The purpose of the set of regulations as regards to accounting and auditing within the Union, is primarily to ensure a high quality of the large public companies financial reporting and hence protect the capital market investors. As the set of regulations also applies to the small companies, these are burdened by administrative costs that are disproportionate. To increase the competitiveness of the European companies, the European council has stated that it is essential to reduce the companies? administrative costs. The main principle is that all companies are under an obligation to statutory audit, however Member States may make audit exemptions for small companies.

The Smart Grid technology has during the last decade been established as a way to create a greater flexibility on the electricity grid that will be needed as the development moves towards an increased share of renewable primary energy sources in the electricity production. One part of the Smart Grid technology is the ability to shift loads in time, to adapt to either price or emissions, known as Demand Response. This project, which was conducted at KTH in collaboration with the consulting corporation Capgemini, examines the economic, environmental and social aspects of the Demand Response technology. In the project, three household products are used in a model that derives the potential savings in costs and emissions of CO2e. The results show that the actual savings measured in SEK are small, but that the savings measured in percent can be as high as 20 percent. Reduction of CO2e emissions is slightly lower.

This paper examines what affects the demand for five Swedish ethical funds between the years 1997-2007. The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relation between fund value and other values than just financial. This study examines if the number of conflicts in the world and the media?s coverage of the climate change debate could have an impact on the demand for ethical fund. A multiple linear regression shows that we don?t have a significant result from the examined variables except for household wealth.

Many consulting firms offer tailor-made solutions within complexity management, but these are not general frameworks built upon theories. Carlsberg are dealing with a large complexity within their one-way glass bottles, as they are growing by acquisitions, and are not attained enough economies of scale. This thesis balances the packaging complexity, with platform theory as a foundation. Twelve platforms were developed at Carlsberg, containing 21 bottles, and the calculated savings potential for applying these are EUR 28,9 million..

In order to reach the environmental targets, set up by the EU, there are many measures taken to make Sweden more energy efficient. In the housing and real estate sector, an installation of an exhaust air heat pump that reuses the heat in the exhaust air in order to lower the amount of acquired energy, is an example of such an action. The recovered energy can then be used for heating of radiators and tap water. This report aims to evaluate and compare three different systems using exhaust air heat pumps regarding COP, degree of coverage and cost savings. This study was delimited to only account for apartment buildings.The theory chapter describes the different conditions and factors that affect a building?s energy balance.

The Smart Grid technology has during the last decade been established as a way to create a greater flexibility on the electricity grid that will be needed as the development moves towards an increased share of renewable primary energy sources in the electricity production. One part of the Smart Grid technology is the ability to shift loads in time, to adapt to either price or emissions, known as Demand Response. This project, which was conducted at KTH in collaboration with the consulting corporation Capgemini, examines the economic, environmental and social aspects of the Demand Response technology. In the project, three household products are used in a model that derives the potential savings in costs and emissions of CO2e. The results show that the actual savings measured in SEK are small, but that the savings measured in percent can be as high as 20 percent. Reduction of CO2e emissions is slightly lower.

The market is developing and a growing competition increases pressure on companies to maintain their competitive advantage. Working with cost savings is a way to enhance earnings in a short term but also in a longer perspective. Volvo Powertrain Production Köping has an overall goal; to reduce costs by nine percentages in three years. To achieve the goal, Volvo Powertrain Production Köping works with World Class Manufacturing where the Department of Processing Technology constitutes an important part.Volvo Powertrain Production Köping lacks a standard for how savings within the metal cutting tool area are to be calculated. This makes it difficult to control and monitor their business outcome but it also causes difficulties in controlling the tool suppliers? outcome.

The main purpose of this Master Thesis has been to evaluate whether active fund management is profitable on Emerging Markets. The material used to examine this consists of 106 actively managed funds, with varying length during the period 1988-2006 and who uses MSCI Emerging Markets (MSCI EM) as benchmark index. The thesis has been written under the supervision of the Asset Management Department of Länsförsäkringar AB (LFAB) and the Department of Production Economics, Linköping Institute of Technology. Apart from the main purpose, the methodology used is also meant to form a template for in-depth or similar studies, preferably by the assigner of this survey, LFAB.The results shows that the median manager underperforms the MSCI EM throughout the whole period, which leads to the conclusion is that active management on Emerging Markets is not profitable. A grouping of the funds based on tracking error still shows that a majority of the managers in all of the groups underperforms against the benchmark.

Increased energy consumption in the world has created an increased supply of various fuels, especially fossil fuels. The Swedish government has set up various energy targets for 2020. To reach these goals it?s important to increase the energy efficiency in local buildings such as schools. This work illustrates the breakdown between energy supply and energy losses over the school.

Nearly 74 percent of the Swedish population invests in funds and the options are therefore various. The Swedish private investors can choose between active and passively managed funds. Fund managers, who seek to generate higher returns than the market, manage active managed funds. Unlike the active managed funds, passively managed funds do not require any active investment decisions.Fama?s (1970) efficient market theory reflects all available information in the stock price, therefore it is not possible to predict how the stock price changes.

The main purpose of the study is to investigate Sweden's four large banks, concerningrisk and return, to see if there are any differences between them. The paper will alsoinvestigate the following sub sections: are there any differences in how the banks havesucceeded in managing geographically targeted funds and if there are any differencesin how funds are performing according to the fund size.The study is based on a quantitative method and has a deductive approach. Theselection consists of all of the four banks Swedish and Nordic funds (according tomorningstar.se 's categories "Sverige" and "Norden"). The study is based on secondarydata gathered from sources such as Morningstar, Affärsvärlden, Dagens Industri andthe Swedish National Banks websites.Swedbank Robur has performed the highest results in the case of Swedish funds.Handelsbanken has performed the highest results in the case of Nordic funds and thetotal of all funds that are in the study. Based on the results of the study it was possibleto distinguish a link between fund size and the annual return. .

Background: Investors have several options to choose from when the goal is to achieve the highest yield at the lowest cost and risk. Stocks are a common investment options, but is also associated with risks. Portfolios are usually constructed with several different assets to reduce the unsystematic risk of investment. Funds are similar to composite stock portfolios, the big difference is that they dealt with in their entirety and investors may not affect the fund's content. The problem remains that whether you choose stocks or mutual funds there is still uncertainty as to how the future will unfold.

Introduction: In 1998, the pension system was changed and the so called PPM system was introduced. The PPM system is partly fund-based, partly distribution-based. There are approximately 700 different investment funds to choose between, at a maximum five for each individual. For persons who are not familiar with the financial market, the choice might be difficult. The lions? part of the investors do not seem to have an active strategy.

The guest harbor on Utö, Utö Gästhamn, is currently using electricity for heating all of the water used in the showers and taps. Because of the large amount of visitors, especially during the summer months, the hot water usage gets very high and that is also the case for the electrical bills. During the year of 2011 the cost of electricity for Utö Gästhamn reached a total of 257 500 kr. Out of these 257 500 kr approximately 142 000 kr, 55 % of the total cost, were because of the water heating.The report is the result of a cooperation with Skärgårdsstiftelsen, the Green Islands-project and Utö Gästhamn where the mutual goal is to dimension a solar energy system, to promote the sustainable development.Initially the different techniques for the solar energy system are researched. The techniques are plane solar collectors, evacuated tube collectors, pool collectors and photovoltaic cells.

The economical and judicial cooperation that EU constitutes results in that there is an increasing amount of international disputes arising. These international disputes in turn result in questions concerning private international law. The principle of mutual trust is not only an important principle in the entire judicial cooperation but especially important in the area of private international law. The principle means that the member states have to trust each other and the different legal systems. The aim of the principle is to ensure a well functioning internal market that is permeated by free circulation and freedom of establishment.