Background: In newspaper articles, we can nowadays read headlines as"Stop the robbing!"and"They pay extra tax through rent". A column in Göteborgsposten describes enormous amounts of money, pouring between municipal companies. Numerous of local newspapers have started to pay attention to their municipal companies and the transfer of profits from municipal housing enterprises and electric power companies. What are upsetting these journalists then? Both Hyresgästföreningen (The Swedish tenants? association) and Boverket (The Swedish National Housing Board) indicate that the fiscal purpose of transactions within the group no longer is primary for municipalities.

The purpose of our essay is to investigate the trust in accountants. The method we used to investigate the trust was a survey and a questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was gathered from three different groups, Shareholders, lenders and tax authority. When we analysed the data we found out that the groups trust in accountants were neither strong nor weak. The results can be generalized on all the three groups because the observations were scattered around the means and we used random selection to collect the data.

According to Swedish tax legislation, investment funds are taxed differently depending on if the are Swedish or foreign. The difference between the investment funds lies within the taxation of received dividends and the opportunity to shift the liability of tax of received dividends on to the funds Shareholders. This measure is only available to Swedish funds. The question in this thesis is whether this difference is discriminatory against foreign investors and therefore constitutes a forbidden restriction against the free movement of capital stated in article 63 EUF Treaty.The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given several preliminary rulings on this type of legislation and its compatibility with the principle of free movement of capital. It is not compatible with the free movement according to the court.

Background and problem: Higher and other demands are made on management control systems in organizations which have a superior non-financial objective. Systembolaget, a state-owned company with monopoly to sell alcoholic beverages in Sweden, combines two main objectives which can be considered as conflicting, one financial target and one superior non-financial public welfare target. The research questions are focused on the translation of information through the organization?s levels and if the management control system makes it possible to run the organization according to both of the two main conflicting objectives.Purpose and Delimitations: To describe, analyze and evaluate how management control can be used in an organization, which is not profit maximizing and has both non-financial and financial objectives. The essay does not try to describe or draw generalized conclusions regarding general perspectives on Systembolaget?s assignment and objectives.Method: A qualitative and evaluative case study based on interviews with five employees at different levels in Systembolaget has been carried through.

According to Swedish tax legislation, investment funds are taxed differently depending on if the are Swedish or foreign. The difference between the investment funds lies within the taxation of received dividends and the opportunity to shift the liability of tax of received dividends on to the funds Shareholders. This measure is only available to Swedish funds. The question in this thesis is whether this difference is discriminatory against foreign investors and therefore constitutes a forbidden restriction against the free movement of capital stated in article 63 EUF Treaty.The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given several preliminary rulings on this type of legislation and its compatibility with the principle of free movement of capital. It is not compatible with the free movement according to the court.

Background: The board of directors is a key player in corporate governance. Their role is to ensure that the corporations are run with the interest of the Shareholders as the main focus. In the beginning of the 21st century, a survey was made about the confidence of the Swedish business community and in which criticism was directed to the board of directors. The boards were deemed inadequate in their function and were often solely composed by members with similar experiences and competence, therefore lacking in diversity. In order to improve the competence and work of the board of directors, the Swedish code of corporate governance was introduced and its recommendations comprehend the boards? size and composition.

This thesis discusses the validity of the Capital Protection Rules under the new Companies Act.The areas of particular interest and cause for debate focus on the advantages and disadvantages for creditors under the laws regarding minimum capital requirements, capital distributions, stock acquisitions, stock minimization, loan restrictions and forced liquidation.How could creditors receive better protection?What changes would have to be made to the Capital Protection Rules to provide better protection and what would be the consequences of these changes to the Shareholders, the government and the creditors.Could or should we model the Norwegian or American Judicial system in this situation?Included is an in depth report on the Swedish Capital Protection Rules outlining what they are, what they entail and what the reasoning was behind them. Also included are the EU equivalents and Norwegian and American Capital Protection Rules..

Companies today face more and more demands from society and stakeholders. It is no longer about just satisfying Shareholders, sales and making a profit. Consumers are becoming more aware of products effects and the consequences it has on humans, our environment and the generation ahead of us. NGO:s and society request that companies take responsibility and actions toward a more sustainable business. Many investors analyze companies? sustainability regarding social and environmental issues when it comes to choosing a company to invest in.

The main intention with this thesis is to investigate the relationship between dividends and investments. We hypothesize that firms may be forced to cut back on investments if dividends are not curtailed in times of poor annual earnings. According to contemporary theories, we argue that firms may be reluctant to cut back on dividends even when annual earnings decline and the level of investments will consequently be determined by the financial mobility of companies. The survey is carried out by means of a quantitative analysis, which includes all firms quoted on the exchange of Stockholm from 1980 through 2000. On the contrary of previous research, we conclude that even firms with high dividends can be forced to curtail investments if payouts to Shareholders are maintained or increased when companies are faced with a decline in annual earnings..

Annual reports are by many considered to be companies primary way to inform their world where the CEO's words are read most carefully by Shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to examine the design of the CEO's words in annual reports in light of the financial crisis in 2008. The study seeking explanations for change, similarities and differences in the various texts based on three themes which are results, future and confidence. In this qualitative study five CEO's words are explored by means of a discourse analysis, all from large Swedish industrial companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Some of the results shown is that the CEO tends to talk about the company's results in a self-serving manner and CEO speaks more aboutm the results before than after the crisis.

The purpose of this study is to examine the capital market reaction generated by layoff announcements. The study takes place in Sweden and tests 138 news concerning layoffs which are categorized according to a content analysis. They are divided as: positive or negative news. The layoffs are also divided into three subgroups with varying sizes: 0,98 percent or less, between 0,99 and 4,49 percent or 4,5 percent or larger. The study uses an event study method to measure the reaction of the capital market.

Annual reports are by many considered to be companies primary way to inform their world where the CEO's words are read most carefully by Shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to examine the design of the CEO's words in annual reports in light of the financial crisis in 2008. The study seeking explanations for change, similarities and differences in the various texts based on three themes which are results, future and confidence. In this qualitative study five CEO's words are explored by means of a discourse analysis, all from large Swedish industrial companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Some of the results shown is that the CEO tends to talk about the company's results in a self-serving manner and CEO speaks more aboutm the results before than after the crisis.

Annual reports are by many considered to be companies primary way to inform their world where the CEO's words are read most carefully by Shareholders. The purpose of this paper is to examine the design of the CEO's words in annual reports in light of the financial crisis in 2008. The study seeking explanations for change, similarities and differences in the various texts based on three themes which are results, future and confidence. In this qualitative study five CEO's words are explored by means of a discourse analysis, all from large Swedish industrial companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Some of the results shown is that the CEO tends to talk about the company's results in a self-serving manner and CEO speaks more aboutm the results before than after the crisis.

When anyone acquires control over a listed company the mandatory bid rule is triggered. This means that the person who acquires the control has to make an offer to buy the remaining shares in the company. The purpose of the rule is to protect the minority Shareholders from the buyers. This rule has been considered to be burdensome and thus it is followed by an exemption rule which under some special circumstances may make the mandatory bid rule void. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze if the exemptions given by the Swedish securities council (in Swedish Aktiemarknadsnämnden) are in accordance with the purpose of the mandatory bid rule and if a review of these rules are needed.To answer the purpose, the Swedish securities councils statements has been analyzed, to determinate if the exemptions are in accordance with the purpose of the mandatory bid rule.

The foremost objective of business organizations is to generate value for Shareholders and to opt for strategies which optimize it. Hence it is of key concern for business leaders to appreciate how operations best are run to maximize value creation. This study explores how financial theory can reveal the link between one particular business strategy and the corresponding effect on shareholder wealth. The question in focus is whether construction companies can enhance their value creation by implementing shift-work to increase the weekly production rate. The thesis particularly targets apartment block projects in Sweden and has the construction company Peab AB as primary object of study.