PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the companies on Nasdaq OMXS Large and Mid Cap to see if there are interesting patterns regarding their WACC assumptions, used when performing impairment tests on goodwill, during 2007-2009. If so, can we explain these patterns? MethodWe have gathered information about the WACC assumptions presented in the annual reports of the 133 companies that were listed on OMXS Large and Mid Cap during the spring of 2011. To complement this quantitative information we have also conducted an interview with Peter Malmqvist and contacted eight of the companies that were in the study.ConclusionWe can conclude that not all companies present their WACC assumptions in the annual report, even though IAS 36 states that this should be done. Of the 45 companies that were included in our study, eight had lowered their WACC during 2008 and increased it in 2009.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the conflict of interest between shareholders, life insurance companies and insurers in stock life insurance companies operated on a mutual basis from an agency-theoretic perspective. Further, this thesis aims to explore from an ownership-theoretical perspective, why this conflict of interest exist. A qualitative research has been performed and the empirical data is foremost based on interviews with persons from the life insurance industry and public prints. The study concludes that the stock life insurance company operated on a mutual basis has two principals whose interests are in conflict. History has shown that stockowners? interests have been prioritized on the expense of the insurers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish insurance companies communicate corporal social responsibility (CSR). We used two methods for approaching the purpose. At first we approached a quantitative content analysis to investigate in which ways the companies communicated on their websites. In the second part of the study we used qualitative textual analysis to study two companies sustainable reports. The theoretical framework of the study is based on theories of CSR and how to communicate it.

Background: It is today common for companies to provide some sort of incentive for CEO's and senior management positions to motivate, retain and benefit employees within a company. This is in order to drive the goals of the CEO and management in the direction that is desired by the owner. Currently, the Swedish centre-right government has forbidden the use of such variable pay within state-owned companies. There are two different attitudes to variable pay, one that is in favour and one that rejects it. However most people agree on the fact that a well-functioning incentive scheme can be of great strategic importance for a company.Approach: has variable pay to CEO's had any effect on the company's profitability.Aim: the aim of the study is to compare companies who use variable pay to CEO's with companies that do not in relation to their profitability in terms of profit margins, yearly performance, returns on total capital and returns on equity.Method: the study uses a quantitative approach.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to examine the importance of public libraries for individuals in their everyday life and to study the differences in views between the individuals. Questions posed in this study are: What do public libraries mean to individuals? Which differences between individuals views of the public library are to be found? What is the reason for differences to occur? The analysis is based upon qualitative interviews with six persons, four women and two men between 31 and 55 years of age. The theoretical starting points are Anderson and Skot-Hansens theory of four different roles of public libraries and Bourdieus theory of lifestyle. The study acts on a hermeneutic attitude.

Public procurement stands for a substantial part of the total food consumption in Sweden. The majority of the procured food is today imported and according to market trends it?s intended to stay that way. Imported food is favoured for locally produced due to price pressure. Consequently domestic pork farmers have declined by 25 percent during the last twenty years.

Previous research analyzing information and communication effects regarding high-involvement purchases has so far concerned communication length and the use of salient attributes. Studies investigating the effects of communication on a word-level is however limited. For a high-involvement purchase like an apartment the need for information is vital in the customers purchase decision. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether the communication in the prospectus varies based on sales success. The study connects research in information search, high-involvement purchases, communication length and information vividness.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine seven public librarians? attitudes towards manga as a new kind of literature in public libraries. Manga is an art form, originally from Japan, but in recent years manga has become very popular in the Western societies. The main issue of this thesis is how the librarians? look at manga and what they think about manga.

In the light of some company scandals the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance, the Code, was introduced in the year of 2004 to reinforce confidence in how Swedish listed companies are managed. As many of the other European codes of corporate governance, the Swedish Code is based on the principle of ?comply or explain?. The need for corporate governance regulation arises from the inherent conflict of interest between owners and managers. This conflict is limited in companies controlled by a family in contrast to companies that lack a strong owner.

The aim of this study is to examine how teenage boysperceive the public library. How do they utilize the resourcesprovided by a public library? What are their thoughtsregarding what a public library offers in terms of services toits visitors? Four qualitative interviews with teenage boyswere done for the purpose of this study. The study showsthat these individuals perceive the library as a resource foryoungsters, women, elders or people with disabilities orspecial needs, but not themselves..

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..

AbstractEffective January 1, 2005 publicly listed companies were obliged to adopt a new financialreporting standard (IFRS/IAS). The objective of IFRS/IAS was to increase transparency andcomparability in financial reports between companies. The authors have chosen to write aboutIAS 40 where the accounting treatment for investment property and related disclosurerequirements are regulated.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate potential effects of valuation of investmentproperty at fair market value for real estate companies at times when market price decreasesand to investigate what an acceptable difference for the valuation could be.To fulfil this purpose the authors have chosen a qualitative method interviewing accountants,property analysts and a credit analyst to obtain a deeper understanding of the problem. Basedata for the thesis have been collected during meetings, telephone interviews and e-mails.Additional data was collected from public available sources such as the internet, relevantprofessional magazines and professional newsletters. The authors have designed a modelshowing how Income and Balance Sheet statements are influenced by changed valuation ofinvestment property.

AbstractTitle: Crowdsourcing ? What motivates students to participate? Level: Bachelor thesis, 15 credits. Authors: Sara O?ra?s & Tomas PetterssonSupervisor: Martin AmsteusDate: June 2013 Introduction: More and more companies realize the importance of using external resources to generate the best possible developmental outcomes for their particular business. The probability that all the smart people work for your company is not very big, therefore it is wise to use the public and take advantage knowledge, ideas and expertise of the public. Crowdsourcing is when a group of people is challenged to solve a problem for a company or to generate solutions and innovative ideas in exchange for compensation. A key issue is the question of what motivates individuals to participate in crowdsourcing.

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.

The question of the mandatory audits be or not be has been investigated thoroughly in recent years. Theresult is that the audit obligation in all likelihood will be voluntary for 96 percent of all of Sweden´slimited companies in the summer of 2010. The new draft law gives the accountant the opportunity towork both as an accountant and consultant. The investigation in this script works with the question"Which services the owner-managed companies, which in future not will be forced to audit, demandfrom an accounting firm in the suspension of the mandatory audit?" This will take the investigation outby a quantitative study through questionnaires distributed to 40 limited companies.