The insurance industryis challengedby major changesthrough internationalizationand thusgrowingcompetitionwithmore optionsand greater availabilityfor customers.Solvency II, a new regulatoryframework and anew standard forinsurance companies,is therefore implemented in a steptowardsa more competitive Europeaninsurancemarket. Solvency II will result in extensive structural changes for many insurance companies. Newstandards andinternal models must also be implemented by the companies. Solvency IIhasa tightening effect on thesolvency capital requirements forinsurance companies. At the same time it also leads tomajor changesandincreased demandon risk management andinternal control, alongside with demands fordisclosure of informationto the market.

Hyresbostadsfonder är en ny placeringsform i Sverige som erbjuder privatpersoner, företag och institutioner att äga hyresfastigheter och erhålla avkastning från förvaltningsöverskott och värdeökning. I denna studie jämförs aktie- och obligationsfonder med en simulerad hyresbostadsfond ur ett risk kontra avkastningsperspektiv. Fonden baseras på data över den svenska fastighetsmarknaden från Svenskt Fastighetsindex och Investment Property Database, därför att placeringsformen är ny och det råder brist på historisk data från verkliga aktörer.Målet med studien är att besvara om hyresbostadsfonder är ett konkurrenskraftigt alternativ till aktie- och obligationsfonder. Utöver finansiella jämförelser redogör författarna eventuella dolda risker och nackdelar med placeringsformen.Resultatet från studien visar att hyresbostadsfonden har presterat bättre än både aktie- och obligationsfonderna under perioden 1988-2008. Bidragande faktorer till denna utveckling har identifierats och redovisats.

Recently, the selections of ethical funds are increased; at the same time investors with social and moral preferences have increased in the capital market. There are currently debates on whether ethical funds perform better or worse than funds without ethical criteria. This also involves a vivid discussion on whether investors know about the consequences of investing in ethical funds. Therefore, this study involves theories about the rationality and decision theory, in addition to what mainly control the investment decisions. The study also discusses portfolio theory since this is one of the underlying theories behind fund management and its development.The purpose of this study is to explain if ethical limitations in the selection of securities affect Risk and return in the fund portfolio.

All companies face risk in their daily business. Internationalised companies tend to experience higher risk due to for example unfamiliar business environment than companies that act only on the national market. Estonia became independent as late as in 1991 and is therefore a new interesting market for many companies in neighbouring countries like Sweden. Risks that are most apparent for an internationalised company are political risk, currency risk, capital and interest rate risk, business risk and credit risk. Our intention of this study was to find out how Swedish companies acting on the Estonian market faced the different risks when entering the Estonian market and how they value the risks today.

The aim of this study is to describe young people?s experiences returning home after beinginstitutionalized for over two years. The young people in this study describe their feelingsregarding their return home which involves reuniting with their families, their friends andstarting school. The study is conducted through five semi-structured using qualitativeindividual interviews with two boys and three girls. The theoretical points of departure areconcepts from the Symbolic interactionism and the Bioecology model of human development.The results of the study show that reunion with families is not easily accomplished by theadolescents and returning home is likely to be very stressful.

The National Property Board (SFV) has been appointed by the Swedish government to administer all property of cultural value owned by the Swedes collectively. The commission includes maintaining the soul and character of each individual building, to adapt these buildings to present needs and requirements, and furthermore making them available to the public. The return on equity demanded by the government is based on the CAPM used within the real estate industry. The theoretical assumption that organizations are either function-driven or pay-driven will serve as a starting point, after which SFV will be defined as a function-driven organization with a pay-formed management control system. This paper aims to examine how applying a pay-formed management control system will affect a function-driven organization.

Purpose: To examine how IR-related press releases affect share price for stock companies, and to explore how said companies practice Investor Relations.Methods: The study was conducted using an event study as well as e-interviews. The event study has a quantitative deductive research approach where the market model is used for calculating the abnormal return based on press releases. The e-interviews have a qualitative research approach and follow a semi structured interview guide. The study includes all listed stock companies within the Swedish construction industry and includes press releases from the last decade.Theory: The study is based on the efficient market hypothesis and its semi strong form, theories within Investor Relations and previous research.Results: The event study shows a significant negative abnormal return during a four day period starting the day after the press release event. The negative abnormal return could derive from investor relations being used by companies as damage control, or that the investors? expectations are too high as a result of IR.

Finansiella mått har traditionellt sett använts som indikator på värde. Behovet att inkludera fler dimensioner av värde har resulterat i verktyget Social Return on Investment (SROI), vilket uttrycker sociala och miljömässiga investeringar i monetära termer. SROI är under utveckling och det finns olika perspektiv på användningsområden. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka positiva och negativa aspekter med SROI, relaterat till intern styrning samt extern kommunikation. Undersökningen utgjordes av tre metoder för datainsamling.

Förekomsten av dolda indexfonder har flitigt diskuterats i media den senaste tiden. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur aktivt förvaltade svenska aktivt förvaltade aktiefonder verkligen är. Detta ska genomföras genom att titta på tre olika aktivitetsmått vilka är active share, aktiv risk och omsättningshastighet. Tidsperioden för denna studie sträcker sig mellan åren 2012-2014. I undersökningen granskas sexton Sverigefonder.

This paper examines if trading suspensions on Nasdaq OMX Nordic - Stockholm work as a contributing factor in creating a secure trading. This has been made through an event study and examination of abnormal returns. Our results for plus tick suspensions indicate that suspensions fulfill their purpose in creating a more secure trading since the trend of abnormal return we observe prior to a suspension is disrupted. Thus, the suspension is warranted. The conclusion is that the market cannot be completely safe; as the law and practice is structured today an abnormal return is inevitable.

In this paper the effect of capital structure on profitability has been investigated among Swedish companies. The essay intends to examine how the relationship between debt and profitability appear among Swedish companies and if the relationship differs between industries. The purpose is to find out how debt affects the profitability of Swedish companies.A quantitative approach has been applied. The selection was made among companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, which resulted in a sample of 207 companies. Several regression analyzes has been formed, based on the independent variable debt-ratio and the dependent variables profit margin, pre-tax profit margin, operating margin, return on assets and return on equity.

When constructing a road the risk of emission of substances from the used materials to the surrounding environment has to be evaluated. The aim of this study is to present a proposal for how to evaluate the risk of contamination as a result of emission from the materials in a road construction. The study is based on literature studies, an inventory and a questionnaire that examines how experts in governmental agencies, industries and universities evaluate the risk of contamination. The inventory indicates that guidelines for evaluating the risk of emission from secondary materials in a road construction do not exist. The conclusions from the questionnaire are: that there is no common way to evaluate the risk of contamination as a result of emission from materials in the road construction, there is no uniform interpretation of the terms "minor" and "significant" risk of contamination and that the evaluation is subjective.

The purpose of this Bachelor Thesis is to investigate whether the introduction of IFRS, and in particular IAS 40 regarding fair value accounting of investment property, has lead to increased financial risk for Swedish real estate companies. Financial risk is measured using several financial risk ratios during the period 2000-2009, effectively covering the period before and after the introduction in 2005. The financial risk is found to actually have decreased significantly in comparison with the control group. The relative decrease supports the notion of a factor unique to the real estate companies at least partially driving the change, possibly IAS 40. However, this change is, due to the statistic method employed, only an indication of the direction of change, and consequently interpretations of the magnitude of change cannot be made.

This paper is a study how students at a high school in Falun, Sweden, estimates theirperformance in an upcoming math test which is then compared with the actual grade thestudent performed. The students who participated also answered questions related to ?risksituations? to examine whether there is a correlation between how students estimate theirperformance in the context and their risk behavior, and if the students act like economicmodels assume. In agreement with previous studies, the boys in the survey tended to beoverconfident in their performance. The girls in the study were neither over- norunderconfident in her performance and no significant difference in the estimation of one'sperformance between the sexes could be proven.

Optimizing energy systems is, in Sweden, as in many other countries, of growing interest. District heating systems are no exception. In 2012, 285 out of 290 municipals in Sweden had district heating in use and the majority of these systems have a higher return temperature than that which is possible with an error-free substation of day current technology. To, when possible, lower the return temperature is a way of increasing the effectiveness of the district heating system.This study means to investigate, through simulations and calculations, how big of a reduction in production cost a lower temperature in the city of Ystad?s district heating system would correspond to.