Does goodwill affect the cost of capital? Goodwill is an asset which is characterized by much uncertainty regarding both what it is and how much it is really worth. Based on economic theory about information risk and principal-agent problems as well as theory regarding the cost of capital we test for the hypothesis that debt and equity investors perceive goodwill as something risky and hence demand compensation for taking on this extra risk. The proxies used for the cost of capital are cost of debt, beta and the EP-ratio. On a general level we find that increasing the level of goodwill seems to result in higher cost of capital as represented by the three proxies.

This study has a double purpose. First, it explores and maps out the use of quantitative key indicators in social performance reporting within a microfinance portfolio. This was done on behalf of Storebrand Asset Management, who would like to aggregate and report the social results of their microfinance investments to their customers. The study concludes that the extent of social reporting and types of indicators used varies, meaning that it is hard to aggregate data for use in further reporting. Thus, the work towards the goal of social reporting has only just begun.

Title: Valuing Real Estate FCFE and interest coverage under macroeconomic uncertainty with scenario analysisAuthors: Marcus Ewerstrand, Jakob MattssonAdvisor: Gert SandahlBackground and problem: After the collapse in the Swedish economy in the beginning of the 1990-ties, the company Secerum was launched. Securums objective was to handle unsecured credits from Nordbanken by transferring a large portfolio of properties and to setup a number of companies who would be in charge for the prospects of these assets. One company that was established during this remarkable period was Castellum, in the year of 1994. After a successful process of raising capital to its development of corporate strategies and formation of several affiliated companies which operates locally, Castellum was publish on the Stockholm stock exchange 1997/1998. Now, thirteen years later after its establishment, the credit crunch in the US.

The aim of this thesis is to get an idea of how service companies set their prices. The method used was a case study approach, which was conducted at three real estate companies. The study showed that when setting their prices, the main aspect is their own costs. However, we have found that several other aspects play a big role when setting prices on services in real estate business such as individual customer behaviour and market competition. We have also found that the real estate companies charge very similar prices.

Va?rdet hos konsumenter definieras och utva?rderas pa? ma?nga olika sa?tt. Denna uppsats a?mnar testa en modell fo?r att ma?ta varuma?rkesva?rde och se om den kan anva?ndas fo?r att ma?ta produktva?rdet fo?r en oka?nd produkt i dagligvaruhandeln. Detta genom att applicera modellen pa? produktens produktnamn.

Although previous research conclude that mergers and acquisitions do not always lead to improved profitability or increased shareholder return, the number and size of M&A?s is steadily increasing. In this thesis we examine why an acquirer pays a price higher than the market value. Can accounting data explain the size of the premium? 618 European transactions between 1997 and 2008 are examined and relationships between the targets? accounting data and the premium is analysed through statistical regressions.

Background: Enterprises often refer to their employees as ?Our most valuable assets? in annual reports and other written statements. In reality, employees are seen as an expense rather than an asset in annual reports and the voluntary disclosure is often insufficient. Human capital disclosure has been discussed through decades and the latest topic in voluntary disclosure is called integrated reporting. Knowledge firms should disclose more about their employees than industrial companies due to the fact that the employees are a considerably more important asset to these types of enterprises.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the disclosure of human capital, compare the disclosures between knowledge firms and industrial companies, and study the development of the human capital disclosures between the years 2003-2013.

Risk-free profit sounds appealing. The opportunity to arbitrage exists. Investments in underpriced IPO:s can generate profit, but for whom?Previous studies have shown that underpricing is a common phenomenon. This study intends to investigate whether underpricing and the arbitrage opportunity exists on Aktietorget which is a smaller venue.

2007 infördes regler om dokumentationsskyldighet i Sverige. Reglerna baserades på OECDs riktlinjer för internprissättningsdokumentationskrav. I slutet av september 2014 publicerade OECD BEPS-rapporten ?Guidance on Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting? vilken innehåller omfattande förslag på hur OECDs nuvarande internprissättningsdokumentationsregler bör revideras. Frågan blir därmed om, och i så fall hur, kommande svenska internprissättningsdokumentationsregler bör utformas?Det finns idag betydande skillnader mellan nuvarande svenska bestämmelser och OECDs kommande ändringar.

The DuPont formula is one of the most well known and basic tools used for financial statement analysis and is highly useful for understanding firms strategies and operating environment. Previous studies on American listed companies have also shown that analysis of the changes in the DuPont components is useful in forecasting contexts. In this thesis we test whether disaggregating the change in return on net operating assets provides incremental information about future performance for Swedish listed and not listed companies. We find that the change in asset turnover is a leading indicator of increased profitability for both listed and private companies, regardless of size. We also find evidence that the usefulness of the disaggregation for understanding future performance is greater in capital intense industries and lesser in service industries..

Background: Enterprises often refer to their employees as ?Our most valuable assets? in annual reports and other written statements. In reality, employees are seen as an expense rather than an asset in annual reports and the voluntary disclosure is often insufficient. Human capital disclosure has been discussed through decades and the latest topic in voluntary disclosure is called integrated reporting. Knowledge firms should disclose more about their employees than industrial companies due to the fact that the employees are a considerably more important asset to these types of enterprises.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to study the disclosure of human capital, compare the disclosures between knowledge firms and industrial companies, and study the development of the human capital disclosures between the years 2003-2013.

The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the main determinable factors of Swedish SMEs capital structure decisions and to investigate whether existing capital structure theories are applicable on Swedish SME financing. We have used panel data to run regressions of various capital structure determinants on three measures of capital structure; short- term debt, long-term debt and total debt. We found that growth opportunities, profitability and age are the most important capitalstructures determinants for our sample. Firm size shows a small explanatory result but the effective tax rate and the asset tangibility do not seem to explain the capital structure at all. Thematurity matching principle is considered significant..

The purpose of the study is to highlight the issue of student loans securitization, and assure the importance and benefits that could be realized by performing such a transaction. The methodology is a case study for The National Board of Student Aid. It is a qualitative study, mainly using interviews, literature and scientific articles. By using this information we construct a securitization transaction structure ?CSN 2006-1?, and conduct a cost/benefit analysis.

Value-at-Risk (VaR) is among financial institutions a commonly used tool for measuring market risk. Several methods to calculate VaR exists and different implementations often results in different VaR forecasts. An interesting implementation is historical simulation, and the purpose of this thesis is to examine whether historical simulation with dynamic volatility updating is useful as a model to calculate VaR and how this differs in regard to type of asset or instrument. To carry out the investigation six different models are implemented, which then are tested for statistical accuracy through Christoffersens test. We find that incorporation of volatility updating into the historical simulation method in many cases improves the model.

This paper presents empirical evidence on the determinants of interest rate swap spreads in Sweden during the period 1999-2003. The results suggest that the spread between STIBOR and the general collateral repo rate is positively related to shorter maturity swap spreads. The risk premium associated with commercial bonds is positively related to swap spreads of all maturities. A negative relationship is observed between the term structure of interest rates and swap spreads. The short-term interest rate is positively related to spreads with shorter maturities.