Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) within the European Union are currently facing many challenges one being access to financing due to high risk and probability of default, another being cross-border taxation issues with double taxation and information asymmetry. Since the aim within the EU is to be the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world with sustainable economic growth and social cohesion it is essential that the EU operates as a single market. Despite this need, harmonization continues to be far from achieved in the area of direct taxation which also affects the integration and growth opportunities for SMEs. In the Agenda for Entrepreneurship, the Home State Taxation regime, which is based on formula apportionment, has been proposed by the Commission as one option in order to mutually recognize the different Member States? taxation systems to facilitate cross-border activities and reduce ?red-tape?.

The concept of sustainable development has been pervasive in recent years and many organizations choose to implement sustainability and adapt their activities accordingly. The purpose of this study have been to explore how a collaboration on the use of waste materials may look to analyze what influences cooperation. A case study has been carried out examining a Swedish state regional project aimed at creating partnerships between actors and utilizing textile waste with the help of design. The study was conducted using qualitative methods and the collection of data has been done through interviews and by examining documents. The results show that there are seven key factors that affect cooperation: expectations, commitment, internal communication, a strong non-profit actor, individual treatment, personal networks and the diversity of actors.

Denna uppsats utgör en explorativ fallstudie om certifieringssystemet BREEAM Communities och dess möjlighet att fungera som ett verktyg för svenska kommuner i plan- och exploateringsprocesser.Sedan ett par år tillbaka pågår de första projekten i Sverige där BREEAM Communities används. Företagen Diligentia och PEAB var först ut att använda verktyget vid utvecklingen av sina stadsdelar Masthusen och Varvsstaden i Västra Hamnen i Malmö.Uppsatsen utgörs i första hand av en kvalitativ intervjustudie med anställda vid Diligentia, PEAB och Malmö Stad, vilken genomfördes våren 2012. Studien kompletterades med två intervjuer med anställda vid Norrköpings kommun, detta eftersom Norrköpings kommun vid tidpunkten för intervjuerna, övervägde en användning av certifieringssystemet vid utvecklingen av stadsdelen Saltängen. Intervjustudien tar utgångspunkt i intervjupersonernas erfarenheter och tankar kring BREEAM Communities? inverkan på arbetsprocessen och vilka hållbarhetsaspekter som hanteras inom de två projekten i Västra Hamnen.

Certification systems, that assess companies? work with social and environmental issues, have emerged in an increasing number of industries. Today, there are environmental certifications for the food industry, the forestry, the fisheries sector and several more. In apparel industry, certification for sustainable working conditions has been of major impact. The property sector is no exception from other industries.

This thesis aims to investigate if there are any differences in the value relevance of yearly earnings announcements before (2000-2004) and after (2005-2009) IFRS were implemented for listed companies in the European Union. To assess the value relevance of earnings, an earnings response coefficient (ERC) is estimated using a linear OLS-regression model. The regression model uses accounting earnings per share as the explaining variable, with the corresponding return starting from (but not including) the previous year's earnings announcement date, ending at (and including) the current earnings announcement date, as the dependent variable. This study finds that there is no statistically significant difference between the estimated ERCs for the two periods. Although no statistically significant difference is found, data shows that the R2-values, which measure the explanatory power of the regressions, are higher for the period before IFRS.

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.

De senaste decennierna har miljö- och klimatfrågor fått allt större uppmärksamhet på lokal såväl som global nivå. Idag kräver allt fler konsumenter att näringslivet engagerar sig i sociala och ekologiska frågor. Hållbarhetsredovisning är idag frivillig och är ett relativt nytt sätt att redovisa på där företagets ekonomiska, sociala och miljömässiga resultat tas upp. Miljömedvetenhet har även blivit en konkurrensfördel för företag inom skogsindustrin då jordens största hot mot miljön är den industriella användningen av trä. Viktigt för att nå framgång är dock inte enbart ökad reglering utan det är även essentiellt att skapa en kultur kring miljöarbetet där alla medarbetare är engagerade och känner delaktighet.

Sedan Nacka golfklubb införde källsortering år 2003 har golfklubben funderat över hur deras sortering och avfallshantering egentligen fungerar. I samband med den miljöcertifiering golfklubben ansökt om att få via Golf Environment Organization (GEO) skall ett flertal områden på golfklubben ses över, varav avfallshanteringen är ett av dessa områden.Syftet med examensarbetet är att undersöka hur Nacka golfklubb idag avfallshanterar och ta fram ett underlag för den certifiering golfklubben ansökt om inom det givna området. Underlaget för certifieringen ska baseras på certifieringens krav och rutiner för förbättring ska baseras på kunskap, hantering samt minimering. De metoder som använts är litteraturstudier, intervjuer, studiebesök samt en analys utifrån Sustainable Development Records (SDR).Resultatet av SDR gav en generell bild av golfklubbens effektivitet, sparsamhet och marginal. Genom SDR kan golfklubben i framtiden fortsätta att mäta och jämföra sina resultat för att se om verksamheten går mot en mer hållbar utveckling och avfallshantering men för att göra detta måste en grundligare undersökning i framtiden genomföras i samband med en avfallsrevision.Utifrån det rutiner golfklubben har rekommenderas ett flertal förändringar för att golfklubben ska få en bättre standard inom sin avfallshantering.

The EU's Water Framework Directive aims to a long-term and sustainable use of our water resources and wants to ensure good water quality in Europe's water bodies. Discharge of polluted stormwater into receiving waters can be a threat to their ecological and chemical status. Municipalities are responsible for supervision of the environmental quality standards (EQS) and therefore need to gain knowledge of current stormwater management, the expected level of pollution emissions and possible appropriate purification steps to ensure that the goal of good water quality is achieved.This master thesis aims to provide this knowledge in the example case of Vallentunas urban area and wants to prepare future oversight so that it can be assessed how much the discharge of polluted stormwater into the local receiving water is a threat to its status. With the help of maps, aerial photographs, site observations and individual discussions those areas are mapped where appearance of moderate to highly polluted stormwater could be suspected. The degree of pollution at the discharge points is determined based on land use upstream and uses standard values according to the administrators assistance "Tillsyn av dagvatten" (MSL 2014).The study identifies 100 areas in need of supervision regarding their stormwater management.

The concept of planetary boundaries was introduced in the year 2009 by a group ofresearchers led by Johan Rockström and Will Steffen. The group presented a draft of thelimits of the planet regarding nine Earth System processes concerning climate change, oceanacidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, interference with Pand N cycles, global freshwater use, land-system change, rate of biodiversity loss andchemical pollution. The starting point for the study presented in this report was that asustainable development only can be achieved if humankind stays within the boundaries. It istherefore, based on the ongoing urbanization, relevant to evaluate how cities affect the EarthSystem processes. The aim of the study was to investigate if Stockholm Royal Seaport (NorraDjurgårdsstaden), a district in the northeast of Stockholm with a clear environmental profile,affects the Earth System processes less than Stockholm in general does.

The access to good sanitary facilities is an important factor that elevates the experienced living standard as it improves hygiene and reduces the transmission of deseases. The ratification of the millennium goals by 189 countries demonstrates that this is an important international issue. Together the countries have taken upon themselves that the proportion of the population that lacked access to sustainable safe drinking water and sanitary facilities in the year 2000 will have been reduced by half by the year 2015. In Peru, the construction of sewage pipe networks to transport the sewage out of the direct human environment is progressing. The safety and sustainability of these systems can be questioned, since in Peru the sewage seldom receive any treatment before being emitted to a recipient. This is taking place in Picota and sorrunding villages as well. In the last 25 years several systems implementing small-scale onsite treatment have been introduced throughout Latin America in an attempt to give more people access to sustainable and safe sanitary facilities, reducing water consumption and taking advantage of the agricultural values of the sewage fractions while protecting the environment from its negative impact. In this study three different sanitary systems and the effects of different population growths were compared.

This report is the result of a project work carried out at Karlstad University in conjunctionwith the local consulting firm Camatec where most of the work has been performed.The work can be classified as a classic engineering work with supportive theories andcalculations which in this context is relevant.The engineering project has focused on developing new standards for a conveyor that is usedin the Värmland paper industry where large rolls of paper are produced. A conveyor can takeits appearance in many different forms but in this thesis it has been an exemplary look and ithas also become modulatable with a central section, a drive end and a turning end.The construction work has been build under CAD programs such as Pro Engineer, drawingshave been created and costings have been analyzed. Strength calculations have been made andcooperation from several different companies have erected to explore different solutions andideas for a modern and sustainable conveyor..

The purpose of our essay is to study the institutional-, demographic and accounting theoretical factors that influence an organisations actuarial commitment.The research was performed through a web based survey, with complimentary telephone interviews, directed to companies listed on Stockholm Stock Exchange A- and O-list on the 30 of November, 2003.Our data was analysed with a Median test, Kolomogorov-Smirnov test, T-test and a Mann-Whitney test. The purpose of the Mann-Whitney test was the low number of respondents that took part in the research. The Kolomogorov-Smirnov test was done to determine whether the population variances was equal or not. The data showed that organisations with a majority of female employees assume a lower salary increase, and a higher average age than other companies with a male majority. Only 2 of 11 hypothesis can be accepted as temporary truths but several other visible relations are indicated in our research, but can not be statistically proved.We think that the major problem with our is the time it was performed.

Much attention has been directed to Charity Foundations and how they use the donations given to them. Donators and external organisations put pressure on and evaluate the performance of Charity Foundations. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of how Charity Foundations handle the pressure from external parties through a qualitative case study of one Swedish Charity Foundation. The most important external factors have been identified and the accountability relationships between each party and the Charity Foundation have been examined. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews and from written sources.

Ofta fokuseras det på större företag i undervisningen, men verkligheten är den att de flesta företag i Sverige är små eller medelstora. Det finns olika definitioner av vad ett småföretag är, men ingen är mer rätt än någon annan och i denna uppsats kommer EU:s definition att användas. Alla företag, stora som små, har någon/några som vill ta del av företagets ekonomiska information. De små företagen har oftast inte lika många intressenter som de stora företagen, och därför är det sannolikt att de inte behöver en lika komplicerad och detaljerad redovisning. Dessa mindre företag har under en längre tid haft samma regelverk som de större, men BFN, IASB och lagstiftare har påbörjat ett förenklingsarbete av redovisningsreglerna.För att kunna vara säker på att de nya reglerna verkligen fyller sitt syfte är det viktigt att de uppfyller de krav som företagen och användarna av redovisningsinformationen har.