The executives of a firm possess considerable influence over a company's financial reports. The numbers can be adjusted in a favorable direction by engaging in Earnings Management, which harms the reliability of the financial reporting. Previous research suggests that Earnings Management can differ between genders. In recent years the debate about a woman's role in the business world has received generous attention in media. Moreover, the presence of women in leading positions has become a relevant issue for firms.

The purpose of this study was to examine earnings quality and earnings management in U.S. ex-post failed firms. A quantitative study was made, using the Modified Jones Model, to identify abnormal accruals up to six years before bankruptcy. 9 003 continuing firms and 187 bankrupt firms, active sometime between 1990 and 2010, were examined. The study concludes that U.S.

The purpose of this study is to provide a longitudinal examination, within grocery retailing, of four marketing tools and their impact on enhancing customer loyalty. The study examines whether the relationship between the four marketing tools and customer satisfaction has a positive effect on attitude and behavior loyalty. The findings from this study show that the marketing tools have not helped enhancing loyalty between 2004 and 2007. Between these years, service quality has the most affect on loyalty. Self-scanning as an effective marketing tool could be questioned, the relation in this study is not supported.

The main aim of this study is to examine the development policies of Sweden and the European Union from a postcolonial perspective. Sweden and the European Union are increasingly coming to be viewed as normative powers rather than military powers. So how does the colonial past of the western societies affect the policies of today? Are there any signs of the power structures of the past, and if so, how are these power structures manifested in the development policies of today? Since both Sweden and the European Union have come to be viewed as normative powers they are compared with each other to highlight their similarities and differences. The results of the study shows that both Sweden and the European Union can be seen as carriers of western values and interests.

The social community is structured around data, a lot of that data is stored in different types of databases. The meaning of this essay is to develop an interactive tool that will change the way database visualization is done, and also to research in which fields a tool of this type can be used. With the help of different methods we discovered areas where it could be of use, such as; presentation of a database, development and documentation of a database. The primary goal of the prototype was to make viewing of database structures easier, even people without prior database knowledge should be able to understand the structure. During the development we used prototypes.

The structural rationalization of rural firms in Sweden has led to many new creative ways of developing companies. The agriculture sector is characterized by the need of capital in form of buildings, labor and inventory. The rationalization process has led to free capacity in rural firms when new technology make buildings and inventory not longer necessary for the production process. To get a better cost coverage this free capacity can be used to start-up new business areas that help the rural firm to growth.The study aims to identify factors that motives entrepreneurs in rural firms to develop new business areas. The purpose is also to analyze driving forces that lies behind development of rural firms and the forces that support or not support development in rural firms.The study is built upon five cases that all can be categorized as firms with different size and orientation.

The Swedish Forestry Research Institute implemented an experiment which began in the year 1979 in a by moose browse damaged area in Sweden. An audit in 2014 of the moose browsing study called ?Furudalsförsöket? is the underlay to the study's results. By comparing Scots pine stands development in relation to known damage obtained thereby gives the understanding of how browsing affects the short and long terms impacts of Scots pines quality and volume production. The results of this year's audit reveal that the standing volumes in the undamaged and damaged areas represent a significant difference. The number and volume of the ingrown trees constitute a larger proportion of the areas that have been heavily browsed. It also proves once again that that all damage classes had a downward trend, which means that the damage is concealed with time.

Many of today?s societies are built on established financial structures that are controlled by states and central banks. These structures are built on a clear perception of economic systems as established but invisible institutionalised concepts that are operated by millions of organizations worldwide. An idea of counteracting against centralized economies by introducing a currency that no state or bank controlled was developed in the beginning of the 20th century. In 2008 the idea was realised by the introduction of Bitcoin, which is a digital currency and transaction system without any centralized emitter or controlling organ.

This thesis is a case study that analyses the seaside resort Ystad Sandskog and its private architecture between 1850 and 1940. The multitude is evident in the area's architecture. The architectural development is analysed with the use of a social historical perspective, including class and hegemony. Regional as well as national affective factors are used in the analysis. Aside from the social aspects, architectural ideological developments, general development of the seaside resort and the area's committee with its prescriptions are all factors considered.By dividing the development in four different chronological phases, which all represents a certain architectural expression exemplified by a selection of buildings and the social class that it accompanies, a culmination in the architectural structural development of Sandskogen is shown.

I have chosen to write this essay on language development in a preparatory class due to the fact that I live in a city where diversity is big and newly arrived students from different countries are constantly increasing in schools. My study has been made in a preparatory class in Södertälje. The National Agency for Education highlights the deficiencies in preparatory classes and believes that education is not adapted to each student's knowledge and maturity and it is therefore difficult for students to reach the goals in school. According to studies by the National Agency for Education, it appears that many newly arrived students do not recieve study guide in their native language, a resource that they are entitled to. Teachers and principals do not take charge of  students knowledge from previous school attendance in their home countries such as mathematics, history and other subjects.

In this thesis the survival and development of a yearly recurring event will be examined. The purpose of this work is to examine how the festival Stockholm Pride has developed and to find out what underlying factors and conditions that lays behind the development. Also being examined is how the event affects Stockholm city?s tourism industry. To be able to fulfill the purpose of the thesis a qualitative research has been used and two persons with allot of knowledge about Stockholm Pride and Stockholm?s tourism industry has been interviewed.

This thesis investigates the Designated Operational Entities (DOEs) under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The DOEs serves as independent third-party auditors with the task of validating, verifying and certifying projects under the CDM. The majority of the DOEs are private entities. This is in line with the CDM objective of including the private sector in the climate change combat. The introduction of private entities in the role of DOEs can be questioned from a legitimacy point of view, but is corresponding to a development in international environmental governance where private actors are increasingly involved in governance arrangements.The thesis concludes the DOEs to be a form of public-private partnership and investigates the legitimacy of this form.

Aim: By studying the evolution of the market for package holidays over time we hope to get an understanding of the trends that have characterized the market. By doing so, we can get an idea of where the market is moving towards the future. This knowledge is essential for market participants to establish appropriate strategies that follow market trends.Method: We have used qualitative interviews with people involved in the charter industry.Result & Conclusions: The market is characterized by an increase in Internet orientation, where the travel directory and the physical travel agents are becoming less important. The understanding of climate impacts of travel has increased. More people of the third-generation buy package travels and countries in North Africa and Asia are growing in popularity.We believe the market in the coming years will be characterized by lower prices and lower quality.

At SLU, Divison of Reproduction, Dept of Clinical Science, there is an ongoing project on the development and evaluation of new methods for the assessment of stallion semen quality. This EEF-study, which is a part of that larger project, has focused on the effects on motility and fertility of stallion semen of two different extenders and selection. Both an objective method and a subjective method for analysis have been used and compared in the study. The increase in the use of artificial insemination with cooled semen in Swedish horse breeding over the last decade is thought to play a part in declining foaling rates (Kareskoski et al, 2006, Kuisma et al, 2006). This calls for better evaluation methods of semen quality since cooling and transportation put higher demands on semen quality in order to maintain fertility (Aurich, 2005).

Eco-design is all about improving products environmental performances throughout the products lifecycle by including the environmental aspect into the product development process. There are a large number of different tools that can be used for this, but there are several factors that can affect which one will be the best to use. Some tools for eco-design takes comprehensive studies and can only be performed by experts, while some tools can be used more time- and cost efficient and with basic knowledge. The choice of tool should be based on the company?s situation.This report describes the research of how the design and furniture company Blå Station could include a tool for eco-design in their product development process.