The objective of this thesis is to examine the capital structure of Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Accounting data from Swedish game developers, combined with the result from a survey, is used to examine their financial conditions and capital structure decisions. We find that non-debt tax shield, firm size, growth opportunities and age are, to various extents, the determinants of capital structure in the game industry, while effective tax rate and asset structure have marginal effects. Our study also implicates that most of the existing capital structure theories can explain SMEs leverage decisions to some extent; however, some adaptation is needed to fit these theories into the SME context. Additionally, we find the existence of a financial gap in the game industry which might need efforts from both demand side and supply side to eliminate..

This degree project was made in cooperation with AssiDomän Frövi and Charlotte Andersson and the main objectivehas been to create to ice cream pacbges from 250 gsm Frövi Light board. The paekages are intended to be easilyresealable while decreasing in size together with the ice cream. The project also describes the food packaging labelsand symbols currently present in the European common market.Both capsules utilize a separate lid for resealing. One of the paekages (Capsuie A) is indended to be cut along withthe ice cream and thereby decrease in size. The other one (Capsuie B) uses a series of flaps for contracting and expandingwhich enab1es adjusting of the size without cutting the package up.The design for Capsuie A is created both as a series of flavours with a super-hero theme intended for children andwith a colfee flavour for a maturer audience.

Vole populations in northern Scandinavia vary in cycles with peaks every third or fourth year as described by the National Environmental Monitoring Programme of small mammals (NEMP). Some vole species have declined in population numbers since the NEMP started in 1971, especially the grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) which is nearly extinct in the forested region. Since small mammals are an important food source for several avian and mammalian predators, the decline in vole numbers is expected to have consequences for the whole food chain, especially if other vole species start to decline in numbers. This study tried to test the hypothesis that presence and abundance of M. rufocanus (a specialist species) and Myodes glareolus (a generalist species) can be predicted by patch size and connectivity of forest patches >60 years old with a minimum of 15% pine >100years old.

The neo-classical conception of the market place does not provide a framework to account for ethical or moral action. As a result, the neo-classical model is unable to explain the impact of ethical and moral issues on business sustainability present in the modern economy. To address this limitation, this thesis investigates whether theories of ethics can help explain the motivations and actions of stakeholders within the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In addition, the thesis explores whether theories of ethics are presented differently within aspects of the stakeholder model. Semi - structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders within the CSR sector, including a NGO, a commercial firm and a CSR consultancy firm.

Background: Media has for a long time been reporting about the audit industry, often focusing on so-called auditing scandals. Economic journalism has grown stronger, the corporations are given more and more power in society and the public interest is increasing. We intend to examine how mass media affects the expectations gap and how the auditing firms operate strengthening the society?s confidence in the industry after mass medial exploitation. We also want to investigate whether the relatively new phenomenon social media is affecting the auditing firms and industry?s external communication, as well as what consequences negative publicity may have for the individual auditor.Aim: The aim of the study is to create an understanding of the audit industry?s relation to the media as well as to describe and analyze how mass media?s coverage is affecting the audit industry, auditing firms as well as the individual auditor.

Since 1983 Sweden has a general audit obligation for joint-stock companies. At this moment the Government has issued an investigation concerning the subject. The purpose of this paper is to examine what effects an abolition of the audit obligation for small joint-stock companies can have on the Swedish tax department regarding economic crime. An angel on the report is to examine how the tax department uses adverse auditor?s reports.

The Swedish Forestry Research Institute implemented an experiment which began in the year 1979 in a by moose browse damaged area in Sweden. An audit in 2014 of the moose browsing study called ?Furudalsförsöket? is the underlay to the study's results. By comparing Scots pine stands development in relation to known damage obtained thereby gives the understanding of how browsing affects the short and long terms impacts of Scots pines quality and volume production. The results of this year's audit reveal that the standing volumes in the undamaged and damaged areas represent a significant difference. The number and volume of the ingrown trees constitute a larger proportion of the areas that have been heavily browsed. It also proves once again that that all damage classes had a downward trend, which means that the damage is concealed with time.

Background and problem: Whether or not the pay to executives is fair is widely debated. During the last years especially the variable pay has been in the spotlight. But at what levels are the compensations really at? Media?s focus is mainly on the absolute highest compensations which may result in a skew view on pay-for-performance incentives.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to establish the levels of compensation to executives in a wide range of randomly selected companies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange during the years 2001 to 2005. Furthermore, the impact of a set of firm specific variables on compensation levels will be analyzed with basis in several hypothesis.Delimitations: The variable pay considered in this thesis will only be variable cash bonuses.

Study objects: JM, Folkhem and ABB.Purpose: The purpose with this study are to examine how the supplier relations are in the construction branch and compare that result with how the supplier relations are for ABB a production company.Theoretical: The theoretical chapter illustrates important and relevant parts of supplier relations, purchasing and supplier strategies to give good overview. The theoretical review will combine information from different fields to consent with the research problem.Method: A case study has been made on three different companies, one of the companies was active in the production industry the other two were active in the construction industry. Data was mainly collected through semi structured interviews on each of the three companies.Conclusions: The size of the company decided which point of view the company had on purchasing, traditional or modern view. All three companies had a centralized purchasing organization but the construction firms were more decentralized than the production company. The reason was that the construction firms were dependent with more flexibility when every construction project is unique..

Today every organization is committed to some kind of environmental scanning in order to get necessary knowledge of the world around them. The acquisition, organization and storage of information in combination with a strategic use, is today an important factor for a successful organisation in any sector of our society.In this Master thesis I have studied how an organisation such as The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) handles its information resources. I have also looked at the flow of information within the organization. The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is Sweden?s largest business federation representing 50 member organizations and 55 000 member companies.

The demands of environmental effects in today?s companies have been increasing more andmore. To be able to withstand customers, cooperatives and government demands the ISO14001 certification should not be neglected.In January 2007 the general management of SAS decided to introduce an environmentalmanagement system for SAS Tech. The work which has been carried out is a part of thecertification process of ISO 14001 which will be completed by the end of year 2009.The aim is to create auditroutines for the company in order to be able audit ISO 14001standard internally which is a demand to get certified and to keep the certification in thefuture. A schedule has been done which audits different part of the standard at every auditduring one year.

The intrest and development of bioenergy and energy from renewable sources in Sweden has increased rapidly over the last few years. There are a whole lot of alternatives for those who would like to venture and invest in renewable energy production. Production of renewable energy opens up many opportunities for forestry and farming to venture a new branch of production, on basis of the primary production. Several of the new energy sources grows on farmland or in the forest. The opportunities exist in the primary products, as well as in refining and reselling, in the value chain of energy. The starting-point is the Farmer as an energyproducer. This master thesis studies the nature of farmer-own firms, who has invested in production of renewable energy.

This thesis has been written at Linköping University for the company Instrument Control Sweden AB (ICS).ICS is a small company located in Linköping that develops software and hardware for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAV. At present, ICS has a fully functional autopilot called EasyPilot but they want to reduce the autopilot?s size to make it more attractive.The purpose of this thesis was to investigate if it was possible to reduce the size of the autopilot and how, in that case, it would be done. It was also necessary to examine whether the old processors should be replaced by new ones and how hard it would be to convert the old software to these new processors.To succeed with the goals many of the old components had to be changed for new, smaller ones. Some less necessary parts were also completely removed.

Banker är enligt lag tvungna att göra en bedömning av företags återbetalningsförmåga vid kreditgivning. Redovisningsinformation är en viktig bedömningsgrund vid kreditgivning och kvalitén på informationen är avgörande för beslut gällande utlåning. Det är revisorns uppgift att genom granskning kvalitetssäkra ett företags redovisning och förvaltning och resultatet av detta lämnas i en revisionsberättelse. Revisionsberättelsen är den enda offentliga rapport som revisorn lämnar och därmed den som intressenterna kan ta del av. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken betydelse revisionsberättelsen har för bankerna vid kreditgivning till företag.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the Dual-Effect hypothesis in Pritmani, Shome and Singal paper (2003), in order to analyze the exchange rate exposure on firms listed on the U.K. market. The study will examine if the foreign involvement of the firm will affect the share price of the firm.In addition to evaluating the Dual-Effect hypothesis in Pritmani et. al. (2003), we will evaluate the effect of foreign interest rates impact on U.K.