The new Swedish Companies Act allows Swedish companies to issue two instruments that were previously prohibited: mandatory convertibles and participating debentures. The aim of the thesis is to conduct a cross sectional study of Swedish corporate hybrid securities, especially in the light of the new Companies Act. The cross sectional study also includes areas such as credit rating, accounting and tax. The thesis concludes that it is possible, under Swedish law, to issue corporate hybrid securities that qualify for both high equity credit and tax deductible interest payments. The use of certain hybrid provisions are, however, restrained by Swedish company law.

Mergers and acquisitions are a phenomenon which can occur for a variety of reasons. It may for example be that the organizations want to gain larger market shares or to complement and learn from each other and thus become more competitive. After the completion of an acquisition or merger, a process is initiated to create an affiliation between the two companies' employees. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there is something that management can do to make the integration process as efficient as possible. The empirical research in this paper consisted of interviews and surveys with respondents from two accounting firms that recently completed a merger.

This thesis aims to investigate if there are any differences in the value relevance of yearly earnings announcements before (2000-2004) and after (2005-2009) IFRS were implemented for listed companies in the European Union. To assess the value relevance of earnings, an earnings response coefficient (ERC) is estimated using a linear OLS-regression model. The regression model uses accounting earnings per share as the explaining variable, with the corresponding return starting from (but not including) the previous year's earnings announcement date, ending at (and including) the current earnings announcement date, as the dependent variable. This study finds that there is no statistically significant difference between the estimated ERCs for the two periods. Although no statistically significant difference is found, data shows that the R2-values, which measure the explanatory power of the regressions, are higher for the period before IFRS.

Research and Development-costs constitutes an important part in contemporary companies. R&D are treated differently depending on their definition and how the historic value is decided. The main goal for this essay is to bring clarity to how the definiton of the term R&D is decided in accounting as well as in tax law. Another goal is to decide how the historic value is calculated. It is also interesting to examine under which circumstances the costs can be activated in the balance sheet, and under which circumstances deduction for the R&D-costs may be allowed.

The purpose of our essay is to study the institutional-, demographic and accounting theoretical factors that influence an organisations actuarial commitment.The research was performed through a web based survey, with complimentary telephone interviews, directed to companies listed on Stockholm Stock Exchange A- and O-list on the 30 of November, 2003.Our data was analysed with a Median test, Kolomogorov-Smirnov test, T-test and a Mann-Whitney test. The purpose of the Mann-Whitney test was the low number of respondents that took part in the research. The Kolomogorov-Smirnov test was done to determine whether the population variances was equal or not. The data showed that organisations with a majority of female employees assume a lower salary increase, and a higher average age than other companies with a male majority. Only 2 of 11 hypothesis can be accepted as temporary truths but several other visible relations are indicated in our research, but can not be statistically proved.We think that the major problem with our is the time it was performed.

Much attention has been directed to Charity Foundations and how they use the donations given to them. Donators and external organisations put pressure on and evaluate the performance of Charity Foundations. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how Charity Foundations handle the pressure from external parties through a qualitative case study of one Swedish Charity Foundation. The most important external factors have been identified and the accountability relationships between each party and the Charity Foundation have been examined. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews and from written sources.

Ofta fokuseras det på större företag i undervisningen, men verkligheten är den att de flesta företag i Sverige är små eller medelstora. Det finns olika definitioner av vad ett småföretag är, men ingen är mer rätt än någon annan och i denna uppsats kommer EU:s definition att användas. Alla företag, stora som små, har någon/några som vill ta del av företagets ekonomiska information. De små företagen har oftast inte lika många intressenter som de stora företagen, och därför är det sannolikt att de inte behöver en lika komplicerad och detaljerad redovisning. Dessa mindre företag har under en längre tid haft samma regelverk som de större, men BFN, IASB och lagstiftare har påbörjat ett förenklingsarbete av redovisningsreglerna.För att kunna vara säker på att de nya reglerna verkligen fyller sitt syfte är det viktigt att de uppfyller de krav som företagen och användarna av redovisningsinformationen har.

Ofta fokuseras det på större företag i undervisningen, men verkligheten är den att de flesta företag i Sverige är små eller medelstora. Det finns olika definitioner av vad ett småföretag är, men ingen är mer rätt än någon annan och i denna uppsats kommer EU:s definition att användas. Alla företag, stora som små, har någon/några som vill ta del av företagets ekonomiska information. De små företagen har oftast inte lika många intressenter som de stora företagen, och därför är det sannolikt att de inte behöver en lika komplicerad och detaljerad redovisning. Dessa mindre företag har under en längre tid haft samma regelverk som de större, men BFN, IASB och lagstiftare har påbörjat ett förenklingsarbete av redovisningsreglerna.För att kunna vara säker på att de nya reglerna verkligen fyller sitt syfte är det viktigt att de uppfyller de krav som företagen och användarna av redovisningsinformationen har.

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..

There is consensus in research, policy, business and many other areas around the benefits of creativity. Previous research shows that creativity is only spurred under certain conditions. Usually creativity is not associated with concepts such as control, deadline or cost effectiveness. Companies, by contrast, have the need for control and management of their operations, which implies that the two processes can be difficult to reconcile. A company that wants a high creativity while maintaining control and management is forced into a series of organizational compromises.

Sedan år 2005 har det varit obligatoriskt för börsnoterade företag i EU att följa den internationella redovisningsstandarden IFRS 3 vid företagsförvärv. Vid ett företagsförvärv ska förvärvaren allokera kostnaden för förvärvet genom att först värdera de materiella tillgångarna till verkligt värde, sedan de immateriella tillgångarna och till sist allokera det som eventuellt blir över till goodwill. Att identifiera immateriella tillgångar och därmed skilja dem från goodwill anses vara en svår och komplex uppgift. Företagen har kritiserats för att generellt undervärdera immateriella tillgångar och övervärdera goodwill vid företagsförvärv, för att inte lämna tillräcklig information om hur de kommit fram till goodwillbeloppet och för att inte ta uppgiften att identifiera immateriella tillgångar på allvar.Om denna kritik är riktig, vilket mycket talar för, innebär det rimligen att företagsledningarna har ett intresse av att övervärdera goodwill. Detta intresse kan vara helt oegennyttigt, och enbart för företagets bästa, men det kan också vara egennyttigt.

Background: The basis for a price valuation of a company is dependent on both its assets net worth and earnings calculations. While the assets are an important part of the valuation of a company, it is important that the valuation is reliable and resource usage can be measured and allocated to each time period. Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the difficulties when valuating and allocating own produced fixed assets. Accomplishment: We have chosen a case study where the aims are to understand and explain the difficulties with valuating and allocating own produced fixed assets. The research is based on nine personal interviews.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att se hur yrkesrollen och yrkesidentiteten hos redovisningskonsulter förändras på grund av de externa förändringar som ständigt sker i branschen.Teoretisk ansats: Litteraturgenomgången är uppbyggd kring två delar. Den första är yrkesrollen och den andra är yrkesidentiteten.Metodologi: Studien använder sig utav en kvalitativ metod för att skapa en förståelse kring hur redovisningskonsulterna själva ser på hur förändringarna har påverkat deras yrkesroll och yrkesidentitet.Slutsatser: Slutsatsen som denna studie har kommit fram till är att fyra externa förändringar: auktorisationen av redovisningskonsulter, införandet av Reko, avskaffandet av revisionsplikten och införandet av K2 och K3 regelverken påverkar redovisningskonsulternas yrkesroll och yrkesidentitet. De har fått en utbredd yrkesroll och den sociala biten har blivit viktigare och även de personliga egenskaperna har förändrats..

Accounting is a well discussed topic, and an important tool that allows stakeholders and others to interact with the companies. To gain credible reports, the companies require maintenance, activities and monitoring. Wholesalers account for approximately 20% of Sweden's net and is increasing at a steady pace. Few studies on wholesalers are acquired and the internal control has shown to be important for the preparation of the financial statements.Therefore the study will be focusing on the smaller wholesaler?s internal control, all the way to the financial statements.

The question of the mandatory audits be or not be has been investigated thoroughly in recent years. Theresult is that the audit obligation in all likelihood will be voluntary for 96 percent of all of Sweden´slimited companies in the summer of 2010. The new draft law gives the accountant the opportunity towork both as an accountant and consultant. The investigation in this script works with the question"Which services the owner-managed companies, which in future not will be forced to audit, demandfrom an accounting firm in the suspension of the mandatory audit?" This will take the investigation outby a quantitative study through questionnaires distributed to 40 limited companies.