The debate about questions concerning corporate governance has intensified in Sweden the last decade. From July 1th 2008, the Swedish Code for Corporate Governance was extended to comprise all Swedish companies listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm. Our aim with this master thesis is to examine the effect of the Revised Code on Swedish corporate governance and in particular its contribution to creating value or costs. We do this through a qualitative study of 22 interviews with representatives for different interests. With our study, we have found that the Revised Code in several areas has had considerable influence on Swedish corporate governance.

Denna uppsats bygger på fyra grundstenar; Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning, Combined Code on Corporate Governance, riktlinjer från OECD, EU:s rekommendationer. För att skapa förståelse för dessa olika regelverk samt möjliggöra en analys, har teorin om Agent och Principal, samt den om Corporate Governance använts. Förutom studier av regelverk har diverse intervjuer genomförts med svenska och engelska börsnoterade företag som lyder under bolagskoderna, samt även intervjuer med revisionsföretag. Dessa har fungerat som informationskällor, referensramar, och underlag för analys och slutsatser. Det ges även sammanfattningar av Svensk kod för bolagsstyrning, samt för Combined Code on Corporate Governance, en redogörelse för riktlinjerna publicerade av OECD och EU:s rekommendationer.

In order to survive constant economic, environmental and political challenges, it has appeared to become increasingly important for a firm to recognize the significance of corporate governance. In this thesis, the structure of the board at Smartner Ltd will be outlined and the relationship between the board members and the CEO will be clarified. In addition, the aim is to analyze the corporate governance system at Smartner Ltd to be able to outline and clarify the distinct relationship between the CEO and board of directors..

Problem: After several corporate scandals concerning accounting around the world a discussion concerning corporate governance arose. The public demanded greater insight and better corporate governance in public companies. The discussions led to the development of codes of corporate governance, codes such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act, the Combined Code and the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance. The Swedish code is a clarifying of the Swedish law, a codification of praxis and in some cases an increase in the demands on reporting of information from the companies.Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to describe what effects the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance has had on the content of annual reports of listed companies and if different types of companies have been affected in different ways.Method: The investigation was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Through a preliminary study knowledge about the subject was gathered.

Purpose: To examine the governance mechanisms and the competence PE-firms adds to theirholding companies through an active ownership in order to create growth.Methodology: A qualitative study with interviews as its main source of data.Theoretical perspectives: Corporate governance and relevant theories within that subjectsuch as agent theory, board of directors and management. Previous research within the subjectwill also be presented.Empirical foundation: The empirical foundation consists of three conducted interviews anddata collected from the chosen PE-firms as well as six different holding companies.Conclusions: The governance mechanisms used in the PE-firms we have chosen are stronglyrelated to both theories within corporate governance as well as previous research on thesubject. The governance mechanisms being used are an explicit owners agenda and strategy, athorough acquisition process, usage of external competence, active ownership through theboard of directors and the insertion of incentive systems..

Syftet med uppsatsen är att studera sambandet mellan länders utdelningsmönster och corporate governance system samt förklara varför denna koppling ser ut som den gör med hjälp av den teoribildning som finns på området.Till undersökningen har tre EU länder valts. För att kartlägga ländernas utdelningsmönster har finansiell data insamlats för respektive lands samtliga noterade företag. Dessa data har sammanställts till tre nyckeltal gällande utdelningsnivå för varje land och år mellan år 1989 till år 2007.Det finns skillnader mellan länderna både beträffande corporate governance system och beträffande utdelningsmönster. De viktigaste faktorerna inom corporate governance som i uppsatsen visat sig haft störst betydelse för utdelningsmönstrets utseende är ägarstrukturen samt kapitalmarknadens struktur. Störst andel spritt ägande och starkast inflytande från aktiemarknaden återfinns i Storbritannien, följt av Sverige och sist Tyskland som tvärtom kännetecknas av ett mycket koncentrerat ägande och lägre påverkan från aktiemarknaden.

AbstractThe OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm requires all large companies to apply the Swedish Code ofCorporate Governance. A revised code will be applied from July 2008. The purpose of this paper is toidentify the accessibility of information on corporate governance and in particular how the compliance,concerning the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance in the perspective of an internet active generalpublic.This paper is a complete census of the companies at the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm whocomplies with the code. Each company website has been visited and a comparison between the sectorsat the OMX Exchange Stockholm has been performed.Results: 96% of the companies present the members of the nomination committee. 94% presents thenomination committees proposal of the company board members, though only 33% of the companies inthe Energy sector.

Background and problem: Corporate Governance is a well-known phenomenon which has been the focus of plenty of research where the board of directors and the CEO have been regarded as important actors. What's affecting decisions regarding these actors has been debated whereas media has been pointed out of having an impact. To decide whether or not media can affect Corporate Governance have shown to be problematic whereas it exists divergent views regarding this. At the same time this relationship is more explored in other contexts than the swedish one, although this one is considered suitable for this. Consequently there is a motive for examining medias impact on Corporate Governance in Sweden. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explain if media has an impact on Corporate Governance at an overall level.

Background and problem: Corporate Governance is a well-known phenomenon which has been the focus of plenty of research where the board of directors and the CEO have been regarded as important actors. What's affecting decisions regarding these actors has been debated whereas media has been pointed out of having an impact. To decide whether or not media can affect Corporate Governance have shown to be problematic whereas it exists divergent views regarding this. At the same time this relationship is more explored in other contexts than the swedish one, although this one is considered suitable for this. Consequently there is a motive for examining medias impact on Corporate Governance in Sweden. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explain if media has an impact on Corporate Governance at an overall level.

In the light of some company scandals the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance, the Code, was introduced in the year of 2004 to reinforce confidence in how Swedish listed companies are managed. As many of the other European codes of corporate governance, the Swedish Code is based on the principle of ?comply or explain?. The need for corporate governance regulation arises from the inherent conflict of interest between owners and managers. This conflict is limited in companies controlled by a family in contrast to companies that lack a strong owner.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how much interest media has shown selected topics in the corporate governance systems in Germany and Sweden. The four selected aspects are: ownership structure, employee representation on the boards, disclosure of board members? compensation and female directors on the boards. The reasons for and consequences of the similarities and differences will also be discussed. The German and Swedish corporate governance systems construct the key basis of the study, emphasised on the four chosen aspects.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain which factors that affects Swedish listed companies choice of placement for the corporate governance report when the regulation gives different options.Methodology: The chosen research philosophy is positive, research strategy is deductive and methodology is quantitative.Theoretical Perspectives: As support for the dependent (placement) and independent factors agency theory, positive accounting theory, accounting choice, legitimacy-, stakeholder-, and institutional theory are used.                  Empirical foundation:The sample consists of 249 companies. The empirical data consists of the companies Annual reports and Corporate Governance reports for financial year 2011 or when split financial year, 2010/2011. Limitations: A limitation of the study is that it is based on observations from only one year why it is not certain that the results should have been the same if a comparison between several years had been done.Conclusions: The factors size and growth explain the placement of the Corporate Governance Report in Swedish listed companies..

Uppsatsen redogör för ett revisionsutskotts arbetsuppgifter, redogörför revisionsutskottens arbete i företag noterade på stockholmsbörsens A-lista samt att analysera om revisionsutskotten i fråga arbetar enligt svensk kod för bolagsstyrning och därmed bidrar till bättre corporate governance.

[Abstract: This study examines the observed difference between Swedish and foreign owners when it comes to nominating committee participation. The background to the study is that foreign owners seem to participate in Swedish nominating committees to a lesser extent than their Swedish counterparts. The focus is on institutional owners and the companies studied are all listed companies who follow the Swedish code of corporate governance. Particular attention is paid to perceived differences in behavior that can be explained using the common corporate governance related theories of Exit, Voice and Loyalty as well as Agency Theory. These explanations are chiefly related to differences in attitudes regarding insider information, different knowledge levels regarding the purpose and workings of nominating committees of the Swedish kind as well as differences due to home market biases.].

Bakgrund: Styrelseskandaler som orsakat oroligheter i affärsvärlden har skapat ett behov av ett tydligt regelverk för bolagsstyrning, den skulle förstärka svenska noterade bolags och svenska börsplatsers konkurrenskraft på den internationella kapitalmarknaden. Den svenska koden för bolagsstyrning har kommit att bli en viktig del av regelsystemet på den svenska kapitalmarknaden. Den kräver att svenska börsnoterade bolag skall presentera bolagsstyrningsrapporter. Rapporternas kvalité är viktig för intressenterna som använder sig av bolagsstyrningsinformation.Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera utvecklingen av tillämpningen av den svenska koden för bolagsstyrningen. Författarna vill undersöka rapporternas kvalité och se hur den har förändrats mellan åren.