The purpose of the thesis is to compare Sweden's and Great Britain's total costs for their systems regulating producer responsibility for waste packages. Producer resonsibility is a strategy implying that producers are responsible for their waste also after its use. Sweden and Great Britain introduced different systems systems after an EU directive was adopted in 1994 (94/62/EC), and they have resulted in entirely different recycling levels in the two countries. In the Swedish system, responsibility has been delegated to the industry who are responsible for reaching the determined goals. The economic instrument used is a fee, set and managed by the industry. The British system is more centrilised, and the economic instrument used to finance recycling of waste is a system based on transferable permits. The thesis compares the four different alternatives: delegated and centralised methods, and fees and transferable permits analytically.

Title: The Investment Savings Account ? Standard Taxation ? Right in TimeAuthors: Gustav Mårtensson and Erica Nordström LöfSupervisor: Göran HäggBackground: In order to facilitate and stimulate financial investments among privateinvestors the organization Aktiespararna made a proposal for a standard-taxed account. As aresult of this, the Swedish government decided to implement the Investment Savings Accountin January of 2012. The introduction of the Investment Savings Account implies that there arenow three different types of accounts for financial investments that are differently taxed onthe Swedish Market. Private investors can improve their after-tax results by combining AssetAllocation and Asset Location, according to earlier studies.

The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to create a product in the form of a database that can be used for cost estimates of equipment within bio refineries. Through interviews and literature searches the key components and their costs were identified. The database was constructed in Microsoft Excel with different tabs for different categories of components; these tabs are further divided into three parts: one part with costs, one part with calculations and an information part. Most of the part with costs contains the expenses found in scientific papers during the literature study, the calculating part converts different capacities according to user preferences and the currency to euro (?) from 2010 and the information part consists of references and information about what is included in the cost.The database is a good tool for making cost estimates for bio refineries.

The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to create a product in the form of a database that can be used for cost estimates of equipment within bio refineries. Through interviews and literature searches the key components and their costs were identified. The database was constructed in Microsoft Excel with different tabs for different categories of components; these tabs are further divided into three parts: one part with costs, one part with calculations and an information part. Most of the part with costs contains the expenses found in scientific papers during the literature study, the calculating part converts different capacities according to user preferences and the currency to euro (?) from 2010 and the information part consists of references and information about what is included in the cost.The database is a good tool for making cost estimates for bio refineries.

Research and Development-costs constitutes an important part in contemporary companies. R&D are treated differently depending on their definition and how the historic value is decided. The main goal for this essay is to bring clarity to how the definiton of the term R&D is decided in accounting as well as in tax law. Another goal is to decide how the historic value is calculated. It is also interesting to examine under which circumstances the costs can be activated in the balance sheet, and under which circumstances deduction for the R&D-costs may be allowed.

The main purpose of this bachelor thesis is to create a product in the form of a database that can be used for cost estimates of equipment within bio refineries. Through interviews and literature searches the key components and their costs were identified. The database was constructed in Microsoft Excel with different tabs for different categories of components; these tabs are further divided into three parts: one part with costs, one part with calculations and an information part. Most of the part with costs contains the expenses found in scientific papers during the literature study, the calculating part converts different capacities according to user preferences and the currency to euro (?) from 2010 and the information part consists of references and information about what is included in the cost.The database is a good tool for making cost estimates for bio refineries.

Calculations of net present value are based on a discount rate, which requires knowledge about the company?s cost of debt. A common way to do this is by observing the company?s credit rating, when no credit rating is given it?s possible to use a synthetic rating model based on quantitative data to estimate a credit rating. Thus, the aim of this study is to increase the understanding of which quantitative data, in terms of key figures, that can be used to explain the given credit ratings for companies from the Nordic countries.In developing the model, key figures found significant in previous studies are being tested for whether or not they are applicable for companies from the Nordic countries.

This study investigates a method for identifying human capital and its effect on company valuation. We devise a measure for the efficiency of human capital based on the personnel cost. We include all companies listed in the financial and industry sector on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm in an attempt to examine human capital and its effect on firm valuation. Our results indicate that a higher efficiency of human capital has a positive effect on return on assets. However, we find that our measure can be interpreted in two ways; either as a firm?s level of human capital efficiency or its dependency on human capital, to achieve its net sales and revenue.

The purpose of this thesis is to map out and investigate how the banking sector affects a customer?s willingness to change bank, and what the switching costs are for a customer when making these changes. A case study was performed through qualitative and quantitative questionnaires and interviews. The qualitative part was carried out to create hypotheses. The hypotheses was tested in a quantitative survey to be able to either accepted or rejected these them.

This master's thesis focuses on the development of a strategy for aninformation service in the area of digitization of cultural heritage andresearch, with a web based platform as implementation of the strategy. Viathe platform, digital collections and research are presented and shared.Services around the platform are provided. Support activities comprise thewhole chain of digitization, from digitization to archival of the digitizedobjects. The information service aims for a new approach to combine ICT andestablished research; research and industrial practice were combined andcooperation of participants from various backgrounds was enabled. Thestrategy and organization of such information service was described using a?quality management system?, standard ISO 9001.

The main aim of this study was to investigate and compare different methods for the extraction of forest fuel from environments close to an archipelago. The study was based on relevant literature and published reports as well as personal communications. Forestry has traditionally been characterized by intense efforts to rationalize and mechanize the cutting technique used for timber and pulpwood. In line with the increasing importance of forestry, more concentrated efforts can be expected in the area of techniques and methods, especially for the above-mentioned product lines. In Sweden, forestry is of major importance and the Swedish economy and standard of living have mainly been created based on the revenues generated from it. Thus, it is vital that Swedish forests are harvested in an efficient and responsible manner. The demand for biofuel is growing and today accounts for 15% of total Swedish energy production, a share that will probably increase. This study is based on three research questions, which are described under the heading of Aim. The results reveal that the most profitable method for handling forest fuel is the traditional one, which is also the most commonly used method in southern Sweden, namely the stockpiling of logs in a clearing by means of forwarders followed by splintering at the place from where they will be distributed. Today, the high cost of barge transport required for the extraction of forest fuel in an archipelago environment renders such operations unprofitable.

The projects objective is to find an alternative method of heating (the current method being via electric heating) the sewage treatment plant on the island Utö in Stockholm?s archipelago in order to reduce the energy consumption and ultimately the cost for heating the plant. The project is given by ?Skärgårdsstiftelsen? (The Archipelago Foundation) and is a part of the larger EU-project ?Green Islands?.A model for the plants total heating demand is established in order to get a good perception of how much money can be saved using alternative heating methods. The heating demand model gives an annual heating demand of approximately 32 500 kWh and a maximum heating power demand of around 24,7 kW.

This Master Thesis covers the concept of Green Cars. The background to the research area is the high and rapidly growing number of cars, which together with other factors ad to the pollution of the environment. Under the Kyoto agreement the signing members agreed to lower the emissions of green house gases, further on the EU has a 3-pillar strategy on carbon dioxide and cars. Included in the EU strategy is a voluntary commitment from the car industry to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new cars. The easiest way of lowering the emissions is by using alternative fuels and engines.

This paper investigates the internal product costing system in one of the Swedish banks with the purpose to evaluate the quality of its product costs and possible implications on decision making. The study shows that the current system distorts product costs by, among other things, using relative allocation of costs and time and by allocating all costs to individual units of products. We therefore propose an alternative product costing system, which mainly draws on ABC theory but is also adapted to the specific needs of service companies and of the Bank. This proposal is intended as a solution in this particular case and not to be generalized in other contexts. We hope however to add to the understanding of why more complex costing systems, such as the ones based on ABC theory are, according to previous studies, not widely used in practice.

In Sweden, the demand for bio energy has increased in recent years due to the current energy and climate debate. In 2008, the energy supply of Sweden was 612 TWh, biofuels accounted for 123 TWh of these. Stumps have been highlighted as a potential fuel in recent years and the Swedish Forest Agency expects a technically and biologically feasible potential of 20.7 TWh annually between 2010 and 2019. The idea of utilize stumps is not new. During the 19th century stumps were used for tar production and during the 70?s and 80?s attempts were made to use stumps in the pulp industry.