Lídia Oliveira

Firm‐specific determinants of intangibles reporting: evidence from the Portuguese stock market

Purpose – This paper seeks to identify factors that influence the voluntary disclosure of intangibles information in annual reports of Portuguese listed companies.Design/methodology/approach – An index of the voluntary disclosure of intangibles is constructed based on analysis of the Management Report and Chairmans Letter of all 56 companies listed on Euronext Lisbon at 31 December 2003. Several hypotheses about associations between that index and eight firm‐specific variables are tested.Findings – The voluntary reporting of intangibles is found to be influenced significantly by size, ownership concentration, type of auditor, industry and listing status in univariate analysis; and by size, industry, type of auditor, and ownership concentration (and listing status to a lesser extent) in multivariate analyses.Research limitations/implications – This study focuses on annual reports only, and is cross‐sectional. The use of content analysis and the subjective judgment involved in constructing the index cannot...

Intellectual capital reporting in sustainability reports

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse voluntary disclosures of intellectual capital (IC) items in the sustainability reports of Portuguese companies. The paper aims to highlight the level, pattern and determinants of IC disclosures in those sustainability reports; and the potential for sustainability reports to be a medium for IC disclosures.Design/methodology/approach – An index of voluntary disclosure of intangibles is constructed and deployed to analyse IC disclosures in the sustainability reports for 2006 of Portuguese firms, published on the web site of the Portugals Business Council for Sustainability Development. Four hypotheses are tested about associations between that disclosure index and firm‐specific variables.Findings – Disclosure of information about IC is more likely in sustainability reports of firms that have a higher level of application of the Global Reporting Initiative framework, and are listed companies.Research limitations/implications – This study is cross‐sectional. S...

Factors associated with the publication of a CEO letter

Purpose – In most European code-law oriented Latin countries, the publication of a CEOs letter to shareholders in a companys annual report is a fairly recent phenomenon. In this paper, the authors seek to determine the characteristics that explain why companies in one such country, i.e. Portugal, published a CEO letter. Design/methodology/approach – The papers holistic theoretical framework draws on elements of agency theory, institutional theory and signalling theory. To understand the characteristics of Portuguese holding companies that published CEO letters, the authors used a logistic regression model to explore 266 observations over the years 2006-2011. Findings – The publication of a CEO letter becomes more likely if a firm is audited by a Big 4 accounting firm; has a higher level of profitability; and has a high number of foreign subsidiaries. Other findings are that finance companies are slightly more likely to publish a CEO letter than non-finance companies. The number of CEO letters increased...

An Analysis of the Relationship Between e-Government, Accounting and Technological Innovations: After the Implementation of the e-Government Program in Brazil

Driven by new technologies and the success of the private sector, governments are migrating part of its activities for the Web environment. This movement has originated changes in the relationship between the state and society. This PhD thesis aims to analyse how and why technological innovations, in particular e-government (e-gov) programs, the State and accounting interacted, using Accounting and the State and the concepts of accountability, control and corporate governance as theoretical framework. As research methods we will use the documental analysis to collect the occurred changes in the relationship between companies and the State mediated by Accounting in Brazil during 1995-2014, and surveys to obtain the perception of key actors in this process. This study aims at contributing to a better understanding of power relations of the institutional forces that can influence the field of accounting regulation, as well as, to the literature about Accounting and the State, from the point of view of practical aspects and the possible factors that had influenced the implementation and evolution of e-government in Brazil.

Accounting as an Information System

This chapter aims to provide, for all those that pursue a managerial career in the private industry, public sector, government, technological and engineering area, the “core” concepts, principles, rules and techniques of the accounting area. Positioning accounting within its broader social, economic and historical context, this chapter provides useful insights concerning the needs of different users of accounting information and provides a clear understanding of the differences and complementarities between financial and management accounting. In detail, the chapter defines accounting; analyses the evolution of accounting from mediaeval times to present; identifies the users of accounting information and their needs; identifies the objectives of financial reporting; identifies the qualities that make financial statements useful; defines the basic elements of financial statements—assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses; provides an understanding of the accrual basis and going concern assumptions which underlie the preparation of financial statements; explains the nature and purpose of accounting standards; and introduces the financial statements that appear in a set of published accounts. To complement, the main concepts of management accounting and the distinctiveness and usefulness of the information it provides for decision-making are described.