In order to achieve comparability, which is one of the fundamental principles of accounting, companies should be consistent concerning the accounting policies they use. Only under certain circumstances changes in accounting policies are allowed, and when there is a change in accounting policies, it is important that the change is reported in a way that assures that the financial reports still achieve comparability. The purpose of this thesis is to establish which rules and recommendations about changes in accounting policies that exist in Swedish and German law and what their meaning is. Further, the purpose is to compare these rules and recommendations and discuss their differences and similarities, advantages and disadvantages. Since publicly traded European companies will be obliged to prepare their consolidated accounts in conformity with International Accounting Standards (IAS) from 2005, I also describe the content of IAS 8 which deals with changes in accounting policies, and discuss what the consequences of this transition might be for Swedish and German publicly traded companies considering changes in accounting policies.

Abstract: Since the implementation of IFRS, many changes in accounting standards have occured. Companies that follow IFRS must therefore always adapt and change its accountingprinciples according to changes made by IFRS. The latest change that companies must consider and adapt to in their financial accounting is the revised version of IAS 19 regarding pensions. This study aims to investigate if there is a relationship between financial accounting and management accounting due to changes made by IASB. More specifically the study investgates how the removal of the corridormethod and the introduction of IAS 19 as an external approach has affected its management accounting in three large corporations in Sweden.

The purpose of this study is, on the basis of institutional theory, to contribute with moreunderstanding about resistance to management Accounting change and also to survey reasonsfor the resistance and how to cope with the resistance.The study is a qualitative case study and semi-structured interviews have been used tocomplement the study?s theoretical area, consisting of scientific articles.The conclusion from the study is that resistance to management Accounting change can beunderstood and explained by the institutions of each organisation and its underlying structures. Afurther conclusion is, with the structures in mind there are many reasons for resistance and alsomany ways to cope with the resistance. A model has been produced in purpose to createunderstanding and to survey the resistance to management Accounting change..

Globalization has among other tendencies led to the emergence of new ways of doing business. One of the ways for organizations to meet the demands of a new competitive landscape has been through management Accounting change, a field which has become increasingly popular in research. This paper builds on that research and seeks to investigate the case of the implementation of a new management accounting system in a Swedish company which was triggered by strategic change. Commonality through the interactive approach is by some researchers seen as a key to successful change. This approach is contrasted to the importance of symbolic constructs and change recipients? cognitive effort to understand the meaning of change for which Framing theory is applied.

A company may use different accounting techniques to adjust accounting information and thereby attract investors. Big Bath Accounting is defined as a strategy used to make changes in the financial statements and reduce the results further when the companies expect negative results. This phenomenon has been observed empirically and occurs when including CEO change and negative results. The aim of this study is to test whether there is another factor affecting Big Bath Accounting, namely remuneration of the CEO. The CEOs should, by changing the accounting information, be able to influence their compensation.

Since 1928 the Swedish accounting and taxation has been closely linked by law which today as the European Union works with its harmonisation of the European accounting systems brings up difficulties. The Union strives to integrate the countries different ways of accounting in order to make it easier to use and understand foreign information. The Swedish connection between accounting and taxation means that a harmonisation would change the whole system as its known today. The purpose with this study is to examine what the link between the two means and how a decoupling would affect Swedish accounting and auditing. We also want to examine how the Swedish taxation office, who currently uses the accounting as a ground for taxation, could guarantee the quality of the declaration without a proper underpinning. The study shows that a decoupling could lead to an increase in quality on swedish accounting and that the administration would become more difficult to handle. The risk of dividend of untaxed profits is not seen as a problem in this context.

Since 1928 the Swedish accounting and taxation has been closely linked by law which today as the European Union works with its harmonisation of the European accounting systems brings up difficulties. The Union strives to integrate the countries different ways of accounting in order to make it easier to use and understand foreign information. The Swedish connection between accounting and taxation means that a harmonisation would change the whole system as its known today. The purpose with this study is to examine what the link between the two means and how a decoupling would affect Swedish accounting and auditing. We also want to examine how the Swedish taxation office, who currently uses the accounting as a ground for taxation, could guarantee the quality of the declaration without a proper underpinning. The study shows that a decoupling could lead to an increase in quality on swedish accounting and that the administration would become more difficult to handle. The risk of dividend of untaxed profits is not seen as a problem in this context.

Since 1928 the Swedish accounting and taxation has been closely linked by law which today as the European Union works with its harmonisation of the European accounting systems brings up difficulties. The Union strives to integrate the countries different ways of accounting in order to make it easier to use and understand foreign information. The Swedish connection between accounting and taxation means that a harmonisation would change the whole system as its known today. The purpose with this study is to examine what the link between the two means and how a decoupling would affect Swedish accounting and auditing. We also want to examine how the Swedish taxation office, who currently uses the accounting as a ground for taxation, could guarantee the quality of the declaration without a proper underpinning. The study shows that a decoupling could lead to an increase in quality on swedish accounting and that the administration would become more difficult to handle. The risk of dividend of untaxed profits is not seen as a problem in this context.

Problem: How is management Accounting change understood via the duality perspective in the field of alternative management accounting research?Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to develop a tool for analysis aspiring to provide understanding for how differences and similarities with regards to the duality perspective may have different consequences for understanding management Accounting change.Contribution: This paper aspires towards a theoretical contribution through an in-depth review of existing conceptual literature. This is done to gain clarity in definitions and uses of concepts, with related terms, referring or relating to duality. Through clarifying different meanings of duality, consequences for how to understand management Accounting change, and the different approaches to using a duality perspective, the tool for analysis which is developed in this essay aims to contribute to a movement of alternative management accounting research towards increased comparability as well as increased insight into how management Accounting change is currently understood through this type of research.Method: Literature reviews based on Booth et al.s SALSA-framework. Creation of a tool for analysis for usage when reviewing material based on a duality perspective.Conclusions: The duality perspective differs, and affects understanding of management Accounting change, in accordance with the following five themes:Theme 1: The duality perspective is affected by differences in the use of definitions/descrptions.Theme 2: The duality perspective is affected by different purposes of the agent and different credit given to the agents power/ability to alter change.Theme 3: The content of the duality perspective is affected by the existence and purpose off being inspired by different theoretical approaches.Theme 4: The duality perspective affects the idea and understanding of the form and expression/process of management accounting.Theme 5: Different duality perspectives have the ability to lead science against increased pluralism and/or synthesisIn order to increase understanding for and comparability between scientific contributions through a duality perspective there is to some extent a need for more and better definitions and a more problematizing when combining theoretical approaches.

Recent studies show that manufacturing companies to a larger extent use historical cost accounting in their internal accounts, at the expense of calculated costs. The explanation behind this is claimed to be that firms are subject to careful scrutiny by the stock market. Consequently, top management stresses the need of evaluating all parts of the firm from external accounting. However, lower management levels express a general concern that the incentive to invest in machines will decrease. This master thesis aims to investigate whether or not there is an objective reason behind this concern.

The number of studies on IFRIC 15 is very limited. The available studies have either been conducted before the introduction of IFRIC 15 or at an early stage of the implementation. This study examines IFRIC 15s practice from a longer perspective. The purpose of this study is to explain the effect that the interpretation IFRIC 15 has had on accounting objectives and qualitative characteristics of the revenue recognition of Swedish construction companies. The study will also analyze whether the construction companies has changed their perception of IFRIC 15 after applying it form a longer time perspective.

The study tries to increase the understanding of the phenomenon known as the Big bath, on the question whether the market accepts Big bath accounting principle or not. Big bath is an accounting theory meaning that a company is likely to increase its impairment in a specific year. This could be as a reaction on a change in the leadership, a depreciation of the result or maybe an external decrease in demand. Through a quantitative survey of the market it is examining whether the companies themselves are inclined to use the procedure and if the stock market accepts it. The study concludes that Big bath similar procedures are a fairly common accounting practice and that the stock market does not seem to mind. .

Background: Charity and other non-profit organizations have traditionally not been subject to any particular regulation enforced by Swedish law. Recently though, accounting standards have been altered which, through the new "Bokföringslagen" as of first of January 2001, have affected accounting standards for non- profit organizations. One of the implications which the new"bokföringslagen"has for non-profit organizations in Sweden is the link which it establishes with other accounting regulations enforced by the "Årsredovisningslagen". This link will, in turn, determine which rules that apply for any particular organization. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how accounting regulations are handled by Swedish non-profit organizations.

Intangible assets are often a significant part of Swedish companies? assets. Most of these are accounted for as goodwill, arising from acquisitions. After EU:s decision to adopt IFRS as the new accounting standard, intangible assets will to a larger extent be recognized separated from goodwill. This thesis aims to quantify this change and to analyze what specific intangibles are affected most by the transition to IFRS.

Background: Many different parties in the society are affected by the financial information delivered by the companies. Therefore, different interests want their ideas to have an impact on the accountning standards. The construction of the accounting standards are illustrated as a pure political process, where lobbying and conflicts of interest are determining factors. Purpose: The purpose is to understand the underlying interests behind regulation of financial accounting in Sweden and how these interests are manifestated in the establishment of accounting standards. Method: The thesis is designed as a casestudy of the regulation process which induced the legislation of the Årsredovisningslagen 6 kap 1 § 3st.