Earnings management and economic crises in the brazilian capital market

The 2008 economic crisis challenged accounting, either demanding recognition and measurement criteria well adjusted to this scenario or even questioning its ability to inform appropriately entities' financial situation before the crisis occurred. So, our purpose was to verify if during economic crises listed companies in the Brazilian capital market tended to adopt earnings management (EM) practices. Our sample consisted in 3,772 firm-years observations, in 13 years - 1997 to 2009. We developed regression models considering discretionary accruals as EM proxy (dependent variable), crisis as a macroeconomic factor (dummy variable of interest), ROA, market-to-book, size, leverage, foreign direct investment (FDI) and sector as control variables. Different for previous EM studies two approaches were used in data panel regression models and multiple crises were observed simultaneously. Statistics tests revealed a significant relation between economic crisis and EM practices concerning listed companies in Brazil in both approaches used.

DISPOSITION EFFECT AMONG BRAZILIAN EQUITY FUND MANAGERS

The disposition effect predicts that investors tend to sell winning stocks too soon and ride losing stocks too long. Despite the wide range of research evidence about this issue, the reasons that lead investors to act this way are still subject to much controversy between rational and behavioral explanations. In this article, the main goal was to test two competing behavioral motivations to justify the disposition effect: prospect theory and mean reversion bias. To achieve it, an analysis of monthly transactions for a sample of 51 Brazilian equity funds from 2002 to 2008 was conducted and regression models with qualitative dependent variables were estimated in order to set the probability of a manager to realize a capital gain or loss as a function of the stock return. The results brought evidence that prospect theory seems to guide the decision-making process of the managers, but the hypothesis that the disposition effect is due to mean reversion bias could not be confirmed.

ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF HOUSEHOLD FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN BRAZILIAN LOWER-MIDDLE-CLASS

Through two complementary and exploratory studies – one qualitative and one quantitative – this research aims to understand the ways in which lower-middle-class families in Brazil manage their household finances. The study proposes an integrated framework that brings together various previously disconnected theoretical fragments. Based on a survey with a sample of 165 lower-middle-class female consumers of a retail company in São Paulo, we explored and tested, via a quantitative study, how antecedents such as personal characteristics affect the financial management process, as well as its consequences, either negatively as defaults or positively as savings. The model calibration and analysis were derived from a series of regression analyses. The results revealed the mediator role that financial management plays in the relationship between personal characteristics and defaults and savings. Compared to previous studies with consumers of more affluent countries, we identified peculiar findings among Brazilian lower-middle-class consumers: inadequate attention to control, weak or no focus on short- or long-range planning, widespread absence of budget surplus, and influence of critical events on episodes of default.

AN ANTI-MANAGEMENT STATEMENT IN DIALOGUE WITH CRITICAL BRAZILIAN AUTHORS

The expressions Management and Organization Studies and Management and Organization Knowledge are expressions of an Anglo-Saxon construct. The association of Organization Studies (OS) with Management (M) produces the subordination of the former to the latter. In a different direction, a critical approach elaborated in Brazilian OS provides an original body of knowledge that expresses an anti-management (A-M) attitude. As the Brazilian A-M authors point out, the distinction between North/South M is irrelevant; what is relevant is a coherent pluriversal A-M attitude. In this paper, we honor and disseminate the Brazilian original body of knowledge on OS and introduce an OS agenda that is liberated from M.

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF BRAZILIAN FRANCHISE CHAINS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The primary goal of this paper is to comprehend the fundamental organizational differences between Brazilian franchise chains that only operate in the home market and Brazilian franchise chains that operate internationally. The sample chosen for this study comprehends 96 Brazilian franchises operating in the home market and 67 franchises with international operations; logistic regression was used to analyze data obtained from these sources. Our findings suggest that the development of a brand in international operations can be strategic for certain Brazilian franchise chains; this seems to be, however, a scarce resource for many franchises and it could be developed through international operations. With regard to the fees charged, the outcomes demonstrate that Brazilian franchises with international operations tend to charge lower fees from its franchisees to install new units. Regarding the monitoring and control of franchises, there is evidence that the monitoring capability is one of the determining factors in the development of Brazilian franchises international operations.

MICROFINANCE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS: THE CASE OF AGROAMIGO IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACTThis paper reports an empirical case study on the interface between microfinance and climate change actions. Climate change, which until recently seemed a luxury for the microfinance sector, now appears to be crucial for its future. For their low adaptive capacity, the millions of microfinance clients worldwide happen to be the most vulnerable to a changing climate. However, such an arena is still blurred from an academic viewpoint, and inexistent among Brazilian academia. Therefore, by investigating Brazil’s largest rural MFI, Agroamigo, we aim at providing an empirical contribution to green microfinance. The main conclusion is that, albeit Agroamigo offers important links to climate change initiatives, it will need to take better account of specific vulnerabilities and risks to protect its portfolio and clients better from climate change impacts.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN IT IN ORGANIZATIONS: A STRUCTURATIONAL VIEW

ABSTRACTEnvironmental sustainability has become increasingly important to businesses as a response to the rapid depletion of natural resources. Information Technology (IT) in particular represents a meaningful part of the environmental issues that society has been facing. Therefore, Green IT emerges as a way of combining available resources and sustainable and economic policies, thus, generating benefits for both the environment and businesses. The purpose of this paper, hence, is to explain the dynamics of Green IT implementation in organizations in light of the structurationist view of technology. We conducted a case study research based on the cases of three Brazilian companies interested in this movement. Results provide a better understanding of the relationship among technology, individuals, and organization institutional properties, thus enhancing the role played by IT teams in institutionalizing the environmental dimension of sustainability in organizations.