This report is the result of a thesis conducted at the consulting firm Bjerking AB andis the final part of the Bachelor Programme in Construction Engineering at Universityof Uppsala. The work aims to investigate the costs and how the choice of ventilationsystem affects building projects during a long-term period. This report covers costssuch as investment, maintenance and energy but also how they affect residents andbuilders. Building regulations for energy consumption are expected to be tougher;therefore a comparison of two different heat recovery ventilation systems(HRV-system) was made. One system is based on a centrally placed unit that coversthe whole buildings ventilation through vertical shafts.

VAV (Variable Air Volume) system has been studied in a newly constructed office-building. The goal for the study has been to evaluate how the ventilations system work in practice, if adjustments can be made to achieve an more energy efficient system and to evaluate if other alternative ventilation systems is to be preferred in the further.The degree project has been executed at Helenius Engineering Firm who is working with the environment, media systems, HVAC and energy in buildings. The building that has been studied is owned and operated by Akademiska hus.Literature studies, visits at site, inventory, review of system documentation, energy analyses, interviews, key figures, LCC, sand energy- and indoor climate simulations has been made to study the building. Where appropriate some tools from Six Sigma have also been used.How to achieve an energy efficient system and a pleasant indoor climate is studied with human health and well-being as base for the indoor climate requirements. Technical support systems such as ventilation systems have to be designed so that an acceptable indoor climate can be achieved.

Revisionspliktens avskaffande -En jämförelse mellan en liten och en stor revisionsbyråDatum:15 januari 2013Nivå:Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi/redovisning, 15 ECTSInstitution:Akademin för hållbar samhälls- och teknikutveckling, HSTFörfattare:Nicklas ErngrenAnnica LarssonMariah WahlgrenTitel:Revisionspliktens avskaffande -En jämförelse mellan en liten och en stor revisionsbyråHandledare:Angelina SundströmNyckelord:revisionsplikt, revision, revisionsbyrå, revisor, små företag, framtidsmöjligheterFrågeställning:Hur har revisionsbyråerna förändrats genom revisionspliktens avskaffande?Hur har storleken på revisionsbyråerna inverkat på tjänsternas utbud?Syfte:Syftet med studien är att beskriva skillnader och likheter i hur revisionsbyråerna förändrat sitt utbud av tjänster och vilka andra förändringar de gjort efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten för små företag. För att uppnå syftet och besvara forskningsfrågorna har två revisionsbyråer studerats.Metod:För att besvara forskningsfrågorna och uppfylla syftet har två gruppintervjuer gjorts med Lars Lönnkvist och Barbro Andersson på Revisorsknuten och Sara Keyser och Magnus Hallberg på PwC i Nyköping. Intervjuerna gick ut på att ta reda på vad respektive revisionsbyrå gjort för förändringar av sitt utbud efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten. I analysdelen har sedan svaren ställts mot varandra för att se vilka likheter och skillnader som finns mellan den stora(PwC) och den lilla (Revisorsknuten) revisionsbyrån.Slutsats:Studien visar att det finns likheter i de förändringar som gjorts bland annat ett större fokus på redovisningstjänster än tidigare.

Småföretagen kan ses som en viktig del av samhällsekonomin i Sverige då de utgör 98 procent av Sveriges företag. Deras överlevnad kan därför vara betydelsefull, bl.a. som arbetsgivare. Men vilka är då dessa småföretagare: är det möjligt att se dem som jämförbara homogena grupper av individer i homogena branscher? Vi har därför i denna studie undersökt vilka dessa småföretagare är i en homogen bransch som plastindustribranschen och hur småföretagarna verkar i sitt företagande.

The essays main intent is to examine whether there has been a proper implementation of the Council?s directive 1999/70/EG into Swedish law regarding the requirement for measures to prevent the abuse of successive fixed-term employment contracts. To achieve this purpose there is a need for an examination of current law. The essay also has some secondary purposes. One of these secondary purposes is the question of whether the implementation of the Council?s directive 1999/70/EG has lead to a reduction of the workers employment protection, which is closely connected to my main question and the violation case.

Syfte: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) är idag ett  globalt allmänt känt begrepp och Svenska företag anses ligga i framkant med sitt ansvarastagande. Huvudsyftet med uppsatsen är att analysera huruvida ett stort engagemang inom CSR-frågor ger Svenska företag en förändring i företagsvärde och om det påverkar deras lönsamhet. Ett approximativt Tobins Q används som mått på företagsvärde och Return On Assets (ROA) används som mått på lönsamhet. Metod: En kvantitativ deduktiv metod där undersökning av sekundärdata ska mynna ut i en prövning om huruvida det går att påvisa ett samband mellan CSR och företagsvärde och/eller lönsamhet. Sekundärdata inhämtas ifrån Folksams Index för ansvarsfullt företagande 2009 samt företagens årsredovisningar från 2011. Historiska aktiepriser har hämtats ifrån Nasdaq OMX Nordics hemsida.

Public concern and the need of responsible way of doing business have brought forward the issue of sustainability at the forefront of discussion in the last decade. Even though, food retailers are playing an important role in the economy, they are exposed for criticism by media and consumers for any socially and environmentally irresponsible business practices because, the potential environmental and social impacts from their operations are significant. These impacts need to be recognized and properly addressed. The main objective of this study was to assess the sustainable business management of a cooperative food retail business in Sweden, known as Konsum Värmland (KV). The necessary data and information on history and status of KV, and its practical activities concerning the implementation of sustainable development programs as well as the motivation and challenges encountered by KV during the implementation were gathered via reviewing different documents, research papers and press releases; interviewing decision makers and other personnel in KV and other researchers from Swedish University of Agricultural University who have investigated KV.

The recent accounting scandals in large companies in both USA and Europe, such as Enron and Scandia, have led to a huge debate about the quality of financial reports approved by auditors who, at the same time, offer consultancy service to their audit clients. Many researchers and experts argued that there is a role conflict when an auditor offers consultancy service to audit clients. They argue that the main duty of an auditor is to verify the truthfulness of the company's financial statements. Giving consultancy service to the audit clients will impair the auditor's role to examine the company's books independently because of the economic bond between auditors and audit clients.As a result of the Enron scandal, the legislators in the USA have made restrictions to how auditors provide non-audit service to audit clients. However, the legislators in Sweden, unlike the US, did not choose to introduce such restrictions.

In the beginning of the 21th century several successful companies filed for bankruptcy. These bankruptcies have been known as large accounting scandals and the largest scandals did Enron and Worldcom stand for. These bankruptcies arose without any warning signal from the auditors about the companies? financial problems and their inability to continue as a going concern. The bankruptcies damaged the reputation of auditors and broad criticism has developed at the auditors? inability to discover companies? financial problems and their unwillingness to reveal a going concern opinion in the audit report.

Title: Competition for small audit firms ? a qualitative study on possible competitive strategies and how the upcoming changes will influence competition on the audit market    Subject: Auditing Tutor: Margareta Paulsson  Authors: Per Dahlström and Martin Holmberg Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding how smaller auditing firms use competitive strategies and why. The result aims to work as a support for owners and leaders of audit firms as they make decisions of how to compete in the future. We would also like to explore how smaller audit firms view the change of the mandatory audit, that is, our intentions are also to examine how they think the consequences on the market will be and their view on its affect on the competition of the market.    Methodology: Our methodological approach was characterized by a hermeneutic approach in order to explain and understand why the smaller audit firms do what they do. Our approach is a combination of inductive and deductive as it allows us to develop an understanding of the subject, then gather our empirical data and from that draw valid conclusions.

Träffsäkerheten på Going Concern-varningar (GC-varningar) internationellt sett är låg, 40 procent, men enligt tidigare studier är den lägre i Sverige, under 20 procent. De fyra största revisionsbyråerna i världen, Big four, marknadsför sig med sin branschkännedom och flera studier pekar på att de har högre revisionskvalité än mindre byråer. Samtidigt finns det studier som visar att det inte finns någon skillnad på kvalitén mellan de fyra största och de mindre byråerna. Syftet med denna studie är att pröva om stora byråer har högre kvalité än medelstora och små byråer och om det finns skillnader mellan de enskilda byråerna inom respektive storlekskategori. Revisionskvalité mäter vi i form av GC-varningar och anmärkningar på finansiell stress (eget kapital understiger hälften av aktiekapitalet).

Redovisning av leasing ? efter form eller substans? RR 6:99 innehåller kriterier som ger ut-rymme för tolkning. Vid redovisning av finansiell leasing ska leasingobjektet tas upp i balansräkningen och operationella leasingavtal ska redovisas i sin helhet i resultaträkningen. Syftet har varit att förklara varför en del företag redovisar finansiell leasing off-balance. Vår studie har angripits genom en enkätundersökning riktad till 67 börsnoterade industriföretag, svarsfrekvensen var 54%.

By using pollen analysis, 14C-dating and historical sources, I studied the history of vegetation and land use at an abandoned forest settlement near the Lade summer farms in the parish of Mora, Dalama. The aim of this paper is to investigate the agricultural establishment and development, the effects of this on forest vegetation, and the origin and development of summer farming. The analysis of pollen in a peat core revealed that a settlement was established at Lade around 1000 AD. Cereal cultivation, hay-making on the mire and extensive forest grazing were intro-duced as a complete agricultural system. Pollen analysis and the presence of ancient fields suggests that cultivation took place on permanent fields. Barley was the main crop, but rye and hops/hemp were also grown at the settlement.

The competitiveness and profitability of swedish farm enterprises is frequently discussed in agricultural media. Increased exposure to the surrounding world with greater competitive pressure and considerable price fluctuations in the agricultural markets demand new ways of acting to secure the agricultural sector?s long-term survival and profitability. Structural change and/or diversification leads to increased numbers of stake-holders around the farm enterprise and thereby also the expectations of the farmers ability to lead and coordinate resources. Lean is the name of a management model developed by Toyota, influenced by the lack of resources in Japan during the post WWII period.

This report examines the industrialization of a newly developed household machine on behalf of Technogarden Engineering Resources in Karlstad, Sweden. The report is a part of the final course in the Bachelor Program in Mechanical Engineering at Karlstad University and takes place in spring 2014.An innovator, an investor and a engineering consultant firm have through collaboration developed a new type of gruel machine. The product is in its final stage of construction and is planned to be manufactured in a production located in Sweden, autumn of 2014.To compete against today?s trend in outsourcing manufacturing to low cost countries for better profitability, the industrialization of the gruel machine must be done with a minimum amount of resources in order to become successful, which also describes the problem of this study. Using pre-study material in form of Lean production literature, visiting a successful production site and gathering data from involved engineers a specification was developed which describes what this industrialization must achieve and which requests can be accomplished.