The focus of the thesis is: how conditions for agriculture in the Republic of Macedonia today may form the basis for development of the agricultural sector towards conditions needed for future accession into the European Union. The method for investigating this question has been to look at newly available farm monitoring system (FMS) data from Macedonia. Also to look at the latest government policies created in the country for the agricultural sector and rural areas in relation to the requirements for EU accession. Articles and empirical studies published by other authors related to the questions which arise in this study have been reviewed and presented herein. Trade relations, trade patterns and national economic and agricultural trends are displayed to provide a background overview for the study of the agricultural sector.

AbstractEffective January 1, 2005 publicly listed companies were obliged to adopt a new financialreporting standard (IFRS/IAS). The objective of IFRS/IAS was to increase transparency andcomparability in financial reports between companies. The authors have chosen to write aboutIAS 40 where the accounting treatment for investment property and related disclosurerequirements are regulated.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate potential effects of valuation of investmentproperty at fair market value for real estate companies at times when market price decreasesand to investigate what an acceptable difference for the valuation could be.To fulfil this purpose the authors have chosen a qualitative method interviewing accountants,property analysts and a credit analyst to obtain a deeper understanding of the problem. Basedata for the thesis have been collected during meetings, telephone interviews and e-mails.Additional data was collected from public available sources such as the internet, relevantprofessional magazines and professional newsletters. The authors have designed a modelshowing how Income and Balance Sheet statements are influenced by changed valuation ofinvestment property.

På uppdrag av SWECO Management AB utreds möjligheten till att kunna se korrelationer mellan åtgärder på en fastighet eller i dess omgivning och ett förändrat fastighetsvärde. Denna information skall vara SWECO till gagn i upphandlingssituationer, för att lättare kunna visa för beställaren om att tjänsten i fråga kan leda till ett ökat fastighetsvärde. Med utgångspunkt i den begränsade litteraturen, har information främst samlats genom en intervjuprocess med representanter från fastighetsbranschen. För att få ett brett perspektiv i ämnet, har representanter med olika befattningar, olika lång erfarenhet och med varierande utbildningar intervjuats. I studien görs avgränsningar om makrofaktorer, såsom konjunktursvängningar, ränteförändringar, finanskriser, låneinstitutens förändrade låneregler etc.

Around 85 percent of the total population in Sweden today lives in an urban environment. This means that the nature within the urban areas has come to play an important role for the human well being. At the broader picture, the nature within urban areas is profitable in many ways. It is therefore important for the municipalities around in Sweden to work for sustainability within the urban areas. Linköping adopted an environmental policy, in year 2001, from the delegate of the municipality.

Svensk titel: IFRS påverkan på goodwillredovisningen.Engelsk titel: IFRS impact on the accounting of goodwillFörfattare: Filiph Andersson och Marcus HydénUtgivningsår: 201505Handledare: Titti EliassonNyckelord: IFRS, goodwill, IAS, nedskrivning Bakgrund: Före införandet av IFRS regelverket skulle företag skriva av goodwilltillgångar linjärt över en bestämd livslängd i enlighet med ÅRL. Att skriva av en goodwilltillgång med lika stora andelar varje år tog i och med planenligheten ingen hänsyn till den verkliga värdeförändringen hos den underliggande goodwilltillgången. Detta resulterade i att företag ibland även om där inte förelåg ett avskrivningsbehov tvingades till att skriva av värdet på goodwilltillgången. Problem uppstod även när goodwilltillgångarna uppvisade större avskrivningsbehov än de planenliga. Detta resulterade i att goodwilltillgångarna skrevs av i mindre omfattning än nödvändigt.

På uppdrag av SWECO Management AB utreds möjligheten till att kunna se korrelationer mellan åtgärder på en fastighet eller i dess omgivning och ett förändrat fastighetsvärde. Denna information skall vara SWECO till gagn i upphandlingssituationer, för att lättare kunna visa för beställaren om att tjänsten i fråga kan leda till ett ökat fastighetsvärde. Med utgångspunkt i den begränsade litteraturen, har information främst samlats genom en intervjuprocess med representanter från fastighetsbranschen. För att få ett brett perspektiv i ämnet, har representanter med olika befattningar, olika lång erfarenhet och med varierande utbildningar intervjuats. I studien görs avgränsningar om makrofaktorer, såsom konjunktursvängningar, ränteförändringar, finanskriser, låneinstitutens förändrade låneregler etc.

AbstractEffective January 1, 2005 publicly listed companies were obliged to adopt a new financialreporting standard (IFRS/IAS). The objective of IFRS/IAS was to increase transparency andcomparability in financial reports between companies. The authors have chosen to write aboutIAS 40 where the accounting treatment for investment property and related disclosurerequirements are regulated.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate potential effects of valuation of investmentproperty at fair market value for real estate companies at times when market price decreasesand to investigate what an acceptable difference for the valuation could be.To fulfil this purpose the authors have chosen a qualitative method interviewing accountants,property analysts and a credit analyst to obtain a deeper understanding of the problem. Basedata for the thesis have been collected during meetings, telephone interviews and e-mails.Additional data was collected from public available sources such as the internet, relevantprofessional magazines and professional newsletters. The authors have designed a modelshowing how Income and Balance Sheet statements are influenced by changed valuation ofinvestment property.

The concept of the work-first principle (arbetslinjen) might be considered old, but still serves as the main principle as well as an instrument in the Swedish labour market and social policy today. The original idea was that work and willingness to work was to be rewarded, especially due to a common opposition against the passive receipt of grants. The general definition of work, today, is that it is something desirable that should be achieved and that unemployed primarily will be offered training or work rather than grants and subsidies. When the Moderate party re-launched themselves as Sweden's "workers' party of today", in the beginning of the 2000's, the concept was brought back into the spotlight. In the elections of 2006 and 2010, the labour market was widely debated and become a controversial issue, with the concept of the work-first principle playing a major role.The purpose of this thesis is to analyse and problematize how the concept was presented and explained in the nationwide newspapers Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet during the 2010 elections, this in order to increase the understanding of the concept?s contemporary definition and policy implications.

På uppdrag av SWECO Management AB utreds möjligheten till att kunna se korrelationer mellan åtgärder på en fastighet eller i dess omgivning och ett förändrat fastighetsvärde. Denna information skall vara SWECO till gagn i upphandlingssituationer, för att lättare kunna visa för beställaren om att tjänsten i fråga kan leda till ett ökat fastighetsvärde. Med utgångspunkt i den begränsade litteraturen, har information främst samlats genom en intervjuprocess med representanter från fastighetsbranschen. För att få ett brett perspektiv i ämnet, har representanter med olika befattningar, olika lång erfarenhet och med varierande utbildningar intervjuats. I studien görs avgränsningar om makrofaktorer, såsom konjunktursvängningar, ränteförändringar, finanskriser, låneinstitutens förändrade låneregler etc.

AbstractEffective January 1, 2005 publicly listed companies were obliged to adopt a new financialreporting standard (IFRS/IAS). The objective of IFRS/IAS was to increase transparency andcomparability in financial reports between companies. The authors have chosen to write aboutIAS 40 where the accounting treatment for investment property and related disclosurerequirements are regulated.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate potential effects of valuation of investmentproperty at fair market value for real estate companies at times when market price decreasesand to investigate what an acceptable difference for the valuation could be.To fulfil this purpose the authors have chosen a qualitative method interviewing accountants,property analysts and a credit analyst to obtain a deeper understanding of the problem. Basedata for the thesis have been collected during meetings, telephone interviews and e-mails.Additional data was collected from public available sources such as the internet, relevantprofessional magazines and professional newsletters. The authors have designed a modelshowing how Income and Balance Sheet statements are influenced by changed valuation ofinvestment property.

Background: The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority?s mortgage limitation, of mortgaging up to 85 percent of the market value of the real estate was introduced on the first of October 2010. The aim of the recommendation is to prevent a detrimental development of the market for mortgages while at the same time creating incentives for the consumers to limit the debt level. The mortgage limitation is a recently adopted recommendation and few studies have made a thorough analysis of its effects, hence it is an interesting topic to study.Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze the initial effects of the mortgage limitation for consumers, banks and estate agencies. Furthermore, the study aims to evaluate drivers of consumer debt levels and conclude whether the mortgage limitation will result in lower debt levels for consumers.Completion: The study is based on interviews with respondents from banks and with respondents from estate agencies to enlighten the initial and long term effects of the mortgage limitation.

Due to poorly functioning local and regional markets, the smallholders in San Francisco, Petén, were dependent on intermediaries that took advantage of the smallholder?s distance to markets. In an attempt to secure income and strengthen their bargaining position, 189 smallholders joined forces through the creation of a social smallholder network, held together by a community based enterprise. This enterprise was initiated in 2011 with the help of government incentive programmes and NGOs that within a few years will leave the enterprise to auto regime. This study treats the sustainability of a community forest based enterprise, Chachaklum, in northern Guatemala. The study identifies factors that enable smallholders to organize themselves in order to obtain business practices that support an improved standard of living.

In the Maasai Mara National Reserve the native people, the Maasai, have lived for a long time following their own traditions. Their traditional lifestyle is that of a nomadic people, leading their cattle to the best grazing. Sharing their land with a large variation of different animals, one of them being the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana), the Maasi people have since long adapted to a life side by side with these giants, as well as the fierce predators living in the area.The aim of this study is to determine whether the Maasai settlement, known as Boma, has any impact on the elephants in the surrounding area. In order to conclude whether the bomas has an impact or not, observations of the wildlife were carried out. Observations were conducted in two different seasons, in December 2003 and May/June in 2004.

There is a growing interest for ethical consumption, in general as well as in the clothing industry. The consumption of ethical clothes is a complex phenomenon though, where aspects such as quality, style, function, price, time assets, accessibility and ethical attitudes affect the decision making. Researches that have been executed show the diversities in development between different countries. There are fairly strong indications that the ethical clothing market is more advanced in the United Kingdom than in Sweden and therefore these two countries are objects of this research. The aim with this thesis is to describe and explain what have affected the development of the ethical clothing market in the United Kingdom compared to Sweden. For that reason a qualitative approach has mainly been used, where deep interviews with people within the ethical clothing industry have contributed to most of the empirical part. As a complement secondary data such as statistics of the two countries have been used in order to investigate our area. One useful tool, among others, to investigate the macro environment is the SLEPT model.

The aim is to develop a new decision-making model for credit-loans. The model will be specific for credit applicants of the OKQ8 bank, becauseit is based on data of earlier applicants of credit from the client (the bank). The final model is, in effect, functional enough to use informationabout a new applicant as input, and predict the outcome to either the good risk group or the bad risk group based on the applicant?s properties.The prediction may then lay the foundation for the decision to grant or deny credit loan.Because of the skewed distribution in the response variable, different sampling techniques are evaluated. These include oversampling with SMOTE, random undersampling and pure oversampling in the form of scalar weighting of the minority class.