very much appreciated by outside investors.

One of the main aims of the underlying research is to respond to continuous calls for introducing and measuring a sound economic definition for best practice disclosure quality (e.g. Beyer et al., 2010) that is derived from a reliable guidance framework (Botosan, 2004) using an innovative natural language processing technique (Berger, 2011). It also aims to examine the impact of corporate governance on best practice disclosure quality. Finally, it aims to examine the joint effect of both best practice disclosure quality and corporate governance on firm value. The thesis contributes to disclosure studies in three principal ways. First, it introduces a new measure for best practice disclosure quality. Further tests show that the proposed measure is reliable and valid. A novel feature of this measure is that it captures all qualitative dimensions of information issued by the Accounting Standards Board, 2006 (ASB) Operating and Financial Review (OFR) Reporting Statement. Second, it uses machine-readable OFR statements for financial years ending in 2006-2009, and develops a language processing technique through constructing five keyword lists. Third, it examines the extent to which disclosure quantity provides a proper proxy for disclosure quality. The analysis shows that disclosure quantity is not a good proxy for disclosure quality. Accordingly, results derived, using quantity as a proxy for quality, are questionable. Results of the association between disclosure quality and corporate governance mechanisms suggest that the most effective governance mechanisms in improving disclosure quality are leadership structure, audit committee meeting frequency, and audit firm size. Using a wide set of corporate governance mechanisms, the study also contributes to three research strands and explains the inconclusive results in relation to the association between disclosure quality, corporate governance mechanisms and firm value. It provides empirical evidence as to which governance mechanisms promote the quality of voluntarily disclosed information in large UK firms. Additionally, it provides empirical evidence as to the joint effect of best practice disclosure quality, corporate governance mechanisms on firm value in the UK. Results also show that best practice disclosure quality enjoys a substitutive relationship with two corporate governance mechanisms (audit committee independence and audit committee size) and a complementary association with board independence in relation to firm value. The study has various research and policy implications. It suggests new research avenues for re-examining disclosure relationships, especially research areas that do not have persuasive conclusions such as the economic consequences of disclosure quality. Such research may inform both regulators and managers as to the costs and benefits of disclosure quality to both firms and stakeholders. It also provides feedback on the current disclosure practices by firms so that policy-makers can modify reporting frameworks/guidance accordingly.

This thesis reviews the evolution of interim reporting in New Zealand. The attempts to regulate interim reporting by the stock Exchange Association of New Zealand and the lobbying behaviour of affected parties are documented. The regulation of interim reporting is interpreted as a series of self-interest actions by the affected parties. In 1973 semiannual reports were mandated for all firms listed on the New Zealand stock Exchange. However, the content of these reports, was not specified until 1976. The extent of voluntary reporting practice prior to 1973 is recorded. The major empirical analysis of the thesis examines the association between corporate characteristics and the voluntary disclosure of semiannual earnings during the period 1973 to 1976. The analysis shows that firms with high semiannual earnings disclosures have more shares issued, have paid an interim dividend, carry relatively less inventory, are in a more seasonal industry and have a greater earnings forecast error. Assets in place, political costs of disclosure and competitive costs of disclosure are not found to be associated with the level of semiannual earnings disclosure. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the significance of the explanatory variables depends on firm size and upon the threshold level of disclosure.

The aim of this study is to investigate empirically the extent of mandatory disclosure with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and the level of voluntary disclosure by firms in the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) member states — namely, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — over the period 2010 to 2013, and to explain why some firms disclose more than others. It aims to investigate the determinants of mandatory disclosure and voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of GCC listed firms. It seeks to assess the relationship between a number of firm-specific characteristics such as corporate characteristics, ownership structure factors, corporate governance factors and cultural factors (manager’s personal characteristics) and the extent of mandatory and voluntary disclosures. In addition, the impact of voluntary disclosure level on mandatory disclosure level, the impact of mandatory disclosure level on voluntary disclosure level and sub-sample country groups. The extent of mandatory disclosure and the level of voluntary disclosure are examined using two different disclosure indices. The former disclosure index contains 325 mandatory disclosure items and the latter disclosure index comprises 129 voluntary disclosure items. The empirical approach is applied to the financial statements of 120 listed firms. Multivariate regression analysis is employed to explore the relationships between the extent of mandatory and voluntary disclosures and firm characteristics of the firms and year dummy variables. The firm characteristics include corporate characteristics, ownership structure factors, corporate governance factors and cultural factors (managers’ personal characteristics). In addition, to the impact of voluntary disclosure level on mandatory disclosure level, the impact of mandatory disclosure level on voluntary disclosure level and sub-sample country groups. The average level of mandatory disclosure requirements with the 24 IFRSs investigated across firms and years was 0.73, with a range from 61% to 87%. The level of mandatory disclosure increased from 0.71 in 2010 to 0.73 in 2013, indicating that the level of mandatory disclosure has been improving in the region over the study period. However, no firm throughout the study period fully satisfied the benchmark index created. The level of mandatory disclosure varies across the GCC listed firms. The highest average mandatory disclosure level for all years was in the UAE (0.77) followed by Qatar (0.76) Kuwait (0.73) Oman (0.71), Saudi Arabia (0.71) and Bahrain (0.69). Several firm characteristics helped to explain the level of mandatory disclosure. The extent of mandatory disclosure increased with firm size, international presence (international listing and international sales), group firms, firm age, the proportion of state share ownership, the degree of board independence, and the education level of the board directors and financial controllers. In addition, the level of mandatory disclosure also varied by industry type. In contrast, the level of mandatory disclosure decreased with profitability, the proportion of institutional share ownership, board size, CEO role duality, and the level of voluntary disclosure. In addition, there were significant differences in the level of mandatory disclosure through time and across country groups. The level of mandatory disclosure is higher in sub-sample country group (grouped by high level of exports). However, liquidity was found not a significant factor in explaining variations in mandatory disclosure levels. The average level of voluntary disclosure, for the GCC listed firms as a whole, across the 13 groups of information categories examined for all years was 0.31; that is, on average firms disclosed 31% of the voluntary disclosure items, with a range from 9% to 68%. The voluntary disclosure mean levels for all years were as follows: Saudi Arabia: 0.45, Oman: 0.36, Bahrain: 0.32, Qatar: 0.32, the UAE: 0.24 and Kuwait: 0.21. The level of voluntary disclosure increased by 1% over the sample period, from 0.31 in 2010 to 0.32 in 2013, indicating that the extent of voluntary disclosure has improved slightly in the GCC listed firms. However, no sample firm fully disclosed the full list of benchmark voluntary information items. The level of voluntary disclosure varies by the type of information, consistent with existing studies. The highest group scores were for general information (0.66), information about directors (0.57), foreign currency information (0.48) and market-based information (0.42), whereas the lowest group scores were for future prospects (0.08), research and development (0.11), employee information (0.18) and social policy and value added information (0.26). The findings show that GCC listed firms disclose significantly more general information, directors’ information, foreign currency information and market information than future prospect information, research and development information, employee and social information. The level of voluntary disclosure increased with firm size, leverage, profitability, the proportion of assets in place, multiple listing status, firm age, the proportion of state share ownership, board size and CEO role duality. In addition, the level of voluntary disclosure also varied by industry type. In contrast, the level of voluntary disclosure was lower for service sector firms, and in relation to the proportion of director ownership, the proportion of family members on the board and the extent of mandatory disclosure. In addition, the level of voluntary disclosure is higher in sub-sample country group (developed stock markets). The results show no significant differences in the level of voluntary disclosure through time. However, liquidity, the proportion of institutional share ownership, and the degree of board independence do not evidence a significant association with the level of voluntary disclosure.

In a world of asymmetric information, firms can use accounting policy as a means to signal information to outsiders and thereby, attempt to reduce the level of asymmetric information that outsiders face. I examine ‘commitment’ mechanisms that can be used by firms to signal information to outsiders. In particular, I examine the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the use of Fair Value Accounting (FVA). The first paper examine the influence of Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) as introduced by Hofstede (1980), on the cost of equity for IFRS adopters in the EU. The results suggest that though UAI has a detrimental impact on the cost of equity, UAI interacts with IFRS adoption, leading to a reduction in the cost of equity for firms based in higher UAI countries that use IFRS. The results are being driven by the mandatory adopters group, who were found to benefit from IFRS adoption and a higher UAI, while voluntary and Voluntary/Mandatory adopters appear to suffer from an increase in their cost of equity. The paper therefore suggests that differences in cultural norms towards uncertainty may be able to explain part of the heterogeneity in the cost of equity exhibited by firms that have adopted IFRS. The second paper examines the influence of FVA on the design and renegotiation of debt contracts. The paper is an extension of the Garleanu and Zwiebel (2009) model and incorporates the use of FVA as a disclosure mechanism and compares it to a setting where the firm uses Historical Cost Accounting (HCA). The model suggests that FVA firms would benefit from fewer covenants and a lower cost of debt. In subsequent extensions to the model, I incorporate the different FVA classifications and the model suggests that the Level 1 classification is expected to be more information relevant to lenders compared to the Level 3 classification. The third paper uses the predictions from the second paper and examines the influence of FVA on a sample of US private loans obtained from LPC/Dealscan. The results of the paper suggest that the Level 1 FVA classification results in a lower number of Balance sheet covenants, and a lower cost of debt. However, we do not find positive evidence to suggest that the Level 1 classification leads to a reduction in the Covenant intensity index or an increase in the number of loan amendments. The Level 2 and 3 classifications appear to exhibit results that suggest that they are considered less informationally relevant compared to the Level 1 classification.

Conventional wisdom suggests that firm’s patenting choice is largely due to strategic considerations such as industry competition and the prominence of the invention. We explore this issue from a managerial discretion perspective, suggesting that patenting choice facilitates managerial discretion via earnings management. On the one hand, not filing patents generates a more opaque information environment for market scrutiny, suggesting higher chance of earnings management. On the other hand, stewardship theory indicates that managers use trade secrets to protect their intellectual property. We find that non-patenting firms do not engage in financial earnings management while their real activity based earnings management is lower than patenting counterparts. On average, non-patenting choice does not lead to harmful opaqueness.

Using a positivist empirical approach, this thesis extends the existing literature by examining the Vietnamese accounting and financial reporting environment using contemporary data.Regression analysis reveals some interesting characteristics of Vietnamese listed firms. Vietnamese listed firms have a moderately average proportion of independent directors on their corporate boards (53.89 per cent), a high level of state ownership (26.63 per cent), a moderate level of managerial ownership (12.77 per cent) and a relatively low level of foreign ownership (9.80 per cent).Regression analysis results provide support for the juxtaposition of agency theory in explaining the variations of Vietnamese voluntary disclosure practices. In particular, the evidence reveals that a firm’s voluntary disclosure practice is positively influenced by the strength of their corporate governance (the proportion of independent directors on corporate boards). High state ownership, which is a unique feature of Vietnamese listed firms, has a significant and negative association with the extent of voluntary disclosure. Whilst a higher proportion of managerial ownership reduces the extent of voluntary disclosure, foreign ownership has no impact on such practice. Firm size, profitability, type of industry, auditing firms, listing duration and stock exchange location are important attributes associated with voluntary disclosure in Vietnamese annual reports.Evidence from this thesis suggests that corporate governance can serve as an effective monitoring mechanism to enhance the level of information disclosure in Vietnam. Such findings encourage Vietnamese policy makers to adopt stronger corporate governance mechanisms to improve the level of information transparency. The negative influence of state ownership on the extent of Vietnamese voluntary disclosure offers valuable insights into Vietnam’s future privatization plans. Moreover, the negative relationship between managerial ownership and voluntary disclosure practices enhances the understanding of the entrenchment problem of managerial ownership, particularly in an emerging market.Overall, the empirical results of this thesis not only contribute to the extant literature, but also provide helpful insights for policy makers in Vietnam as they strive to improve corporate information transparency.

Cette thèse est articulée en trois chapitres et s’inscrit dans le domaine de la recherche empirique en comptabilité financière. Elle examine les déterminants et les conséquences de la communication des entreprises. Le premier chapitre étudie les effets réels de la communication financière sur les dépenses de publicité des entreprises. Le deuxième chapitre, co-écrit avec Thomas Bourveau et Vedran Capkun, étudie les conséquences réelles de la communication des résultats de recherche médicale sur les marchés financiers et sur la société. Le troisième chapitre, co-écrit avec Vedran Capkun et Yun Lou, analyse l’influence de l’information propriétaire communiquée par des concurrents d’une entreprise sur leurs produits sur la décision de cette entreprise de communication de ses propres informations propriétaires<br>This dissertation is composed of three chapters investigating the antecedents and consequences of corporate disclosure in the domain of empirical-archival financial accounting. The first chapter examines the real effects of firm disclosure and its timing on firm advertising investment. The second chapter, joint work with Thomas Bourveau and Vedran Capkun, documents the real consequences of pharmaceutical firms’ clinical trial disclosure in financial markets and on broader society. The third chapter presents a joint project with Vedran Capkun and Yun Lou, exploring intra-industry peer disclosure of proprietary information as antecedents of corporate disclosure decision at product level

I use a quasi-exogeneous shock to information asymmetry among shareholders to evaluate the effect of information asymmetry on corporate disclosure. In the post-Regulation FD period, the merger between a shareholder and a lender of the same firm provides a shock to the information asymmetry among equity investors, because Regulation FD applies to shareholders but not lenders. After the merger, the shareholder gains access to the firm-specific private information held by the lender. I first provide evidence that information asymmetry among shareholders increases after the shareholder-lender mergers. I then use a difference-in-differences research design to show that after shareholder-lender merger transactions, firms issue more quarterly forecasts (including earnings, sales, capital expenditure, EBITDA, and gross margin), and the quarterly earnings forecasts are more precise. This study provides direct empirical evidence that information asymmetry among investors affects corporate disclosure.

I investigate why the majority of firms do not issue earnings warnings in the face of upcoming earnings disappointments. SEC Rule 10b-5 imposes a duty on managers to correct or update when they discover that prior disclosures are misleading. I posit that managers assess the 10b-5 duty to disclose based on private information about optimism and misstatements embedded in their prior disclosures. Specifically, I hypothesize that managers who did not issue forecasts or managers who previously issued non-optimistic forecasts are more likely to be silent about upcoming earnings disappointments than managers who previously issued optimistic forecasts. I also hypothesize that managers who perceive that prior disclosures include misstatements that are difficult to verify in the court are more likely to remain silent than are managers who perceive that prior disclosures include misstatements that are easy to verify in the court. My results support these hypotheses. In additional tests, after controlling for the endogeneity between warnings and the likelihood of litigation, I find that earnings warnings issued by managers who perceive that they are not bound by a duty to disclose increase litigation risk. I also find that warnings by firms with misstatements containing less verifiable information do not reduce settlement costs when these firms are sued. Overall, my evidence indicates that when managers perceive that they have no duty to disclose, their earnings warnings are likely to have an adverse impact on litigation risk and, thus, managers are likely to remain silent to avoid this outcome.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Business<br>Doctoral<br>Doctor of Philosophy

In the last few years alone, calls for transparency by consumers have grown louder. No longer are consumers willing to sit back and allow firms to make `closed door' decisions that benefit the company (and its executives) at the expense of consumers and society. This dissertation begins to answer the call for a greater understanding of transparency from both practitioner and academic perspectives. In particular, this dissertation focuses on systematically developing a succinct definition of perceived firm transparency, developing a valid measure of transparency, and empirically testing antecedents and consequences of transparency. Two studies were conducted to develop the transparency scale following a thorough review of the transparency literature across six fields. Study 1 was dedicated to scale development and validation for the transparency construct. Study 2 was dedicated to further validating the transparency scale and testing its psychometric properties and validity. The complete proposed model was tested in Study 3 utilizing scenarios in a between-subjects design with a student sample. Study 4 further tested the proposed model in a slightly more ecologically valid setting with a more diverse sample. Studies 3 and 4 showed that transparency has significant direct impact on reducing skepticism, and increasing trust, attitude toward the firm, and purchase intention; and these impacts are of substantial magnitude. Studies 3 and 4 also tested a few antecedents of perceived firm transparency including perceived firm reciprocity, perceived consumer effort, and negative information. Reciprocity and consumer effort both had a significant impact on perceptions of firm transparency in Studies 3 and 4, and negative information impacted perceptions of transparency in Study 3 only. At its core, transparency means that a firm is perceived to be open and forthright with stakeholders. This dissertation shows that stakeholders reward firms for being transparent; and those rewards come in the form of decreased skepticism and increased favorable attitudes toward the firm, trust, and purchase intention. Managers can focus on increasing perceptions of transparency by providing stakeholders with opportunities for mutual conversations, by making easy for stakeholders to learn about the company and its offerings, and by sharing more balanced information about itself that reflects both the positives and the negatives.

Weakness in corporate governance and lack of transparency are often considered causes of, or contributors to, the Asian Financial Crisis. Publicly listed companies in Indonesia, like other Asian firms, have a concentrated ownership structure. Focusing on manufacturing firms listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) for the year 2003, this study adopts an agency framework to examine voluntary disclosures included in the annual reports of 149 Indonesian firms and their relationship to various attributes such as: ownership structure; whether a firm is family-owned or not; the owner's involvement in either the Board of Commissioners or Board of Directors; and whether the firm is affiliated with a business group. The results mostly support the notion that ownership structure affects the extent of disclosure in annual reports. First, the results show that, compared to firms with a nonmajority ownership structure, voluntary disclosure is lower in firms with a majority ownership structure. Second, the results indicate that family owned firms are more likely to exhibit lower voluntary disclosure than are non-family owned firms. Third, the analysis shows that, among family firms, firms with a majority (compared to those with a non-majority) ownership structure are more likely to have lower levels of voluntary disclosure. Fourth, the results indicate that, among family firms, firms affiliated with a business group are more likely to make lower voluntary disclosures than independent firms. In contrast, the empirical analysis failed to support the hypothesis that, among family firms, voluntary disclosure would be lower in firms where the owners are involved in the Board of Commissioners compared to those where there is no owner involvement in the Board of Commissioners. Similarly, the results failed to support the hypothesis that, among family firms, voluntary disclosure would be lower in firms where the owners are involved in the Board of Directors compared to those where there is no owner involvement in the Board of Directors. Robustness checks performed using alternate measures of disclosure and the degree of ownership structure did not substantially change the conclusions. This thesis contributes to our understanding of how family firms are governed and the impact of corporate governance on a firm?s level of voluntary disclosure. The results have implications for policy makers and regulators in Indonesia striving to improve corporate governance and transparency.

The claim providing the starting point for this thesis is that most narrative films are in an overtly dramatic, melodramatic or comic idiom. These modes seem most adept at tapping the visually expressive potentialities of the art and satisfying the needs of the audience: the narratives of most films are structured around either confrontation, or colourful events, or crisis, or periods of significant change, and they are expressed in a demonstrative visual style. This thesis is interested in the way a few films uncover profundity by structuring narrative around a range of life experiences unavailable to the melodramatic mode as it has developed in world cinema; life experiences based in the everyday, that is in the routine or repetitive, in the apparently banal or mundane, the uneventful. The first part of the thesis discusses the nature of the achievement of these undramatic films which address the everyday: how they help us to understand the medium of film, its possibilities, and how they enhance our ways of viewing and appreciating narratives. This section also focuses on the work of Stanley Cavell, exploring the links between the everyday, film melodrama, and scepticism. The second half of the thesis looks at the specific achievements of four films. Here, the thesis continues the expressive tradition of film scholarship which analyses the communication of meaning through the construction of mise-en-scene, exploring how the themes, ideas, and happenings of a film are served by their stylistic strategies, while further highlighting how such strategies may reveal significant possibilities of the medium. In doing so it follows the approach of writers such as Stanley Cavell, V. F. Perkins and George M. Wilson whilst redirecting this tradition by applying it to less obviously expressive films.

In the last three decades, the rapid economic growth of China has attracted increasing research on its corporate governance and disclosure practices. However, there is, in general, a lack of understanding from the outside world due to the specific knowledge needed of the unique situation of China. In addition, previous studies lack research on the relationship between corporate governance and environmental disclosure in developing countries. In this thesis, the roles of ownership structure and board composition on the extent of environmental disclosure in the annual reports are examined through evidence from the Chinese market. The sample of this research is collected from both the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) and Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHSE). In this study, the quantity of environmental disclosure (measured by the mechanistic content analysis approach) and the quality of environmental disclosure (measured by the interpretative approach) are employed to estimate environmental disclosure variables. The results indicate that both qualitative and quantitative environmental disclosures increase with state ownership, greater blockholder ownership, and with a larger supervisory board. Environmental disclosures are not significantly associated with the proportion of independent directors on the board of directors. Furthermore, this study denotes that much less environmental information is disclosed in the annual reports of most Chinese listed companies compared to those of developed countries and so China is in a budding stage of development in disclosure practice. It suggests that firms should reveal more environmental information in the future for a win-win situation between themselves and their stakeholders under the stakeholder-agency framework. This thesis also examines how the market reacts to qualitative and quantitative environmental disclosures from annual reports during relatively long periods, compared with the event study. Using two sets of databases (CCER and CSMAR) and annual reports from two Stock Exchanges, financial data and environmental disclosure information are collected to test the regressions using Chinese observations between 2009 and 2011. Voluntary environmental disclosure in the annual report is expected to provide value relevant information in the Chinese market based on signalling theory and the concept of information asymmetry. The findings indicate that quantitative environmental disclosure is positively value relevant in the market, and it also influences the firm value in the subsequent year; in contrast, qualitative environmental disclosure merely relates to the firm value in the same year, but it does not affect the subsequent year. The uniqueness of China motivates the research on corporate governance in China, which would be a reference for countries processing similar mechanisms or attempting to advance their corporate governance. This research contributes to the existing literature on accounting about corporate governance, managerial structure, and disclosure practice in fast growing developing countries such as China. It enhances the understanding of influences from different corporate governance compositions on environmental disclosure. In addition, this research contributes to the knowledge about the association between market value and environmental information in fast developing countries such as China based on a large sample during consecutive years. Moreover, it is an up-to-date empirical research, which enhances the understanding in terms of qualitative and quantitative environmental disclosures and provides useful information for various stakeholders.

The main objective of this work is to increase the knowledge about corporate governance and voluntary disclosure in reducing information asymmetries. The first chapter is a review of the literature on corporate governance and voluntary disclosure. The second chapter analyzes whether board composition and voluntary disclosure substitute or complement each other in reducing information asymmetries. Finally, the third chapter analyzes the role of disclosure and governance in the biotech setting in enhancing analysts ability to forecasts earnings. More in detail, in the second chapter, we assess the impact of corporate governance on firms’ product-related disclosure of biotechnology companies in the presence of agency and proprietary costs. In order to conduct this investigation we use regression analysis employing data compiled from 10-K forms and proxy statements. We hypothesize that voluntary disclosure – considering the approach suggested by Lev et.al. (2004) – is a function of governance structure measured by a set of independent variables based on the board of directors typology proposed by Hillman et.al. (2000) and Baysinger and Butler (1985). Our results show that corporate governance plays a role in orienting the heterogeneity of product-level disclosures provided by US biotech companies. Moreover, using biotech setting, which provides unique heterogeneity in the level of disclosure, we show that background of board members affects corporate disclosure. Specifically, specialist directors and community members exert markedly different effect on disclosure. Support specialists generally pressed for increased disclosure, unless it is against firm interest. Community influentials vote for vague disclosure but tend to disclose information early. The later may be due to the desire to prop-up their personal public profile, at the expense of shareholders. The study further explores and provides useful insights and practical implications for corporate governance standard setters. They should consider the various competences of board members such as skills, expertise, knowledge and specific functions of individual directors in expressing the impact of corporate governance on firms voluntary disclosure. In the last chapter, we uses US biotech firms to assess how corporate governance mechanisms, such as board composition, board size and product related voluntary disclosure, affect the information environment faced by financial analysts in forecasting earnings. Information environment is defined as forecast accuracy, forecast dispersion, precision of public information, precision of private information, as in Barron et.al. (1998, 2002). We consider the methodology introduced by Baysinger and Butler (1985) and Hillman et.al. (2000) and we analyze each independent directors according to his specific background. On the relation between voluntary disclosure and analysts forecasts, we have build our own measure of voluntary disclosure index, by hand-collecting all the information specific to the biotech products that firms have into their portfolio. We measure the voluntary disclosure of biotech products based on the Business Section Analysis (part I) of the Annual Report (10-K form), precisely on the drug development programs, that provide key information about the various products under development of each biotechnology company. Additionally, we examine whether voluntary disclosure were disclosed consistently over time and we follow the path of disclosure by developing an persistent disclosure index at the firm level. Our results shows that US biotech firms with more independent directors on the board reduces the forecast dispersion. The quality of corporate governance affects information transparency and play a role in reducing the uncertainty associated with future firms’ performance by increasing the precision of analysts’ earnings forecasts. Better corporate governance mechanisms promotes transparency that benefits the users of firms’ disclosure. Forecast accuracy increases when voluntary disclosure is constant over time. Analysts forecast dispersion decreases when more independent directors sits on the board. Voluntary disclosure is fully effective to financial analysts only if the information is comparable over time. When information is constant over time it increases forecast accuracy and reduces the dispersion. Voluntary disclosure and corporate governance quality are two mechanisms that act is complement to improve the quality of information available to financial analysts<br>l principale obiettivo di questo lavoro è di quello di contribuire ad una maggiore comprensione delle politiche di comunicazione delle imprese e dei meccanismi di corporate governance, in particolare le caratteristiche dei consiglieri di amministrazione nel ridurre le asimmetrie informative. Nel primo capitolo sono state analizzate le teorie più rilevanti dell’accountability, come la voluntary disclosure e la corporate governance con l’obiettivo di evidenziare i contributi più significativi che ad esse sono state mosse e identificando nuovi temi di ricerca. Il capitolo secondo studia se i meccanismi di governance, quali la composizione del board è un sostituto piuttosto che un complemento della comunicazione volontaria nel ridurre le asimmetrie informative. Il terzo capitolo sottopone a verifica empirica le asserzioni più rilevanti derivanti dal ruolo che la corporate governance e voluntary disclosure hanno sulle proprietà delle previsioni degli analisti. Più nel dettaglio, il secondo capitolo mette in evidenza l’impatto che la composizione del consiglio di amministrazione ha sulla comunicazione volontaria riguardante i prodotti in sviluppo delle imprese biotech statunitense in presenza di alti costi di proprietà e di agenzia che li caratterizzano. Per analizzare come il board composition impattano sulla comunicazione volontaria, la ricerca distingue i componenti del consiglio di amministrazione in base al background e alle precedenti esperienze lavorative in tre categorie: a) business experts, sono gli amministratori esecutivi le cui competenze sono legate al processo decisionale; b) support specialists, si riferiscono ai esperti in ambiti specifici come finanza, diritto, ricerca e sviluppo, amministrazione e controllo; c) community influentials, si tratta di politici, membri di organizzazioni non profit che portano”knowledge, experience and linkages relevant to firm’s external environment” [Baron, 1985]. La classificazione proposta, basata sul ruolo potenziale dei singoli amministratori all’interno del consiglio di amministrazione amplia l’attenzione sulle funzioni che il consiglio di amministrazione riveste, prendendo un passo avanti rispetto alla maggior parte dei studi esistenti, e centrandosi non solo sul ruolo di monitoraggio ma anche sul potenziale contributo al processo decisionale strategico. Per ciascuna azienda biotech si è proceduto alla classificazione degli amministratori nelle tre categorie in precedenza presentate. Sono stata analizzate le biografie di ciascun amministratore dal documento DEF 14-A. La verifica empirica si è svolta considerando che la comunicazione volontaria – usando l’indice di voluntary disclosure costruito dal Guo et.al. (2004) – è una funzione della struttura di governance misurata come composizione del consiglio di amministrazione, usando il approccio proposto da Hillman et.al. (2000) e Baysinger and Butler (1985), descritta prima. I risultati ottenuti mettono in risalto il ruolo strategico che il board rinveste e inoltre conferma come la composizione del board in termini di competenze influenza la sua capacità di monitoraggio e quindi riduca, i costi di monitoraggio che la società deve sostenere. In particolare, si evidenzia come diversi membri del consiglio di amministrazione, quale support specialists and community influentials esercitano un ruolo diverso sulla voluntary disclosure. In generale, i support specialists tendono a favorire un incremento della disclosure. Al contrario, i comunity influentials votano per una “vague” disclosure, però tendono a fornire le informazioni prima. Questo ultimo risultato può essere dovuto al desiderio da parte dei community influentials di proteggere la loro reputazione alle spese dei shareholders. In conclusione, la ricerca condotta ha evidenziato come il problema della composizione del board deve essere affrontata superando la tradizionale classificazione degli amministratori in esecutivi e indipendenti. In tale ambito, assume una maggiore rilevanza il background, le competenze, e i legami degli amministratori. In fine, il presente lavoro porta in attenzione importante implicazioni per i corporate governance standard setters, che dovrebbero mostrare una maggiore attenzione e considerare il ruolo di ciascun membro al interno del consiglio di amministrazione nel specificare le varie direttive. L’ultimo capitolo della tesi tratta il ruolo che la governance e la voluntary disclosure hanno nell’influire le previsioni degli analisti, analizzate principalmente in un contesto statunitense delle aziende biotech. L’attenzione del ricerca è volta innanzitutto ad analizzare il ruolo che la board composition e le modalità con cui le società forniscono le informazioni, e successivamente come tali informazioni vengono interpretate dagli analisti finanziari nel produrre stime dei risultati aziendali (EPS). Oggetto di analisi sono le proprietà delle previsioni degli analisti, come la forecast accuracy, forecast dispersion, precision of public information, precision of private information (Barron et.al. 1998, 2002), usando, nominate più semplicemente information environment. Il framework utilizzato per la misurazione della disclosure è quello proposto da Guo et.al. (2004) che ci ha permesso anche di costruire un indice di consistenza della disclosure nel tempo. Questo ultimo viene calcolato come la differenza tra la voluntary disclosure nell’anno t meno la voluntary disclosure nell’anno (t-1) diviso la disclosure al tempo (t-1). Tutte le informazioni riguardante la comunicazione volontaria dei prodotti in sviluppo che le aziende biotech hanno nel portafoglio sono hand-collected usando come fonte il 10-K form, che deve essere predisposto da ciascuna società quaotata al New York Stock Exchange e depositato presso la SEC. Questo ci ha permesso di creare un database unico. Per quanto riguarda la corporate governance - board composition abbiamo presso in con il profilo degli singoli membri del consiglio di amministrazione in termini di background e competenze

Forward-looking financial disclosure (FLFD) is potentially uninformative if it does not change from the previous year, especially after a significant change in firm performance. This study uses a sample of UK narrative statements of the annual reports over the period from 2005 to 2011. It employed the automated content analysis technique to measure change in FLFD over years to answer three research questions. First, to what extent does change in firms’ earnings performance drive managers to change FLFD over years? Second, what are the other drivers of the change of FLFD from year to year? Third, do investors use information revealed by the change in FLFD? The study finds a positive association between change in FLFD and change in firm earnings performance. However, it finds weak evidence that firms with larger changes in their earnings performance are likely to change their FLFD more than those with smaller performance changes. In addition, when we distinguish between well-performing and poorly performing firms, it finds that the change in FLFD is more positively associated with poorly performing firms compared to well-performing firms. Furthermore, it finds that change in FLFD is positively (negatively) associated with firm size, (competitive environment), (litigious environment), and (percentage of managerial ownership). In addition, the role of the auditor in overseeing narrative reporting is not appearing for all sample firms or for well-performing firms, however, it is observable only in poorly performing firms. Finally, the study uses firm value three months after the release of the annual report to examine investors’ responses to the changes in FLFD. It finds that the value of a firm decreases as long as it changes its FLFD from the previous year. However, when we distinguish between well and poorly performing firms, it finds that the change in FLFD has no effect on the value of well-performing firms, while, it negatively affects poorly performing firms. The results suggest that FLFD in UK narratives includes some content about firm performance. However, it neither affects the value of well-performing firms nor enhances investors’ valuation of poorly performing firms.

This study examines if three hypothesized variables affect the extent of corporate strategic information, i.e. voluntary information, in corporate annual reports, specifically in Sweden in the year of 2012. The variables deemed appropriate to the Swedish environment, i.e. firm size, ownership dispersion and performance, were retrieved from previous disclosure research conducted in a Swedish context (Cook, 1989; Adrem, 1999), as well as relevant theoretical consideration. The statistical analysis conducted in this thesis suggests that firm size is significantly positively related to the extent of strategic corporate information in Swedish listed firms’ corporate annual reports. The result hence confirms the expectation that larger listed firms to a larger extent disclose strategic corporate information, i.e. voluntary information, in their corporate annual reports. No positive relation was found between the variables performance or ownership dispersion and the extent of strategic corporate information. The results of this thesis are interpreted to suggest that asymmetric information and agency costs are important determinants of the extent of strategic corporate information, i.e. voluntary information, in Swedish corporate annual reports. Larger firms seem to reduce agency costs and narrow the information asymmetry by increasing the level of information disclosed.

The aim of this research is to examine the determinants of the level of corporate risk disclosure (CRD) in the interim reports of Swedish non-financial companies. A quantitative research approach is used, the sample data of which consist of 166 firms with 4,849 interim reports over a 10-year period. By utilizing the notion of risk and its definition, I have distinguished three categories of risk, namely risk as uncertainty, risk as threat and risk as opportunity. A systematic content analysis is conducted with the use of a software program, which is specifically designed for this purpose. The number of sentences that contain keywords related to the three risk categories is counted as the total CRD score, which is transformed to the disclosure index. I have examined the impact of firms’ characteristics and corporate governance mechanisms on the level of CRD based on agency theory. The ordinary least squares regression method with  control for fixed year effects is used to analyse the data, which show that firm size and audit committee have a positive relationship with the level of corporate risk disclosure. The result demonstrates also that there is a negative relationship between family ownership and the level of CRD, and an insignificant relationship between leverage and the level of CRD.

Disclosure of accounting information is crucial in facilitating efficient contracts in the publicly listed firm and in reducing information asymmetries in capital markets. A well-known perception in disclosure literature is that, as the separation between managers and owners increases, so does the demand for publicly available disclosure. Many publicly listed firms around the world are controlled by a few large owners that obtain information through their insider positions in the firm. Thus, variations in ownership structures have a considerable effect on how firms’ disclosure practices are resolved. Despite the increased attention paid to the identity of controlling owners and their influence on financial reporting practices, little is known about how owner types and governance mechanisms influence corporate disclosures and capital-market effects. This thesis contributes to the disclosure literature by studying a context in which controlling owners have a large influence on the governance and disclosure practices of firms. This contrasts with the much-studied setting in which management influences the governance and reporting decisions of firms. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to examine the determinants and capital-market effects of Swedish listed firms’ annual report disclosure. This thesis uses a self-constructed disclosure index from manually gathered data from the annual reports of Swedish publicly listed firms during the years 2001 to 2013. This includes information on the notes to the financial statements, corporate governance and strategy. The findings of the four empirical studies show that the ownership structure of firms and the various contractual relationships that firms are engaged in, drive the disclosure practices. Additionally, the results indicate that higher levels of disclosure decrease information asymmetries between capital-market participants and increase trading activity. However, the findings also show that firms with controlling owners are less forthcoming with disclosure, even after a new disclosure reform. Considering the large influence of controlling owners in the studied context, these are important findings in the research field and in regulators’ processes of deriving disclosure regulation. The thesis concludes that the variety in firms’ disclosure incentives and local governance structures are important disclosure determinants to understand in framing international accounting standards.

Abstract Problem: In today’s business environment, rising demand in financial reporting and frequent changes in accounting frameworks lead to an increased focus on reliability in Fair Value Measurement (FVM) and disclosures. The frequent changes in accounting frameworks create a challenge for managers in measuring accounting estimates accurately and have been an exceedingly difficult task. The difficult task is that of the auditors. How would auditors endorse and ensure the reliability and relevance of financial statements? Also how could they evaluate the accuracy of the measurement of fair values as presented in the financial statements? (IFAC, 2011, ISA 540). Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the methods and approaches used by auditors while auditing fair values from practical perspectives. Method: A multiple case study with pure qualitative methods and an inductive approach has been adopted. The qualitative method used a semi-structured interview to collect data.  Result: The result shows that by understanding the challenges and following the phases of auditing, auditors can maintain the quality of financial reporting. Four key audit phases are relevant to audit FVM. These are: understanding the Client-Business environment, Engagement, Internal Control, and Planning phases of auditing. Furthermore, the results revealed key challenges of auditing FVM and disclosures. These challenges are information insufficiency in the market (reliability), competence, auditors’ lack of fair value audit exposure, and the manager's leadership role and style. Moreover, as previous studies on FV have primarily relied on synthesis of academic literature, the thesis contributes knowledge to academia by using an empirical approach.

This paper extends the scope of Earnings per share ("EPS") studies by incorporating Bushman et al. (2004)'s conceptual framework of corporate transparency to illustrate how the disclosure requirement of an accounting rule governing EPS could have far-reaching effects on the information environment in US. Informed participants are having a keener edger over average investors in using EPS as a guide to investment value. EPS signals a summary measure of firm performance to market participants. The market reactions to EPS and change in per share earnings provide a distinct opportunity to gauge the informativeness of earnings. The information role will nevertheless derail whenever there is an equity change. The accounting rule stipulates the use of a theoretical construct, the weighted average number of shares, in the denominator for EPS, which the average investor is unable to interpret as the number of shares at the reporting date is the actual, not average number of shares. Relative to the actual-share EPS, the average-share EPS will either inflate or deflate the per share earnings. The informed investors, who can substitute actual number of shares for the theoretical construct, are hence bestowed by the accounting rule an information advantage over the average investors. Earnings response coefficient is significant with denominator of EPS substituted while the explanatory power of theoretical-denominator EPS abates when it is contemporary with the denominator substituted EPS. Financial analysts' expertise in the provision of idiosyncratic information to the market has been compromised by the average-share EPS, which is reflected heretofore in proforma earnings forecasts errors. Proforma earnings use a numerator different from accounting rules and to further temper the denominator with the actual number of shares will make pro-forma EPS forecast unintelligible to users. The unintended consequence of inflating or deflating the per share earnings misleads average investors in their decision-making process. Analysts should not issue proforma earnings forecast while researchers should abstain from using theoretical-denominator EPS for sample firms with equity change as their policy prescriptions may further aggravate the problem. A simple remedy to change the accounting rule, SFAS No. 128 is eminently anticipated, if not warranted.

This study explores the concept of accountability in Islamic Banks (IB), which may achieve through disclosure. It aims to measuring the bank’s disclosure levels which contains Sharia, Social and Financial (SSF) as well as determinants and consequences of this disclosure. It moreover aims to identify the gap between Islamic banks’ board and stakeholders concerned with the accountabilities priorities of IBs. To achieve these objectives the researcher conducted six empirical studies. The first three empirical studies uses content analysis to measuring compliance level with Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards as well as measuring the and sharia, social and financial disclosure (SSFD). It furthermore adopts Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) to identify the determinants of SSF reporting related to firm characteristics and corporate governance of Board of Directors (BOD) and Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB). The fourth empirical study uses the same method (manual content analysis) and OLS to measuring the economic consequences of SSFD on the firm value through testing the impacts of disclosure on market capitalization and return on assets. The fifth empirical study adopts questionnaire as well as Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to measures the non-economic consequences of SSFD though surveying the perceptions of stakeholders who deal with IBs about the increasing SSFD on loyalty; trust and satisfaction. Finally, the sixth empirical study uses questionnaire to explore the consequences of SSF practices on the perceptions 600 stakeholders who deal with IBs and non-customers who do not deal with IBs. Highlighting the distinctions between economic and non-economic consequences of disclosure in the study enables the researcher to obtain greater insights into the implications of SSF reporting. Moreover, exploring accountability practices from different viewpoints (management, stakeholders and non-customers) and based on different methods (content analysis and questionnaire) allows the researcher to obtain greater insights into IBs accountabilities’ practices. This study provides several interesting findings. With regard to the disclosure and compliance levels, the study finds a variation between IBs in the number of SSFs disclosed, with a notably low level of non-financial reporting (Sharia and social). It also finds high compliance level with AAOIFI standards related to financial and Sharia reporting and low compliance levels with social reporting requirements. Concerning with the determinants of disclosure; the analysis shows positive significant association of disclosure levels with existing Sharia auditing department; auditor; size and profitability. It also finds that corporate governance mechanisms play an important role in improving SSF reporting. The analysis indicates that corporate governance mechanism of board of directors (BOD) as well as Sharia supervisory board (SSB) are the main determinants behind the disclosure levels for IBs such as SSB size, SSB reputation; BOD independence, duality in position and ownership structure. Concerned with the economic consequences of disclosure, the study finds that Sharia, social and overall disclosures have a positive impact on Firm Value (FV) based on the accounting-based measure (ROA). It moreover finds that Sharia and overall disclosure has a positive significant impact on the FV based on market-based measure (Market Capitalization). It argues that the association between disclosure and FV is sensitive to the category of disclosure and the proxy employed for FV. Consequently, the study provides evidence that the SSF disclosures not derived from the same factors, and both have a different impact on firm value. With regard to the non-economic consequences of disclosure, the results indicate that there is a significant association between disclosure and stakeholders’ trust, satisfaction, and loyalty. The results furthermore indicate that there is a partial mediating of trust and satisfaction in the relationship between disclosure and loyalty. A pyramid of IBs’ accountabilities from stakeholders’ perspectives shows the importance of Sharia, then financial and social accountability for both stakeholders and non-customers. It moreover shows that the main criterion of stakeholder’s selection of IBs was Sharia, financial then social factors. Stakeholders who deal with IBs are satisfied about the practices of these banks. Both of groups believe that IBs may guide by Sharia, financial then social objectives. The results identifies gap between the orientation of IBs’ board based on the disclosure and orientation of stakeholders and non-customers based on their perceptions towards SSF accountability. The main originality for this study is measuring SSFD for most of Islamic banks around the world from different perspectives and methods as well as identifies the main determinants and consequences of this disclosure. These results have several implications for regulators, policy makers, managers, IBs, investors, FASB and AAOIFI. For instance, the present study has revealed that disclosure of SSFs - especially non-financial ones - was limited in many annual reports as well as websites. Therefore, regulatory bodies may identify a minimum level of SSFs to publish by each IB. The study has crucial implications to how IBs may improve its Sharia compliance disclosures to create a competitive advantage. The present study is one of the first to investigate the determinants and consequences for SSF disclosure for IBs based on a holistic model. Moreover, the current study is one of the first to investigate the non-economic consequences for corporate disclosure. The current study has some limitations, in either sample or data; disclosure indices; approach; or in its research methodology, which have to consider as potential avenues for future research.

Yes<br>This study develops a 'comply or explain' index which captures compliance and quality of explanations given for non-compliance with the corporate governance codes in UK and Germany. In particular, we explain, how compliance and quality of explanations provided in non-compliance disclosures, and various other internal corporate governance mechanisms, affect the market valuation of firms in the two countries. A dynamic generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator is employed as the research technique for our analysis, which enabled us to control for the potential effects of endogeneity in our models. The findings of our content analysis suggest that firms exhibit significant differences in compliance, board independence and ownership structure in both countries. The 'comply or explain' index is positively associated with the market valuation of UK firms suggesting that compliance and quality governance disclosure is value relevant in the UK. Institutional blockholders' ownership is however, negatively associated with the market value of firms, which raises questions about the monitoring role of institutional shareholders in both countries. We argue that both compliance and explanations given for non-compliance are equally important, as long as valid reasons and justifications for non-compliance are provided by the reporting companies. These findings thus imply that the 'comply or explain' principle is working well and that UK and German companies could benefit from the flexibility offered by this principle. With respect to the role of board size, board independence, ownership structure, and institutional ownership of firms, this study offers policy implications.

Diese Dissertation umfasst drei Papiere, die sich mit den Konsequenzen von verpflichtend aufzustellender finanzieller Berichterstattung befassen. Die erste Studie beschäftigt sich mit einer Gesetzesänderung, die Investoren betrifft, deren Stimmrechtsanteile offenzulegen sind. Sie untersucht, welche Investoren ihre Unternehmensanteile anpassen, nachdem die Gesetzesänderung, die in einer Herabsetzung des Eingangsschwellenwerts für Stimmrechtsmitteilungen resultiert, in Kraft tritt. Die Ergebnisse sind konsistent mit einer Umschichtung in der Eigentümerstruktur von Unternehmen. Sie zeigen, dass Investmentfonds und, in etwas geringerem Maße, Banken ihre Anteile reduzieren während nichtfinanzielle Unternehmen ihre Anteile erhöhen. Die zweite Studie befasst sich mit der Rolle von Offenlegungsinstrumenten für Portfolioentscheidungen von einem speziellen Investorentyp, Investmentfonds. Sie analysiert, ob die Vergleichbarkeit von Rechnungslegungsinformationen mit der Zugehörigkeit zu Portfolios von Investmentfonds assoziiert ist. Die Ergebnisse stehen im Einklang mit der Bedeutung von Vergleichbarkeit in der Rechnungslegung für die Selektion von Portfoliounternehmen. Investmentfonds nehmen Unternehmen mit einer größeren Wahrscheinlichkeit in ihr Portfolio auf, wenn die Rechnungslegungsinstrumente dieser Unternehmen eine höhere Vergleichbarkeit mit den Rechnungslegungsinstrumenten anderer Portfoliounternehmen aufweisen. Die dritte Studie legt die Aufmerksamkeit auf Fachkräfte in der Rechnungslegung, die die Erstellung von Offenlegungsinstrumenten unterstützen, Wirtschaftsprüfer und Berater. Sie betrachtet Determinanten ihrer Entscheidung, temporär innerhalb der Unternehmensstrukturen zu migrieren, mit Bezug auf länder- und berufsspezifische Charakteristika. Die Ergebnisse deuten an, dass Unterschiede in der Rechnungslegungs- und Steuerregulierung Migrationsentscheidungen beeinflussen können.<br>This dissertation comprises three papers on the consequences of mandatory, financial disclosures. The first study focuses on a rule change which applies to investors who are required to disclose their ownership in firms. It investigates which investor types adjust their holdings in response to this rule change, the introduction of lower reporting thresholds. Results are consistent with a reshuffling of the ownership structure of firms. Precisely, they show that mutual funds and, to a lesser extent, banks decrease their holdings while non-financial corporations increase their holdings. The second study concentrates on the role of disclosures in portfolio decisions of one particular investor type, mutual funds. It analyzes whether comparability of firms’ accounting disclosures is associated with their membership in mutual funds’ portfolios. Results are in line with accounting comparability mattering for portfolio selection. Specifically, mutual funds are more likely to include a firm in their portfolio if the firm is more comparable, in accounting terms, to existing portfolio peers. The third study shifts the attention to accounting professionals who assist in the preparation of financial disclosures, auditors and consultants. It studies country-level as well as occupation-specific determinants of the decision to temporarily migrate within firms. Results suggest that differences in accounting and tax rules across countries can affect migration decisions of these professionals.

Recent events in the business world have focused attention on the importance of high quality financial reporting. Of particular interest is where the collapse of prominent companies such as Baring Plc. was due to the company's involvement with derivative instruments. In Australia, some derivative instruments are not recognised in the balance sheet. However, the Australian accounting standard AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments requires extensive disclosures to overcome the lack of guidance with regard to the recognition and measurement. Therefore, AASB 1033 may be regarded as a high quality disclosure standard. This thesis investigates the transparency or information quality of derivative disclosures of Australian firms in the extractive industries using 1998 to 2001 financial reports. The extractive industries play a major role in the Australian economy, where they generated exports worth more than A$30billion in 2000 to 2002 (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2003a and 2003b). Further, firms in the extractive industries extensively use derivative instruments for hedging purposes (Berkman, Bradbury, Hancock and Innes, 1997). The objective of this study is, first, to examine the relationship between the transparency or disclosure quality of derivative information and firm characteristics. Second, this study investigates the value relevance of derivative disclosures in particularly hedge information, net fair value information and risk information. Quality is measured based on a disclosure index developed from AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments. A finding of concern is that the majority of firms in this study provide less than complete information and therefore enforcement power is required to ensure compliance (Kothari, 2000) Prior studies have related disclosure quality of accounting information with firm characteristics but no attempt has been made to relate those characteristics with the disclosure quality of derivative instruments. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between firm characteristics and the quality of derivative disclosures. Firm characteristics investigated are size, profitability, price-earnings ratio, market-to-book ratio, research and development activity, auditor, debt-to-equity ratio and type of extractive firm. This study finds that the variables, firm size, price-earnings and debt-to-equity ratios are associated with the disclosure quality of derivative information. To a lesser extent, the variables, market-to-book ratio and profitability, are also associated with disclosure quality. High disclosure quality has been argued to lead to a reduction in the cost of debt (Sengupta, 1998) and equity (Botosan, 1997), resulting in higher security prices (Miller and Bahnson, 2002). The results of this study indicate that high quality derivative information, as represented by the disclosure index, is value relevant. Market participants do consider hedge information and risk information components as important for decision-making. However, examining the specific information disclosed in the financial statements indicate that some of the disclosed information such as the unrealised gain or loss on financial assets and liabilities and off-balance sheet derivative financial instruments are not significant. These results contribute to the value relevance literature as this study focuses on the extractive industries which have been neglected in the literature. This study provides important information for standard setters and regulators for future directions in developing accounting standards and is particularly relevant for the impending adoption of International Accounting Standards.

Recent events in the business world have focused attention on the importance of high quality financial reporting. Of particular interest is where the collapse of prominent companies such as Baring Plc. was due to the company's involvement with derivative instruments. In Australia, some derivative instruments are not recognised in the balance sheet. However, the Australian accounting standard AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments requires extensive disclosures to overcome the lack of guidance with regard to the recognition and measurement. Therefore, AASB 1033 may be regarded as a high quality disclosure standard. This thesis investigates the transparency or information quality of derivative disclosures of Australian firms in the extractive industries using 1998 to 2001 financial reports. The extractive industries play a major role in the Australian economy, where they generated exports worth more than A$30billion in 2000 to 2002 (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2003a and 2003b). Further, firms in the extractive industries extensively use derivative instruments for hedging purposes (Berkman, Bradbury, Hancock and Innes, 1997). The objective of this study is, first, to examine the relationship between the transparency or disclosure quality of derivative information and firm characteristics. Second, this study investigates the value relevance of derivative disclosures in particularly hedge information, net fair value information and risk information. Quality is measured based on a disclosure index developed from AASB 1033 Presentation and Disclosure of Financial Instruments. A finding of concern is that the majority of firms in this study provide less than complete information and therefore enforcement power is required to ensure compliance (Kothari, 2000) Prior studies have related disclosure quality of accounting information with firm characteristics but no attempt has been made to relate those characteristics with the disclosure quality of derivative instruments. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between firm characteristics and the quality of derivative disclosures. Firm characteristics investigated are size, profitability, price-earnings ratio, market-to-book ratio, research and development activity, auditor, debt-to-equity ratio and type of extractive firm. This study finds that the variables, firm size, price-earnings and debt-to-equity ratios are associated with the disclosure quality of derivative information. To a lesser extent, the variables, market-to-book ratio and profitability, are also associated with disclosure quality. High disclosure quality has been argued to lead to a reduction in the cost of debt (Sengupta, 1998) and equity (Botosan, 1997), resulting in higher security prices (Miller and Bahnson, 2002). The results of this study indicate that high quality derivative information, as represented by the disclosure index, is value relevant. Market participants do consider hedge information and risk information components as important for decision-making. However, examining the specific information disclosed in the financial statements indicate that some of the disclosed information such as the unrealised gain or loss on financial assets and liabilities and off-balance sheet derivative financial instruments are not significant. These results contribute to the value relevance literature as this study focuses on the extractive industries which have been neglected in the literature. This study provides important information for standard setters and regulators for future directions in developing accounting standards and is particularly relevant for the impending adoption of International Accounting Standards.

碩士<br>國立臺灣大學<br>國際企業學系研究所<br>86<br>This empirical thesis explores the extent to which Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) public firm insiders manipulate the stock prices through their disclosures of reducing the shareholdings, examining the price impacts of these announcement s. It aims to better understand (1) whether and how the security market reacts to these events? Specially, do investors appear to use all available informat ion while determining the share prices? (2) do there exist significant structu re changes in investors* response coefficienThe research results are consisten t with the follow three notions. First, investors appear to adopt all factors that are available in the financial media while determining the share prices. Nevertheless, there is no corroborative evidence that investors* information s ets include variables not provided by the public media.Second, investors* prio r-period response coefficient serves as a variable to insiders* decision to fi le the stockholding reduction documents. The stocks that have strong negative reactions have a significantly smaller number of subsequent-period selling dis closures.Third, investors perceive major shareholders as being significantly l ess informed than members of both Board of Directors and Board of Supervisors. The latter (former) party*s selling disclosures appear to serve as a more (le ss) negative signal.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1986.<br>Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-156).

碩士<br>東海大學<br>會計學系<br>100<br>Intellectual capital disclosure is voluntary disclosure. Intellectual capital disclosure is important to enterprises according to the interview of Goran Ross, the professor of ICS in England, held in Taiwan in 2006(Wu,2006). Also, Goran mentioned that intellectual capital disclosure is the root of firm value and a challenge that people have to face in the future because the global capital market is affected by environment. However, Yeh, Su, Ke, and Lee mentioned that over half of enterprises in Taiwan are family firm (2003). This study discusses that, among listed companies and over the counter companies in electronic information industries, whether there is a difference of intellectual capital disclosure exists on family firms and non-family firms in Taiwan. Furthermore, the study also researches that how the intellectual capital disclosure with high quality the influences on firm value. The subjects are listed companies and over the counter companies in electronic information industries from 2005 to 2009. The study also analyzes the present situation of intellectual capital disclosure by using the financial reports of family firms and non-family firms. The measurement of information transparency is adopted content analysis. The study made 40 indexes, obtained by referring related researches of intellectual capital disclosure, present the difference of intellectual capital disclosure between family firms and non-family firms on firm value. The result of the experiment appears that it is a positive relationship between intellectual capital disclosure and firm value. It means that higher intellectual capital disclosure quality, less the uncertainty of enterprise and the information asymmetry, resulting in higher firm value. Furthermore, the study discovers that non-family firms prefer to disclose much intellectual capital information than family firms. Hence, the firm value of non-family firms is higher.

博士<br>國立交通大學<br>經營管理研究所<br>98<br>The dissertation is set out to explore the market value of different transparency levels of disclosure of information on compensation paid to directors and executives. Under the theory of self selection, firms with higher levels of board independence will tend to provide comprehensive disclosure of compensation, thereby leading to lower agency conflicts. Since the authorities in Taiwan adopt a policy of gradual enforcement of compensation disclosure, firms are provided with discretion with regard to any greater levels of transparency that they may choose to provide. Such unique natural experimental setting is therefore exploited to examine the effects of different levels of transparency of compensation disclosure on market value. The first essay is to answer the question of whether firms voluntarily providing comprehensive disclosure of information on compensation paid to directors and executives have higher market values. The evidence indicates that the market provides a higher valuation to those firms which elect to voluntarily disclose comprehensive information on their compensation practices. However, the electronics firms using large proportion of stock-based bonus are not valued higher due the reason that the difficulty for valuing the stock-based bonus makes the outsiders hard to identify the agency problems. The robustness from the Ohlson model, the self-selection model and the regressions controlling firm-age and time-series effects provides the same results. The second essay is to extend the compensation disclosure issue from previous evidence by suggesting that whether medium level of transparency on compensation disclosure provide additional market value after controlling the effects of comprehensive disclosure. The evidence finds that even where such disclosure is in excess of the minimum mandatory requirements, lower levels of transparency in the overall disclosure of compensation practices are of very little help with regard to the creation of market value. However, for the non-electronics firms generally regarded as having relatively weak governance mechanisms, the effect of medium disclosure on market value is significantly positive because of the disclosure gap. The overall evidence suggests that only comprehensive disclosure on compensation provide higher market values, whilst other levels of transparency are of little for the market value creation.

碩士<br>國立臺灣大學<br>會計與管理決策組<br>99<br>The purpose of this study is to discuss the information disclosure system built by the Securities and Futures Institute of Taiwan. Evaluated results of Information Transparency Raking System were used as the disclosure transparency proxy variable to examine whether the firms with better disclosure have higher valuation. Evaluation results from the third through the seventh round of evaluation of Taiwanese listed companies were used as samples for the Ohlson regression model and Spearman Rank Order Correlation, to see whether the system improve financial reporting of information vital to investors and thus have an impact. The empirical results showed that: Companies with higher transparency have a higher book value per share and fundamental value than companies with lower transparency. The evaluation system built by the Securities and Futures Institute can effectively disclose information, but research showed the association between P/B ratio and disclosure rank is not significant.

碩士<br>國立成功大學<br>會計學系<br>107<br>As the rise of the world's environmental awareness, companies must face environmental, social and governance issues. At present, there is a lack of consensus on the implementation of corporate social responsibility issues. Some scholars believe that companies can enhance the firm value by satisfying the non-shareholder stakeholders. Other scholars believe that if the company invest too much resource in corporate social responsibility issues, it will lead to deterioration of financial performance and reduce the firm value. However, if companies use Sustainable Value Matrix to allocate resources, there is the opportunity to meet stakeholder expectations and enhance firm value simultaneously. This study finds that the disclosure of Sustainable Value Matrix is positively related to firm value. However, if we focus on companies with CSR reports, the relation exists only when the sample is limited to the company of FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50. In addition, we find a positive correlation between firm value and corporate social report assurance, but this relationship causes that the effect of Sustainable Value Matrix disclosure on firm value is reduced.

碩士<br>淡江大學<br>產業經濟學系<br>89<br>As we can see, many existent products have to be united together when using them in order to generate their product values, such as video and tapes, computer hardware and software, ATM machine and our ATM card, etc. Generally speaking, these united products are called “system product.” The purpose for this thesis is to investigate the effect of compatibility, network externality, and system technology disclosure and entry, to firms’ behaviors in a Cournot competition. The differences between this thesis and the existing literature are several folds. First, we assume compatibility among products is asymmetric, and is a long-term endogenous variable for each firm. Second, a two-period model is set up. Firms choose the degree of compatibility conditional on their own technology level, and then choose quantity in a Cournot-competition market. Third, a firm, based on strategy considerations, may franchise its manufacturing technology to new firms, and hence entices more entrants. We investigate how the effect of this sort of technology disclosure works in this thesis. Forth, to see whether the competitive equilibrium achieves the social optimality, we also take into account social welfare issue. Finally, the comparative statics also explore how the network externality, network size, production cost, compatibility, the number of entrants, franchising fee, and product differentiation influence the firms’ behaviors. The first finding coming out is that, when the product compatibility of the rival firm is decreasing, the firms will increase their own compatibility to the rival firm’s product. This enables firms to enlarge their market shares and profits. If a firm has a relatively low product cost, and a relatively low compatibility, it can increase its output level and hence profit by decreasing product differentiation. If compatibility is a long-term endogenous variable, then the equilibrium compatibility level will be lower when the firm has a lower production cost or a lower product differentiation. On the contrary, if the firm has a relatively higher production cost or a higher network effect, then its equilibrium compatibility will get larger. When a firm discloses its system technology, the outputs and profits of all incumbents are decreasing in the number of new entrants. However, if the firm who discloses its technology sets an enough high franchising fee, its profit may increase. As for the social welfare, the competitive equilibrium compatibility achieves the social optimality no matter before or after technology disclosure if the marginal cost of compatibility change is constant.

碩士<br>國立東華大學<br>國際企業學系<br>102<br>The company with higher level of information transparency has been argued to generate better performance in the previous studies. However, on the contrary, fewer studies to investigate whether the declining firms increase information transparency improve their performance. According to signaling theory, firm with information asymmetry problems, can turn to the increased information transparency to reduce agency costs and improve their performance. Hence, the level of information transparency is a good way for declining firms to improve performance. The purpose of this paper is to figure out the relationship between the level of decline firm’s information transparency and its performance. We employ a panel data consisting of the unique database of Corporate Information Transparency and Disclosure Ranking (CITDR) of the firms to analyze the relationship between the information transparency and firm performance. The results showed that: (1) information transparency is not a long-term way to improve firm performance; (2) the independent outside directors and absorptive capacity can enhance the relationship between information transparency and firm performance.

碩士<br>國立高雄應用科技大學<br>會計系<br>102<br>The taxes burden may affect the cash flows of firms and shareholders. How to manage tax costs and reduce tax risk has become important considerations for firms’ business decisions, so firms would reduce the costs through the tax strategies. This study investigates the impacts of tax aggressiveness strategies on information disclosure and firm value for listed firms in Taiwan. The empirical results show that no relation between the tax aggressiveness strategies and information disclosure for listed firms in Taiwan. Furthermore, the results suggest that tax aggressiveness strategies is beneficial to firm value for listed firms in Taiwan. I also found the more tax aggressiveness strategies would increase the value relevance of earnings relevance for listed firms in Taiwan.