Sustainability reporting in Sweden is a voluntary disclosure action for non-governmental companies. Since 2009 all state-owned companies must however publish a sustainability report according to GRI guidelines and with independent assurance statement. Three different sustainability reporting methods are primarily used: (1) Separate Sustainability Report, (2) Sustainability Report included in the Directors? Report, and (3) Sustainability Report forming part of the Printed Annual Report. The aim of this paper is to explore why some companies choose to publish a sustainability report and identify the motivational factors behind this decision, as well as attain an understanding for companies? choice of reporting method.

In 2011 the International Accounting Standards Board issued amendments to IAS 19 Employee Benefits. The new standard is effective from January 1st 2013 and one of the largest changes in the standard is the elimination of the corridor method. Through the corridor method companies had the possibility to defer actuarial gains and losses resulting from their defined benefit obligations (pension obligations) and leave them unrecognized off the balance sheet. According to the new standard companies reporting under International Financial Reporting Standards will have to recognize all actuarial gains and losses immediately in other comprehensive income. The aim of this thesis is to examine how the financial key ratios of Swedish listed companies will be affected by the elimination of the corridor method.

On November 1st 2010 the obligatory audit was removed in Sweden for small companies. What factors influence such companies to have their financial reports audited, and what factors exert the strongest influence. Purpose: The authors would like to investigate factors that affect companies with voluntary audits in Skåne län to continue with the audit. The authors also wish to examine the factors that have the strongest impact on the choice to adopt auditing. Method: A quantitative study has been conducted in which aquestionnaire was sent to companies in Skåne Län Conclusion: The factors that affect smaller companies to continue with audit are as follows: Accounting quality, cost, creditors (loans), suppliers / customers, the tax office and distort competition.

The market of today consist of products/services who resemble each other, the differences are small. Their for it?s necessary for the companies to provide added values to the product so it will stand out from the rest of the products and lead to purchase. A well used strategy in the fashion industry is marketing with celebrities, this is considered successful because it brings attention and strengthening to the brand. Because of this, the strategy also branch out to other industries, but the question is if it?s as successful there? There?s also a serious down-side with the strategy and that is that there?s a great risk with using celebrities.

In commercial firms, the inventory is often the largest and most important entry and to have acorrectly valued inventory is an important prerequisite in the statement of accounts. However,the inventory is considered to be one of the entries that are most difficult to value among thecompanies assets and this is why we have investigated how large commercial firms valuetheir inventories. We have used relevant theory and conducted a number of interviews withpeople who are knowledgeable when it comes to valuation of inventories. Our conclusion isthat commercial firms work in different ways and that there is no general method which isused by all commercial companies..

It today's global world we live in the media have started to examine businesses more and more. In addition consumers are expecting more from products, because they are well informed. This means that companies need to market themselves effectively, to convince and get across their message to their customers. Marketing is an extensive process in which different factors must be taken into account. A company must know what the coustomer needs in order to get through to them.

The problem area was identified due to the fact that research within internal audit is fragmented and insufficient, simultaneously to internal audit becoming more common in the public debate. Crises and scandals in companies such as Enron in the US and Skandia in Sweden have resulted in new regulations regarding how companies should be governed. These regulations have been established in Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in the US, and in Sweden the Swedish code for corporate governance will be implemented in 2005. The regulations imply that companies must provide sound internal control and to accomplish that, companies should have an auditing and consulting internal audit function. The Swedish code for corporate governance denotes that companies can decide to comply or explain why the code is not complied.

It has in a broader extent become important for companies and other organizations with large organizations to have a properly functioning web platform where content management is an essential part. Polopoly is a web content management system developed in Sweden, used by several European corporations but foremost Scandinavian such working in different media related business areas.Our aim has been to analyze this tool and render a report which hopefully will assist the initiator of our thesis; a consulting enterprise called Qurius, in their negotiations with future customers, when to suggest Polopoly as a suitable content management solution.By using case studies at companies currently using Polopoly, our goal is to define which characteristic makes the product a competitive publishing tool. To put our analysis in perspective, we will compare the most important aspects of Polopoly with a similar product.According to the results of our investigation we consider Polopoly being a beneficial choice with regard to a number of important parameters. Finally we have summarized these properties in a list of examples explaining in which cases Polopoly is a preferable alternative as a web based content management platform..

This thesis aims to find a more cost effective model for purchasing and logistics at asmall company. The studied company is a BMX (bicycle motocross) and MTB(mountain bike) retailer. The questions to be answered are: How large parties shouldbe ordered and what mode of transportation is to be used? A literature orientation ofthe field was followed by visits to the company, obtaining information from twodifferent logistics companies and interviews of four other companies in the sameindustry. The study shows that it´s difficult to develop an optimum order quantity fora small company since there often are other factors affecting how large amountshould be ordered.

This essay focus on three companies within the MSAB group. All companies have shown an incredible share price development since MSAB´s initial investment and ownership. The companies has been examined from the CEO´s perspective to map out similar factors of success. The aim of the study was to compare and see if the companies operate in line with Jim Collins (2001) study of how Great companies operate. The analysis show that, despite the young age of MSAB, ASSA ABLOY and AAK, they all fulfill Collins hard criterias for Great companies..

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.

Research shows that almost 30 per cent men and 20 per cent women at the age of 16-24 in Sweden download music on a regular basis instead of buying records. Thanks to modern technologies teenagers of today have become used to downloading music illegally from theInternet. Even though legal alternatives, such as Spotify, have become popular, the behavior of illegal download of music still persists. What do record companies do to prevent this phenomenon and why do they go to such length to stop this widespread movement? The question is, why is illegal download of music a problem ? and for whom? To investigate this I?ve read books about the subject, analyzed web pages of alternative record companies and interviewed a drummer in a local band.

During the recent financial crisis there has been an intense debate regarding small enterprise?s possibilities to borrow money. Statements from interest groups and results from surveys among Swedish non-financial companies indicate that their situation has worsened. Credit worthy enterprises that under normal circumstances would not have any problems getting financing are now facing financial difficulties. In contrast, an economic report from the Bank of Sweden concludes that Sweden does not suffer from a severe credit rationing due to the financial crisis.

This study aims to research how small companies that operate on the Swedish home electronic-market utilize marketing communications to communicate their message. The focus of this study has been to research these companies use of below-the-line activities in their marketing communications. Interviews have been conducted with representatives from each of the three companies Neonode, Jens of Sweden and Tonium, that compose the selection from the population in this study. The use of below-the-line activities in small companies is mainly motivated by lower cost, which suit small company budgets. Below-the-line activities are also used for branding and the creation of credibility among the consumers when the target audience does not yet know the brand.

Incubators have grown more popular in recent years. Studies have shown that companies that have been part of an incubator grow faster and have a higher survival rate. The Swedish government realizes that this benefits the economy. Therefore they have started different funding programs in order to support the incubators. The thesis aims to explore the underlying reasons for why companies that have been part of an incubator often experience high growth.