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This study aims to empirically verify the determinants of the capital structure of Brazilian publicly traded companies on the BM&FBosvepa during 2010-2017. The factors considered in the analysis are those proposed in the main theories about capital structure: profitability, risk, size, tangibility and growth opportunities. Subsidiarily to these factors, a set of sectoral dummies was included in order to highlight any specific characteristic of a given economic sector. It was used the statistical method of panel data and models with fixed effects and with variable effects. The sample is composed of 186 companies, divided into 19 economic sectors. The statistical tests evidenced the non-significance of the sectors when pointing to the estimation of a model with fixed effects. The results indicate that profitability, risk and growth opportunities induce lower indebtedness, that company size induces greater indebtedness and that tangibility had no influence on the level of indebtedness of the companies of the sample in the studied period. In spite of their theoretical justification, the results obtained together do not confirm a specific theory about the capital structure of public companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the practice of earnings management (EM) by the five largest banks in the Brazilian financial market through the manipulation of the loan loss provision (LLP). Methodology: The methodology used in this study recognizes (i) that the EM can result from both discretionary accounting records and actual decisions of companies and (ii) that, in the case of financial institutions, the calculation and registration of LLP do not comply with a detailed rule, but on general principles. Based on this recognition, it uses a sample composed of the five largest banks operating in the Brazilian market, in the period 2004-2019, with quarterly data, to estimate different panel specifications in order to test such as return, size and the use of financial derivatives affect the EM. Results: The research results suggest, from the identification of the random effects model, that the return and the use of derivatives have an inversely proportional influence, and that size has a proportional influence, on LLP, corroborating the thesis of the use of LLP as an instrument for earnings management by the largest Brazilian banks. Contributions of the Study: The general contribution of this study to the literature is in the discussion of LLP as a measure of earnings management by actual decisions and discretionary records in discretionary financial statements; the study also contributes to a better understanding of EM decisions in large Brazilian financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the economic-financial performance of Brazilian private health plan operators and investigate possible sources of relative variations in the studied indicators. The article also discusses the question of regulation based on an economic-financial analysis of the regulated entities. Methodology: this is an empirical, analytical study with analysis and inference based on secondary data. The methodological base of the article is comprised of standardized economicfinancial indicators, indicators adapted to the operational specificities of private healthcare plan operators and multiple range tests. The database in panel form was elaborated using information published by the National Private Healthcare Regulatory Agency and refers to a sample containing the fourteen largest health plan operators in activity in Brazil. Results: It is concluded that the health plan operators are well-situated in economic-financial terms and that the form of corporate organization, the relative size of the market and the operators' regional markets have a significant influence on their performance. It is considered opportune to discuss whether the current regulatory model for private health provision in Brazil is adequately fulfilling its declared objective of ensuring the continuity of service while charging reasonably modest rates. Study contributions: the study contributes by showing how a relatively simple technique can benefit not only the regulatory process but also the evaluation of the regulation itself. It further contributes by revealing that the healthcare plan operators in Brazil are in a good situation in economic-financial terms thereby raising the question as to whether the current regulatory model for private health provision in Brazil is adequately fulfilling its declared objective of ensuring the continuity of service while charging reasonably modest rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]