本篇研究主要探討地理多角化策略與盈餘品質對公司權益資金成本的影響。主要資料均來源於DataStream資料庫及與其整合的I/B/E/S資料庫。最後，通過合併所有變量及刪除異常值，我們共採用了955個全球樣本，時間跨度為2002年至2014年。
實證結果顯示，長期而言，公司進行地理多角化會增加其權益資金成本。這說明了執行多角化策略的公司，其所獲得的好處可能會小於潛在的成本。然而這也提供了借鏡對於欲進行多角化的公司可能需要更全面更完善的規劃及策略。而隨著全球普遍採用的會計準則由美國通用會計準則逐漸轉為國際財務報導準則，此研究使用盈餘品質作為緩和劑，來降低或減緩執行多角化可能帶來風險以及損失,給予已實行多角化或正在籌劃多角化策略的公司做參考。
首先我們採用應計項目及裁決性應計項目來探討盈餘品質的高低是否會影響到公司的權益資金成本，而從實證結果表明，裁決性應計項目與權益資金成本呈現顯著正相關，說明著裁決性應計項目越高亦代表盈餘品質相對較低，會增加公司的權益資金成本。而進一步檢驗，在考量採行地理多角化策略下，公司所報導的盈餘品質高低是否會對公司權益資金成本有所影響。研究結果顯示，執行地理性多角化的公司確實可以藉由提高盈餘報導的品質，來增加投資人對於該公司所預測及揭露資訊的信心，進而減少公司的權益資金成本。

This paper investigates the effect of geographic diversification and information transparency on the cost of equity capital for multinational companies. The data used in this study are from the DataStream and the I/B/E/S databases. After merging all the variables and eliminating any abnormal values, we ultimately have 955 observations from 2002 to 2014 globally.
The results indicate that geographic diversification will increase the cost of equity capital for multinational companies due to the fact that the benefits of diversification are less than the potential costs. However, this also provides a guideline or reference for companies because more comprehensive planning might be necessary for a company applying a diversification strategy. Because the widely used accounting standards from US GAAP are now being replaced by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), this research takes earning quality as a moderator to smooth the potential risks and the losses of implementing diversification, which also is intended to serve as guideline for corporations who have been practiced diversification or are planning diversification strategy.
We utilize the accruals quality model and the discretionary accruals model to investigate if a higher degree of earnings quality can reduce the cost of equity capital. The results of the discretionary accruals model shows that firms providing higher quality reported earnings will enjoy relatively lower cost of equity capital. Then, we take geographic diversification, earnings quality and cost of equity capital into consideration to further examine the relationships among them. The results indicate that geographic diversification of multinationals with complicated corporate organizational structures can moderate their cost of equity capital through promoting the trust of investors in their company's reported earnings and forecast information, which is achieved by enhancing the quality of reported earnings.

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