Abstract: Private equity used to be synonymous with tremendous yields and rates of return. However, the private equity market trembled in 2008, due to the financial meltdown caused by the worldwide credit crisis. Considering the current low number of exits within the private equity industry, the purpose of this thesis is to examine if there has been any change in how private equity firms control their portfolio companies since the inception of the crisis. One private equity company and two portfolio companies have been studied. The case study is prepared from interviews with senior directors in the portfolio company and investment managers in the private equity firm.

Goodwill accounting has for a long time been, and with the implementation of IFRS in 2005, has become an even bigger issue. Critics mean that reporting of goodwill impairments is subject to discretion that can be used by the managers. We have applied a study made by Carlin and Finch (2009) on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm during 2006-2012. Our study contains 50 of the 255 public companies at 2012-12-31. The purpose of the study is to investigate if companies use an opportunistic discount rate when testing for impairment in goodwill and if the relation between goodwill and net profit before taxes, goodwill intensity, is an incentive for opportunism.

Scania?s discount rate - the return requirement of investments - refers to Scania?s WACC or weighted average cost of capital. The capital markets return requirement on equity and the credit market interest cost of borrowing is weighted to become the single discount rate, the WACC. The purpose of this study is to investigate which asset pricing model of APT and CAPM Scania should use in their WACC calculations. The company now uses a group WACC of 11 percent which is used in all company levels.

This case study has its starting point in an unpublished study where the results showed that there is a conflict between the leadership and the employees in a private company. The conflict is identified as a result of the company leadership is steering for cost savings and efficiency The aim of this study is through analysis of  the open questions in a quantitative survey describe how the staffs  attitudes and culture is affecting the leadership of the organization. The ideological aspect is very clear and through the aspect of the structural differences between the public and private sector makes it possible to identify the staff?s social rules, ideology and group norms.  These are shown to be in conflict with the economical perspective of the private sector.

This study aims to build a deeper understanding on how shareholder value is created in Private Equity investments, especially during the holding period. The study is a qualitative study of the buyout of the access security company Bewator AB made by the Swedish Private Equity firm EQT in 2002. The buyout became highly successful due to various reasons. The study draws the conclusion, contrary to popular belief, that Private Equity firms create value through taking a long term view on business developing rather than being short term value destroyers. Incentive alignment is another important factor..

AbstractAuthors:Stefan Harrå and Magnus BjörkAdvisor: Markku PenttinenTitle: Accounting Consequences of the change in pension accounting Background to problem: When the revised IAS 19 comes into force January 1, 2013, it means that two of the three accounting principles for defined benefit pension plans are disappearing, including the corridor method. The corridor method has made it possible for companies to defer its actuarial gains and losses. Now that the corridor approach abolished then the unrecognized actuarial gains and losses immediately be covered by equity, which involves very large amounts of some companies. Why the amounts have grown so big is much because of the discount rate. The discount rate is a controversial parameter, and there is disagreement on how it should be fixed.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the accounting implications this will have for the company applied the corridor method, and if there is some parameters in the actuarial assumption that is more important than others.Methodology: The thesis has mainly been based on a qualitative research through qualitative interviews with a small sample that is affected by this change.

AbstractAuthors:Stefan Harrå and Magnus BjörkAdvisor: Markku PenttinenTitle: Accounting Consequences of the change in pension accounting Background to problem: When the revised IAS 19 comes into force January 1, 2013, it means that two of the three accounting principles for defined benefit pension plans are disappearing, including the corridor method. The corridor method has made it possible for companies to defer its actuarial gains and losses. Now that the corridor approach abolished then the unrecognized actuarial gains and losses immediately be covered by equity, which involves very large amounts of some companies. Why the amounts have grown so big is much because of the discount rate. The discount rate is a controversial parameter, and there is disagreement on how it should be fixed.Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine the accounting implications this will have for the company applied the corridor method, and if there is some parameters in the actuarial assumption that is more important than others.Methodology: The thesis has mainly been based on a qualitative research through qualitative interviews with a small sample that is affected by this change.

The purpose with this study has been, based on different public and private procurement conditions, to measure if there are any significant differences in the business relations between public- and private institutional kitchens. Furthermore, to observe what important influencing factors there are to maintain and develop a relationship between a producer and customer. The result of the analysis shows that there are important factors that influences on the trust in the relationship between a producer and customer. These factors are product- and service exchange, communication, strategic purchase and social exchange. In this examination we have showed that there are differences in the relationship between public- and private customers.

Venture capital firms and private equity firms have been the subject of much controversy in the last decade. During this period economies throughout the world have seen a steady increase of these types of firms as owners of companies. In Sweden this has certainly been the case and many argue that this trend will continue to grow stronger in the future. This trend is by many regarded as dangerous and as a threat to the ownership model that has characterized the Swedish economy for decades. Family ownership has been widely regarded as the most beneficial and responsible ownership model in Sweden.

The market communication in organisations is vital to manage the competition. Studies have shown the importance of market communication in both private and public organisations.Since the past decade market communication has been acknowledged as an instrument to provide the organisations target group with valid information.This thesis is a study about the differences in market communication between private and public organisations. To manage this we asked ourselves the question:?- What distinguish the market communication in a private respective a public organisation??We have done qualitative interviews to get the best result for our study. We have interviewed both types of organisations and our respondents have leading strategic position in their organisations.Our research highlights important differences between private and public organisations in matter of tactics in market communication.In conclusion the result shows a great difference in how an organization is managing their communicative strategies all depending on if it is a private owned company or a public organisation..

The aim of this study is to find out if there is any difference between how a state-owned company and a publicly listed private company communicate its sustainability performance in its sustainability report. It also aims to find out if the communication regarding sustainability has changed over time. The poll was conducted in two Swedish companies, Sveaskog AB and AB SCA, operating in the forestry industry and through a quantitative content analysis, the companies' sustainability reports from 2005 and 2010 were examined. To get a result, the reports has been examined by the GRI framework (Global Reporting Initiative) and an assessment of the communication was made based on a scale of 0-3. The results has been evaluated based on stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and the growing interest in CSR. The analyses found evidence that there is a link between the form of ownership of the company and how it communicates regarding sustainability.

pcSKOG-gård is a computerised manager plan for private forest owners, developed by the pcSKOG AB. The program is based on forest stand data, joined with a map of the forest and GIS-applications. The purpose is to offer a program for private forest owners managing the forest and with the possibility of updating the actual status of the forest. The company pcSKOG AB is the leading producer of programs for forest management and has developed the program since 1997. The program is currently the most common program used by private forest owners in Sweden. The aim of this thesis, leading to MSc in forestry, is to investigate the purpose of the private forest owners when purchasing the pcSKOG-gård. The thesis also studies how private forest owners use the program, what they use it for and how the private forest owners state that the program has achieved to fulfil their expectations. The thesis is also a market research concerning the knowledge and attitudes the private forest owners have about the program and associated services. The study material has been collected during two phases.

Our purpose in this paper is to examine if there is any profitability for a company with a factory in the timber industry to invest in a combined heat and power, CHP. Based on analysis and the results that the paper generates, we will give Derome AB a suggestion on how it is a profitable investment or not to installing in a CHP.By investing in a CHP plant, you can get a high efficiency, which means that companies can use their resources more effectively. The Swedish wood industry has by-products of production that can be used for combustion in their boiler which is an advantage.The essay is a qualitative study where we have a case company, Derome AB. In this company, we interviewed two employees who have knowledge in the study. They have helped us to provide information and data about their business.We chose to use the pay-off- and the net present value method, NPV, to see if there are profitable advantages for the investment.

The relatively new phenomenon of daily deals has had an amazing explosion of growth during recent years. The concept relies on offering deeply discounted products and services that a number of customers must buy in order to acquire this discounted service. Companies spend valuable resources on marketing to get customers but the effects of daily deals on the brand do not have empirical evidence. What is the customers' attitude towards companies that communicate through daily deals How is their intention to buy from that company affected This is what is the main purpose of this study. To examine how customers perceive a company, in terms of attitude toward the brand and buying intentions, when the company markets through daily deals compared to more traditional promotion.

The freedom of establishment is a fundamental right on the internal market which enables companies to take up and pursue activity in other member states, ?host states?, in a non discriminatory way. In situations where a company wishes to use the right to establish in a host state, complications will be discovered since the member states are applying different principles for deciding the nationality of a company. Since the Treaty of the Function of the European Union recognize both principles, and both of the legal areas company law and European international private law lack harmonization regarding companies wishing to perform such a transaction, the situation today brings the possibility that such a company could be covered by the legal system of several member states, or maybe no legal system at all.The Court of Justice of the European Union has through case law contributed to make the scope of the freedom of establishment a little bit clearer but there are still difficulties regarding situations when a company wishes to transfer its seat to another member state with a change of nationality. Today?s measures, for example the SE-company, is not enough to satisfy the companies wishing to transfer their seat to another member state.