The purpose of this essay is to investigate if the companies listed on Nasdaq/OMX Stockholm Large Cap use the earnings management phenomenon Big Bath Accounting to a greater extent when a change of management (CEO) is made.Management tends to use earnings management when there is a bonus plan linked to the result of the company. To gain maximum bonus the management will try to manipulate the result in a way that in a long term maximize their utility. Through the earnings management technique Big Bath the management is given the possibility to take one large cost as a one-time expend, even though the cost is supposed to run over several financial years. This, of course, within the legal framework. A big bath may occur when there is an impairment of goodwill, tangible and/or intangible assets or larger provisions for future expense, or both of them at the same time..

Den samhällsrelaterade redovisningen har utvecklats under de senaste åren och fått en allt större betydelse för företagen och dess intressenter. Att utvecklingen går mot mer kunskapsintensiva verksamheter borde öka betydelsen av personalredovisning, vilken är en del av den samhällsrelaterade redovisningen. Det bör ligga i företagens intresse att redovisa sin personalrelaterade information med tanke på att det är en allt viktigare tillgång. Med anledning av att det endast finns ett fåtal regler för hur personalen skall redovisas, väljer företagen det sätt som passar repektive företag bäst. Syftet med undersökningen är att klargöra för i vilken omfattning svenska börsnoterade företag redovisar sin personalrelaterade information, om det skiljer sig mellan företagen beroende av branschtillhörighet, storlek eller någon annan faktor.

Agencies towards Sustainable Development ? A Study of Environmental Management Systems in Governmental Agencies 2005A vision of the Swedish government is to build an ecologically sustainable society. A tool in this effort is to implement environmental management systems (EMS). The aim of the thesis is to present in which phase of the implementation of EMS Swedish governmental agencies are. This will be done by compilation and evaluation of agencies? yearly environmental reports.The thesis is written in co-operation with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Swedish EPA).

The main purpose of this master thesis is to identify guidelines for a sustainable production that can provide useful information concerning the establishment of a biodiesel production. These guidelines concern the surrounding production environment, such as infrastructures and industries.The thesis is based on theoretical grounds surrounding industrial symbiosis, biodiesel production and how sustainable development should be designed. A study of an already established producer in a similar business area has been used to provide a picture of similar projects. The thesis has with the supervisor's consent focused on the production conditions that are affected by location.The production conditions selected are heating, raw material market, residual and sustainable profile. These are then evaluated through an Excel-based sensitivity analysis.

The purpose of this study is to facilitate sustainable building by the use of BIM. The goal is to determine which aspects of sustainable building, which can be analyzed mainly with BIM tools, but also other aids.The study is based on literature studies and interviews. The literature review examines aspects important for sustainable building by studying environmental certification systems applicable in Sweden, as well as the BIM tools available on the market to analyze these aspects. The literature also includes the concepts of BIM and sustainability in order to provide a clearer view of its meaning. The interviews have brought the study's overall understanding of the industry and guidance on the subject.The results are presented in a table, where the aspects relevant to sustainable building are listed.

The release of green house gases and the environmental impacts humans have on the environment are huge and might cause irreversible changes to our earth. Meat is considered to have large impacts on the environment, especially beef meat and therefore there have lately been considerable discussions on the sustainable level of meat consumption and production. The main goal with this thesis is to study sustainable meat production and meat consumption in the county of Dalarna in Sweden. Indicators for sustainable meat production and meat consumption were developed and applied on three cases. Interviews were carried out with a municipality in the region that represents the consumer and three beef farmers that represents the producers.

In the European Convention and the EU charter the principle ne bis in idem is provided, which implies that a person can not be tried or punished twice for the same offense. Since the European Convention was incorporated into Swedish law in 1995 the principles application has been discussed in tax law. Several cases have been examined by the European Court and the Supreme Court (HD) in order to determine whether dual punishment has occurred in the national rules concerning tax surcharge, tax crime and accounting fraud. The judicial trials have brought different assessments concerning the matter, which have resulted in a lack of clarity on the application of the principle in Swedish law.The thesis purpose is to clarify whether the principle ne bis in idem is applicable on the relationship between tax surcharge and tax crime, and the relationship between tax surcharge and accounting fraud.The authors' conclusion is that the principle ne bis in idem is applicable on the relationship between tax surcharge and tax crime because both sanctions are considered criminal in nature and concern the same crime, since they are based on substantially the same circumstances. Furthermore, the principle ne bis in idem is considered applicable on the relationship tax surcharge and accounting fraud, because both sanctions are criminal in nature and their circumstances have a connection, therefore they are considered as the same crime..

Fairtrade is a certification of products that has grown from the criticism of conventional trade. By increasing the focus on the producers? economic and social conditions, poverty can be fought and the producers? voice in the marketplace can be strengthened. Fairtrade City is a certification for municipalities who wish to engage in ethical consumption. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the Fairtrade City concept and how this can be a tool for working towards sustainable development. To be more concise, we want to answer the following questions: Why does Örebro municipality work with the Fairtrade City certification and how can Fairtrade City be used as tool for working towards sustainable development? The thesis is based on qualitative interviews and e-mail interviews with members of the steering committee for Örebro Fairtrade City and on literature studies. We have in our thesis identified Örebro Fairtrade City as a result of 1) that Örebro municipality through Fairtrade City wants to change their surrounding environment by engaging in ethical trade 2) that the surrounding environment effects Örebro municipality through isomorphism regarding its way to deal with sustainable development 3) that the municipality through its work with ethical trade becomes legitimized by their surrounding environment.

It is important to work with economic, social and ecological dimensions in order to reach sustainable development. Furthermore, these dimensions are supposed to work opon together. Green Flag´s aim is to process these dimensions in the thematic work in preschool, where children are involved. The aim of this study is to find out how certificated Green flag preschools work with the three dimensions in the education of sustainable development practically and how the children participate in this work. I have used a qualitative semi-structured interview to find out preschool teachers´ thoughts and opinions about how they work with sustainable development and how they make the children involved.

Begreppet Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), som är företagens sociala samhällsansvar har blivit allt viktigare i dagens samhälle. Den grundar sig på företagens frivilliga samhällsansvar och är indelat i tre ansvarsområden: ekonomisk, miljömässigt och socialt ansvarstagande. Syftet med CSR är att företag ska driva sin verksamhet på ett långsiktigt hållbart sätt för att kunna uppnå det måste det finnas en optimal balans mellan de tre områdena.Ett omtalat begrepp inom CSR är hållbar utveckling, som definieras enligt (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1998:57) som en ? utveckling som tillfredsställer dagens behov utan att äventyra kommande generationers möjligheter att tillfredsställa sina behov?. I takt med att CSR blev allt viktigare ville företag redovisa sitt arbete och med tiden utvecklades en del riktlinjer för redovisning av CSR arbetet.

Background: Currently Sweden has the possibility to like other EU countries raise the limits of statutory audit, but have chosen significantly lower limits. The reform was adopted in 2010 and only applies to smaller companies and there is great pressure for the limits to rise in future. This would enable Swedish companies to compete on equal terms in Europe. Aim: The aim of our study is to investigate the impact of the removal of the statutory audit for smaller companies from audit and accounting bureaus perspective and also the possible impact if the limits were to rise. Furthermore we want to explore how the supplies of other financial services have developed as a result of this.

The group of elderly people in Sweden will increase significantly in the future and science point out that the future elderly people will not accept today?s standards and offers of assistance in today?s public elderly care. Therefore public elderly care stands before a significant challenge in terms of development that has to be sustainable. New research also points out that middle managers can be a great strategic resource, and a founder of success, in the challenge of sustainable development. The aim of the report was to increase the knowledge about what middle managers in public elderly care think sustainable development has to embrace, when it comes to quality and personnel administration, in order to meet the needs of the future elderly people.

The current demanding business environment requires corporations to act fast in finding effective solutions to problems given the myriad of challenges they face (Dyllick & Hockerts, 2001). The challenges include the impact of climate change on business practices, natural resource consumption, chemical pollution, technological change etc. Moreover, the forces of globalization, heightened concerns about the deteriorating quality of the physical environment and increased stakeholder power are also increasingly having a real influence on business practices (Rainey, 2008). Since 1992, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has encouraged the adoption of the concept of ecological efficiency (eco-efficiency) to support business efforts aimed at addressing some of these challenges. The aim of eco-efficiency is to reduce the amount of energy and materials used in production processes to achieve economic and environmental benefits (WBCSD, 2000).

Background and problem: The abolishment of the mandatory audit in Sweden resulted in a marketorientation in which the small sized enterprises gained a stronger position. Theaudit firms are faced with the challenge to better meet the clients need and todemonstrate the value of audit now when it is optional. In coherence with thisclient focus it is endorsed to implement a value-based pricing that primarilyconsiders the client?s value and willingness to pay. The value of audit andaccounting services to small sized enterprises is not yet fully investigated, whyit is difficult to implement a value-based strategy.Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the value of audit and accounting servicesto the small sized enterprises through the study of which attributes theseservices consist of and which priority the small sized enterprises attach to thedifferent attributes.

The aim of the study has been to explore certain aspects of implementation perspectives and to analyse the introduction of an environmental management system called ecoBUDGET in the Municipality of Växjö. A framework has been developed through thorough studying of earlier research in the field of policy implementation in public administrations. The framework is made up of the steering relationship between politicians and public administrators, decision making and implementation and the ability, want and understanding of how and why decisions should/could be implemented. By using this framework in combination with interviews held with individuals that host valuable knowledge and experience of the system these questions were to be answered:-What factors in the implementation process of ecoBUDGET can be seen to have facilitated alternativly hindred the integration of the environmental management system within the municipalitys administration and companies?- In what direction has the integration of a sustainable devleopment thinking for the environment thru ecoBUDGET evolved within the organisation?The result came to be that sustainable development and the strive for this is more and more amalgamated in to the everyday work within the municipal organisation and that the environmental management system is likely to have played a part in this..