This paper aims to enhance the understanding of which factors affect the price development of Bitcoin in order for investors to make sound investment decisions. Previous literature has covered only a small extent of the highly volatile period during the last months of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. To examine the potential price drivers, we use the Autoregressive Distributed Lag and Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity approach. Our study identifies the technological factor Hashrate as irrelevant for modeling Bitcoin price dynamics. This irrelevance is due to the underlying code that makes the supply of Bitcoins deterministic, and it stands in contrast to previous literature that has included Hashrate as a crucial independent variable. Moreover, the empirical findings indicate that the price of Bitcoin is affected by returns on the S&P 500 and Google searches, showing consistency with results from previous literature. In contrast to previous literature, we find the CBOE volatility index (VIX), oil, gold, and Bitcoin transaction volume to be insignificant.

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The purpose of the study is to examine the relation between Nordic corporate governance practices and earnings management. We find that the presence of employee representation on the board and the presence of an audit committee are both practices that reduce the occurrence of earnings management. Moreover, we find that both board independence and share ownership by directors positively affect earnings management, while board activity and directors as majority shareholders show an insignificant relation to earnings management. We contribute to the existing literature on corporate governance and earnings management by providing valuable insight into the Nordic corporate governance approach and its potential in mitigating earnings management.

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We survey the CFOs of 1500 largest companies from Norway, Denmark and Sweden (500 from each country) about their capital budgeting process with focus on the real options analysis. Only 6% of the respondents use real options, whereas the most used technique, the net present value, is used by 74% of the CFOs. Real options are more often used by companies in the energy and biotech sectors, large companies and companies with high capital and R&D expenditures. Lack of familiarity is the most important reason for non-use, where 70% of respondents report to not be familiar with real options concepts and techniques. For the respondents familiar with the framework, the complexity of real options is the main hinder for implementation.

Political risk is expected to increase due to emerging markets' increasing influence on the world economy. We identify Legal, Tension, Conflict, and Policy as underlying dimensions through Principal Component Analysis, using a disaggregated political risk index. Using a two-way error correction model Ethnic and Religious Tension is identified as a new and distinct dimension of political risk. Consequently, global investors are likely to benefit from understanding which dimension implies a reward. Investors in particular should direct their attention towards Tension, which seems to command a risk premium regardless of both market and time

This blame game study reports on attempts by eight municipalities to recover money in the wake of financial losses resulting from the financial crisis. Actor‐network theory helps unravel which actors were involved in creating the blame game and those who were mobilized to facilitate it, which resulted in judicial losses and substantial advisory service fees. The evidence suggests that punctualization can be costly when dealing with precarious investments and engaging in blame gaming, as simplifications might evoke adverse effects. Contributions relate to group formation and the use of experts in blame gaming and addressing related strategies as heterogeneous network effects.

Frode Kjaerland, førsteamanuensis ved NTNU Handelshøyskolen, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, E-post: frode.kjarland@ntnu.no Levi Gårseth-Nesbakk, førsteamanuensis Handelshøgskolen ved Nord niversitet, E-post: levi.garsethnesbakk@nord.no Denne studien undersøker kommunal finansforvaltning i kjølvannet av Terra-skandalen. To spørsmål besvares. Først: Hva var den regulatoriske responsen fra norske myndigheter på skandalen? Deretter: Hvilke forebyggende tiltak har kommuner iverksatt for å unngå en lignende skandale i framtiden? Den regulatoriske responsen på Terra-skandalen var begrenset og fordret få og små endringer i kommunene. Kommunene har gjennomført overraskende få tiltak for å kvalitetssikre sin finansforvaltning. Noen større kommuner har forsøkt å bygge opp mer kompetanse eller forbedre sine internkontrollsystemer. Mindre kommuner er mer avhengige av at enkeltpersoner ivaretar finansforvaltningen på en ansvarlig måte og er derfor sårbare for nye lignende hendelser i framtiden. (Financial Times, 2007;Guardian, 2008; New York Times, 2007).Det naermer seg nå 10 år siden denne saken dominerte norske medier en høst og en vinter i 2007-08. Det er dermed passende å spørre: Hva har norske myndigheter gjort for å unngå at slike skandaler kan hende på nytt? Eller sagt annerledes; hvilke reguleringer og systemer er innført i så henseende? Dette er saerlig interessant siden Norge tidligere er omtalt som svaert forsiktig med å implementere reformer i offentlig sektor (Mellemvik og Pettersen, 1998). Et annet spørsmål som også er betimelig: Hva har norske kommuner selv gjort for å forebygge tilsvarende hendelser? Sistnevnte spørsmål er også relevant i forhold til diskusjonen om profesjoners (som kommunalt økonomiansvarliges) ansvar (McMillan, 2004).