Background: Goodwill has always been frequently discussed and a lot of scientific research has been done regarding factors that affect companies? impairment of goodwill. Previous research has concluded that companies reporting low results are more prone to do impairments of goodwill than companies reporting better results which possibly can be seen as a form of earnings management.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to examine if goodwill impairments occur to a greater extent among Swedish listed companies when the companies are reporting lower earnings. A subsidiary purpose is to see if there has been an improvement since 2008 regarding the size of reported goodwill in comparison to equity in the years 2009-2011. And to analyze the development of the companies goodwill impairments in relation to reported goodwill.Methodology: Three quantitative studies have been performed for the years 2009-2011 where all the listed companies on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm have been included.

Purpose;the purpose of this study is to investigate whether a product ad observer's purchase intention, perception of product quality, brand image perception and price perception is affected depending on the size of the text that was used in the ad to communicate the product price.Methodology;the study was conducted using a quantitative method through a survey. The implementation of the study has been done by using three variants of the same suit ad where the three different variants have been manipulated on the text size on the price information, by reduced / increased the text size. The implementation has also been carried out using two different ad sender, with three ads for each sender.Result and conclusion;the text size on the price of a product ad mainly affects the observer's price and quality perception, where the small text will have a positive effect on quality perception and a negative effect on the quality perception. Even brand image changes depending on the text size where small text will have a positive effect..

Resultaten visar på att abnormal earnings model är en mertillförlitlig modell i förhållande till dividend growth model. Dettafrämst då abnormal earnings model grundar sig på mer tillgängliginformation samt att tillväxträntan i dividend growth model harkonstaterats vara orealistiskt hög. Analytikers prognoser tenderaratt vara optimistiska i början av undersökningsperioden 2000-2002. Perioden 2003-2007 präglas mer av pessimistiskavinstprognoser. Marknadens riskpremie fluktuerar mindre underperioden 2005-2007, vilket kan förklaras utav införandet av IFRSår 2005..

This is a study to see the relationship between earnings per share and dividends during a period of both boom and depression. The study will focus on companies listed on Stockholm stock exchange and see if they follow theories from the past and if the dividend is smooth over times with a fluctuant economy. To see this we had this problem:Is it a relationship between earnings per share and dividend during a fluctuant economy, also if there is a difference between the different Caps on Stockholm stock exchange?We studied 163 stocks of the 293 listed stock on Stockholm stock exchange during a period of 8 years. The study is focused on the time period between year 2005 and year 2012.

Today, there are a number of different models and methods used to estimate the equity value of a company. A common tool for valuating stock prices is the usage of different multiples. This is a method used to determine the value of a company, by examining and comparing the financial ratios of relevant peer groups. The disadvantage with this method is that it does not take all the important aspects, such as risk, investments and capital structure, into consideration. However, this study investigates if the key value, called discounted cash flow (DCF), can be integrated with the valuation of the multiples.

SammandragProblematisering: Tilla?ter kvinnliga revisorer en la?gre ma?ngd av earnings management a?n sina manliga kollegor? En va?ldigt liten del av den befintliga kvantitativa forskningen inom earnings management har fokuserat pa? om det finns skillnader i hur kvinnliga respektive manliga revisorer va?ljer att begra?nsa earnings management i ett fo?retag. Dessa underso?kningar har gjorts i la?nder som enligt World Economic Forum (WEF, 2013) rankas bland de ho?gsta i va?rlden na?r det kom- mer till ja?msta?lldhet, och det finns da?rfo?r en osa?kerhet ifall deras empiriska resultat kan appliceras i andra la?nder. A? andra sidan finns det forskning som tyder pa? att sociala strukturer sa?som ja?m- sta?lldhet pa?verkar inte bara skillnaderna mellan kvinnor och ma?n utan ocksa? synen pa? resultat manipulering.

SammandragProblematisering: Tilla?ter kvinnliga revisorer en la?gre ma?ngd av earnings management a?n sina manliga kollegor? En va?ldigt liten del av den befintliga kvantitativa forskningen inom earnings management har fokuserat pa? om det finns skillnader i hur kvinnliga respektive manliga revisorer va?ljer att begra?nsa earnings management i ett fo?retag. Dessa underso?kningar har gjorts i la?nder som enligt World Economic Forum (WEF, 2013) rankas bland de ho?gsta i va?rlden na?r det kom- mer till ja?msta?lldhet, och det finns da?rfo?r en osa?kerhet ifall deras empiriska resultat kan appliceras i andra la?nder. A? andra sidan finns det forskning som tyder pa? att sociala strukturer sa?som ja?m- sta?lldhet pa?verkar inte bara skillnaderna mellan kvinnor och ma?n utan ocksa? synen pa? resultat manipulering.

It is easy to see that oil has a big part in our economy, by looking at the repeated news from the media and at the stock market, where they follow the oil price very closely. Behavioral finance is about investors making small or big mistakes in the stock market. Behavioral finance describes the importance of understanding your own faults, as well as others investor?s faults. Behavioral finance emphases the importance of not assuming that the financial market is a flawless environment, but to understand the psychology behind investment decisions.

Bakgrund och problem: Årsredovisningar har till syfte att redovisa information om företagets finansiella situation. Om det finns felaktigheter i denna information påverkar det företagets intressenter. Idag finns det möjligheter för vd:n att påverka resultatet via olika tekniker i den riktning som han/hon anser är lämplig.  Det kan finnas olika anledningar bakom dessa aktioner och en som uppmärksammats är att vd:ns relation till styrelsen kan ha inverkan på användandet av earnings management. I denna studie har vår avsikt varit att undersöka om det finns något samband i användandet av earnings management och vd:ns inblandning i styrelsen.Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka om earnings management förekommer i större omfattning i företag där vd:n är invald i styrelsen än företag där vd:n inte är med i styrelsenMetod: Studien har använts sig av en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi, där utgångspunkten har varit en deduktiv forskningsansats. I insamlandet av data har vi använt oss av en metod som heter innehållsanalys.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Earnings Management (EM) and certain characteristics of management forecasts, among a sample of Swedish listed companies. The forecast characteristics studied are: 1) Forecast venue: How explicitly is the forecast presented? 2) Forecast precision: How detailed is the estimated number? 3) Forecast measure: Which measure(s) are forecasted? We use a sample of 68 annual management forecasts, obtained from year-end reports between the years 2007-2011. EM during the forecasted year (2008-2012) is estimated using the cross-sectional modified-Jones model. The forecast characteristics are then related to the degree of EM during the forecasted period.

SammandragProblematisering: Tilla?ter kvinnliga revisorer en la?gre ma?ngd av earnings management a?n sina manliga kollegor? En va?ldigt liten del av den befintliga kvantitativa forskningen inom earnings management har fokuserat pa? om det finns skillnader i hur kvinnliga respektive manliga revisorer va?ljer att begra?nsa earnings management i ett fo?retag. Dessa underso?kningar har gjorts i la?nder som enligt World Economic Forum (WEF, 2013) rankas bland de ho?gsta i va?rlden na?r det kom- mer till ja?msta?lldhet, och det finns da?rfo?r en osa?kerhet ifall deras empiriska resultat kan appliceras i andra la?nder. A? andra sidan finns det forskning som tyder pa? att sociala strukturer sa?som ja?m- sta?lldhet pa?verkar inte bara skillnaderna mellan kvinnor och ma?n utan ocksa? synen pa? resultat manipulering.

Ämnesord: Earnings management, loan loss provisions, konstaterad kreditförlust, Basel II,kapitaltäckning, bank, noterade, onoteradeBakgrund och problem: Justering av resultatposten loan loss provisions är ett vanligtförekommande verktyg för earnings management inom banksektorn. För att öka stabiliteten inombankväsendet så infördes kapitaltäckningsregleringarna Basel I år 1988 och år 2007 uppföljarenBasel II. Den senare antog en mer principbaserad roll och innebar en ökad kontroll och tillsyn avbanker. Det är därför intressant att studera huruvida Basel II har haft någon effekt på redovisningenskvalitet och därmed lett till reducerad earnings management.Syfte: Studiens övergripande syfte är att undersöka effekterna av genomförandet avkapitalregleringen Basel II på resultatposten loan loss provisions och earnings management inomdet svenska bankväsendet. Vidare studeras noterade samt onoterade banker för att utröna om detföreligger en skillnad i dess sätt att hantera loan loss provisions.Metod: För att uppnå syftet med studien så har en kvantitativ metod tillämpats.

SammandragProblematisering: Tilla?ter kvinnliga revisorer en la?gre ma?ngd av earnings management a?n sina manliga kollegor? En va?ldigt liten del av den befintliga kvantitativa forskningen inom earnings management har fokuserat pa? om det finns skillnader i hur kvinnliga respektive manliga revisorer va?ljer att begra?nsa earnings management i ett fo?retag. Dessa underso?kningar har gjorts i la?nder som enligt World Economic Forum (WEF, 2013) rankas bland de ho?gsta i va?rlden na?r det kom- mer till ja?msta?lldhet, och det finns da?rfo?r en osa?kerhet ifall deras empiriska resultat kan appliceras i andra la?nder. A? andra sidan finns det forskning som tyder pa? att sociala strukturer sa?som ja?m- sta?lldhet pa?verkar inte bara skillnaderna mellan kvinnor och ma?n utan ocksa? synen pa? resultat manipulering.

The following essay investigates emission rights accounting. Presently there are several methods through which emission rights can be accounted for by companies. The rights can for instance be valued at fair value or nominal value and as marketable securities or intangible assets; due to a lack of consensus or clear standards companies use these or other accounting methods to value their rights. This essay investigates whether there is a relationship between the company?s choice of accounting method, the key ratio number of owned emission rights/total assets, the accounting firm used and the yearly result as a sign of earnings management.Through a quantitative study based on questioners and numbers from the annual reports three hypothesis are tested.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the occurrence of Cosmetic Earnings Management (CEM) among Swedish companies. CEM refers to the small upward rounding of reported net income to reach cognitive reference points. Important cognitive reference points are multiples of ten (N*10^x) of reported net income and rounding towards these has been documented in other markets around the world over the last 20 years. The occurrence of CEM on the Swedish market is studied using digital analysis, frequency testing and Benford's law. Firstly, reported net income of publicly traded companies between 1996 and 2010 is examined.