This paper replicates a test performed by Burgstahler and Dichev (1997), which identifies a kink in the frequency distribution of earnings for companies listed on American stock exchanges. Their claim, that the kink is evidence of earnings management, has however been dismissed as a methodical consequence. To address this concern, this paper not only replicates the test in general, but also performs tests on a split sample, where founding family-owned companies are separated from the others, since earlier research has shown that founding family ownership is correlated with less earnings management. The results are in line with the findings of Burgstahler and Dichev, with a significant kink in the frequency distribution in the general test. The findings also show that the significance of the kink increases in the non-family-owned sample, while it disappears in the family-owned sample.

This report is part of an Bachelor of Science work in forestry, conducted for the community of Borås, Sweden. In order to create a forest management plan for the area of Hestra, a survey was conducted. People living in the area were given the opportunity to reply to the survey. The questions in the survey are both personal and forestry-related. The aim is to reach out to the different categories of people when it comes to age, living and the different aspects of visiting the woods.

Kartläggning av de inställningar som finns hos förvaltningsfastighetsföretag med anledning av införandet av IAS 40 samt praxis. Intervjuade företag: Brinonva, Castellum, Heba, Kungsleden och Akelius..

Studier som berör ämnet hur fysisk aktivitet påverkar det psykiska välbefinnandet hos äldre är något som berör alla. Fysisk aktivitet har i tidigare forskning visat sig påverka båda den fysiska och psykiska hälsan positivt. Mycket forskning är gjord på området, dock är de äldre underrepresenterade som målgrupp inom området. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka i vilken utsträckning fysisk aktivitet påverkar det psykiska välbefinnandet, med inriktning självkänsla och fysisk självuppfattning, hos äldre. Undersökningen innefattade en experimentell undersökningsmetod med en randominiserad, kontrollerad design.

Title: Management control of facility efficiency in municipalities - A case study of Halmstad municipalityLevel: BachelorSeminar date: 2012-05-31Authors: Markus Nilsson & Sara MattssonAdvisor: Sven-Ola CarlssonKey words: Control management in municipality, facility efficiency, management by objectives, internal rents and incentivesBackground: The public sector owns and manages a large property portfolio and in the municipalities, the properties are always a big cost item. Because of the outside world changes and the public interest, the properties should be used as efficiently as possible.Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how control management of facilities looks like a municipality. The paper also seeks to explain how employees work to make the facilities more efficient in a municipality.Methodology: The authors use a qualitative method with open interviews.Theoretical perspectives: The choice of theory was made with the field of management control and facility efficiency in mind. The theory therefore includes management by objectives, internal rents and reward systems, motivation and communication within organizations.Empirical foundation: The organization has undergone a reorganization 2010/2011. There are no clear incentives to reduce facility costs.

I vår produktion har vi tagit fram ett system för order- och lagerhantering, med vikt på realtidsuppdateringar, åt en extern mottagare där infrastrukturen inte hängt med i företagets utveckling. Vi valde detta projekt i syfte att bredda våra kunskaper inom både programmering och projekthantering. Denna slutreflektion tar upp den förundersökning vi gjorde för att kunna besluta om vilka verktyg vi använde i utvecklingen, den tar även upp vårt sätt att hantera och planera projektet. Under projektet har vi arbetat med en egenutformad arbetsprocess vilken även beskrivs här. --- Our production has been to design a system for ordering and supply management with emphasis on realtime updates to an external recipient, where the infrastructure has not kept pace with the development of the company. We chose this project in order to broaden our knowledge in both programming and project management. This text brings up the investigation we made to decide which tools to use in the development, it also brings up the way we managed and planned our project. During the project we have worked with a self-designed software development process which is also described here..

Uppsatsen syftar till att studera hur verksamhetsstyrningen på fyra utvalda företag ser ut i goda och dåliga tider. Vi har använt oss av ett kvalitativt angreppssätt genom ställda enkätfrågor till chefer samt en chefsrekryterare. Angreppsättet är även abduktivt då vi växlar mellan empiri och teorier. De utvalda företagen är placerade i Brandingers modell över planeringssituationer för att sprida dem enligt kriterierna "föränderliga affärsförutsättningar" och "lätthet att förändras". Vi har kommit fram till ett antal hypoteser som visar på tendenser att mer förändringsbenägna företag förändrar sin verksamhetsstyrning i större utsträckning.

The management of information is one of the key aspects within a successful andefficient product development process, particularly regarding complex products.Scania CV AB is at the moment developing a new IT-system, OAS, which aims tomanage the company?s product data. With this as a background, the purpose of thismaster thesis is to identify the cross-functional user needs within Scania?s organizationconcerning product data and the management around it.To fulfill the purpose, an empirical study consisting of 40 personal interviews with 50representatives from different functions within Scania?s organization was carriedthrough. The empirical data was then analyzed focusing on identifying thecross-functional needs and issues.The study points out that there is a big potential regarding improvement among themanagement of product data.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.

It is now increasingly common for organisations to work actively with HR issues. Furthermore, it is a constant top priority for organisations to remain profitable. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether so called soft HR values, as manager?s communication skills, has an actual impact on hard values in terms of costs for the organisation. Leadership is largely characterised by emotional communication, which together with personnel costs were the main focus of the research.

Syftet med denna undersökning är att identifiera, utifrån leverantörens synvinkel, lämpliga förändringar i processer som leder till reducering av slöseri i byggprojekt. Därefter vill vi ta fram en referensram för hur Supply Chain Management bör utformas och styras för att genomföra förbättringar inom de identifierade förändringsområdena.Uppsatsen bygger på en kvalitativ fallstudie av en materialleverantör i branschen, samt en vetenskaplig rapport inriktad på slöseri inom byggprojekt. Fallstudien baseras på material från interjuver och observationer. Både byggbranschen och fallföretaget studerades utifrån utvalda teorier om slöseri och värdeskapande samt Supply Chain Management.Den teoretiska tyngden ligger på Supply Chain och Supply Chain Management. Därefter användes teorier för slöseri och värdeskapande samt vilka beståndsdelar och hur man ska analysera de olika beståndsdelarna.

Umeå University currently uses two Course Management System, Moodle and Sakai (Cambro). Both Moodle and Sakai are based on open source code and are today the two more popular choices among Swedish Universities. They both have different strengths and weaknesses both from a technical perspective and a user perspective. This can create problems for a course responsible/teacher when it comes to planning the course structure at a distance course but also when planning the course structure on a campus course that uses a Course Management System. With this as my starting point my formulations of questions become:How do the Course Management Systems that Umeå University uses differs, both from a technical perspective and user perspective?What possibilities is there in the Course Management Systems to use a different Course Structure?Is there a noticeable difference on the view of Course Management System of teachers and students at different departments?The purpose with my essay is to create a basis that course responsible/teacher can use to plan the course structure.

Syftet med denna studie inom den svenska dagligvaruhandeln är att studera vilken attityd konsumenter har och varför, när de värderar utbudet av EVM och LVM i butiken. Jag ville ta reda på vilka attibut och känslomässiga värden det är som påverkar konsumenten när, hon/han i sitt medvetnade positionerar EVM och LVM i förhållande till varandra. Eftersom problemområdet utgör en kunskapslucka inom Category Management litteraturen valde jag en explorativ inriktning. Genom den kvalitativa metodens djupintervjuer sökte jag uppnå en förståelse för problemområdet. det som farmkom i studien var att om man inom Category Management säger sig ha konsumenten i fokus så måste butikens varumärkesportföljen ses över.

Because of the globalization of society, English as a foreign language (EFL) has become easier to access through internet and outside school English activities, so called ?extramural English activities? (EEA). Previous research indicates a positive relation between pupils? EFL vocabulary development and EEA (Sundqvist, 2009). This development may influence teachers? lesson planning, because of pupils? wide span of interests and the resulting different levels of EFL vocabulary.

Over a long period of time, there has been a rich debate in the academic and financial world if active management can generate an excess return. Many experts say that the current active management strategies is nothing more than a money grab that produces large gains, for banks and investment firms, through high management fees while producing no excess value for the individuals buying their service. In short, an effective market makes it almost impossible for fund managers to produce value for their clients in the long run.No argument has only one side though, other experts say that active management has a role to play because not all investors are rational. This irrationality can lead to mispricing on financial assets in the marketplace and in turn lead to an ineffective market where active management can fill a much needed role. The purpose of this study is therefore to see if active management strategies can create a higher risk adjusted return, taking management fees into consideration, during times of high volatility when the uncertainty is at its peak.