Background for the research problems: Small companies are very important for the economic stability and development, something which the economic crises in recent years have underlined. Therefore it?s important to minimize administrative costs for smaller companies and also in other ways facilitate their further development. For these reasons accounting has been simplified and auditing abolished for smaller companies in many countries. In Sweden auditing for small companies was abolished nearly three years ago.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate analysts' and investors' possibility to compare different companies' information in accounting for goodwill under IFRS in their annual and semi-annual reports. The study was based on IAS 34 on interim reporting, IAS 36 impairment of goodwill and the comparability requirement of the financial statements. Therefore, the comparability requirements? of the IASB Framework, previous studies on the comparability after the implementation of IFRS and also the relevance of goodwill was studied. We used a qualitative textual analysis to examine whether the recognition of goodwill is considered to be comparable between our sample of companies' annual and semi-annual reports from 2008 and 2009 data.

This essay examines the expected impact of the statury audit exemption in Sweden from anauditor perspective and any conscious changes made on the accounting firms to meet the abolition.The theoretical framework is divided into three parts where the first deals with the concept of audit, who the stakeholders are to revised information, the auditor's function from an agent and positive accountingtheoretical perspective and the expectation gap of what an auditor cando and what the client expect audit to be. The second part deals with the audit exemptions and effects in Denmark and England. The last section addresses the current debate, studies and statements by FAR SRS, small businesses, banks and the tax authority.The essay is essentially inductive with a phenomenological operator perspective. The thesis has a qualitative approach with four respondents who are authorized or approved as an auditor with extensive experience, active on four different accounting firms. The questionnaire is divided into two parts where the first part consists of a number of very open questions and the other part of more structured questions in order to obtain comprehensive answers.The survey shows that a number of new services, certifications and authentication degrees are to be expected in Sweden aswell.

Bakgrund och problem: Enligt IFRS Föreställningsram är Årsredovisningens huvudsakliga intressentinvesterare. För att attrahera riskkapital från investerare är det angeläget att bolagets finansiellaställning är god. Detta kan skapa incitament för bolaget att anpassa sin finansiella ställning för attmöta investerares krav. För att uppnå detta kan bolag använda sig av olika redovisningstekniskametoder, beroende på hur årsredovisningen skall framställas. Merparten av dessa metoder, vilkasyftar till att framställa den ekonomiska ställningen som bättre än verkligheten, går underbenämningen Designad redovisning, där Big Bath Accounting ingår som en del.Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka om det finns statistiska belägg för tillämpning av den teoretiskadefinitionen av strategin Big Bath Accounting på NASDAQ OMX Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap.Avgränsningar: Studien avgränsar sig till att undersöka företag, som per 2009-04-01 fanns noteradepå NASDAQ OMX Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap.

Background: At the turn of the year 2004/2005, IAS 19 replaced Tryggandelagen (TrL) and RR 29 as the accounting standard in Swedish concerns. This introduction was associated with a certain apprehension for the possible changes in the companies? pension liabilities and equity.Purpose: To illustrate the difficulties of the introduction of IAS 19 by observing how it differs from TrL, and what kind of problems these differences can cause.Procedure: Individuals who are well up in, and work with pension liabilities have been interviewed. After this follows an example of the calculated pension liability of a company, to illustrate the differences between the calculations according to TrL and IAS 19. To conclude the chapter, a comparison between a number of companies from the Stockholm stock exchange is made to establish their various actuarial assumptions.Method: The essay mainly follows the qualitative research method, since this method is more appropriate when the substance in the matter is based on detailed differences and opinions.Results and conclusions: The introduction of IAS 19 has taken time and been an expensive matter, although the expenses weren?t as great as feared.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to see if there are higher restructuring expenses under the item provision for the first year when a new president takes office.Method: The study was done by a quantitative study. Financial statements have been examined for companies listed on the OMX Stockholm Stock Exchange, Large Cap. We have examined all the companies? annual reports between the years 2002-2008. We have looked at the experience of restructuring and other expenses that occur in the context of CEO change.

Background for the research problems: Small companies are very important for the economic stability and development, something which the economic crises in recent years have underlined. Therefore it?s important to minimize administrative costs for smaller companies and also in other ways facilitate their further development. For these reasons accounting has been simplified and auditing abolished for smaller companies in many countries. In Sweden auditing for small companies was abolished nearly three years ago.

Accounting has been critized for being one of the leading factors in the latest financial crisis. One of the primary problem areas was identified as delayed recogonition of losses on financial instruments. Consequently, a new impairment model is being developed and is to be namned expected loss model. The difference from the present model, incurred loss model, is that it takes losses into consideration on an much earlier level. Even though the model may be theoretically feasible, in practice it may implicate a number of issues.

Background: Sweden?s membership in the EU affected the Swedish accounting regulation. Three EU-directives was implemented in the Swedish accounting regulation. This also meant that the concept "true and fair view" was introduced in the new "Årsredovisningslagen". The concept is not clearly defined and therefore the interpretation may differ amongst accountants.

Goodwill är en immateriell tillgång som funnits inom redovisningen de senaste hundra åren. Hur goodwill ska behandlas diskuteras flitigt av forskare och yrkesverksamma. Från och med 2005 beslutade EU att alla noterade företag i unionen skulle följa IASB:s standarder vid upprättandet av sin koncernredovisning. Med de nya reglerna följde att goodwill ska värderas till verkligt värde och årligen testas för nedskrivningsbehov. Denna värderingsmetod innehåller subjektiva bedömningar av företagsledningen, vilket kräver transparens av företagen i sin redovisning av koncerngoodwill med information om hur nedskrivningsprövningen har utförts.

This essay gives the reader an overview of the different problems and issues a landscape architect might meet, in the process of planning and realizing an eco-village. Its aim is to stimulate new ideas, based on the traditional, present and future working field of landscape architects. The essay does not claim to cover all imaginable aspects of social sustainability within an eco- village, but refers to the presented sources for further in-depth reading. Although the original focus has been on physical planning, the interviewees? words have been of big importance, and to a certain extent changed the constitution of this essay.

I wrote this essay with the aim to explore, understand and get some insights into what it is that effects the possibilities to plan for ecological sustainability and make it happen. There is no clear definition of sustainable development but world top meetings and reports have developed goals and strategies. I will present some of the theory at hand but most of this essay is based on six interviews with planners at local governments from around the country. Several of the local governments are using the goals issued by the state government by putting them into their large scale plans. During the interviews some obstacles were identified, like a lack of resourses, disadvantaging powerstruktures, conflicts with marketeconomy and simply different meenings about what ecological sustainability is in practice. My method of getting information through interviews and documenting them by taking notes had, as all methods, it?s weakneses.

Background and problem discussion: Sustainability reporting has recently risen in importance and a rising number of companies choose to issue voluntary stand-alone sustainability reports. Their non-regulated nature increases the opportunity for management to angle the information in these disclosures to their own advantage. Lately the focus has shifted from examining what kind of information is provided in environmental disclosures, to analyzing how the information is presented.Purpose: The purpose is to examine if managers in the energy sector use optimistic tone when issuing sustainability reports. The aim is to find out if the tone applied in environmental disclosures is in congruence with either the environmental or economic performance or if an excessively positive tone is being used to mislead readers.Limitations: This study is limited to information found in environmental disclosures from private companies in the energy sector, issued in 2012 or 2013. Environmental performance is defined as the amount of CO2e emissions and economic performance refers to annual company revenues.Methodology: The quantification of optimistic tone is conducted using a content analysis, relying on a pre-specified wordlist and a pilot study.

Purpose: To examine how a tour operator works to implement sustainability in the development of the business, as well as what significance it has to consumers in selecting a tour operator. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide recommendations on how tour operators should work to communicate their commitments.Methodology: The research strategy applied is a case study which follows an abductive approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to complement each other. A semi-structured interview with a tour operator and a consumer survey constitute the empirical foundation.Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that consumers show a positive attitude towards CSR, but do not see it as a determinant when choosing a tour operator. Thus, CSR does not constitute a competitive advantage against competitors.

The accounting of today results in reports that are valued according to one kind of value.There are advocates who recommend that the accounting should be expanded by one orseveral columns, which would enable that other methods of valuation could be used. In thisessay we examine how the ?multi column reporting? can alter the outcome of a financialanalysts? valuation procedure.In this essay we used existing theories about the financial analysts? usage of information toreach the lack of information we found and which we aim to erase whit this essay. To do thiswe studied decision theories and theories regarding information processing, and by interviewswith three financial analysts. After we collected the information needed for the analyses, wethen also compared the results of the interviews with related theories.The theories about decision in this essay concern whether a decision is based on rationality,bounded rationality or irrationality.