Throughout many years there have been discussions within the European Union (EU) regarding harmonization and improvement of accounting rules for companies with listed shares or other securities. The ambition exists to adopt, the within the union applied accounting standards, to those applied globally. These discussions lead the year 2002 to adoption by the council and parliament of international accounting standards (IFRS). The ordinance meant that all listed European companies have to adopt international accounting standards, accepted for application within the EU, for their consolidated accounts.During July 2003 the Swedish Government Official Reports issued a report (SOU 2003:71) stating, among other things, the differences and oppositions of implementing IFRS on a corporate level in Sweden, since corporate disclosure is regulated in Swedish law by Bokföringslagen (BFL) and Årsredovisningslagen (ÅRL). One of the main obstacles for the full implementation of IFRS is that a company?s annual report underlies the governmental taxation and an implementation of IFRS would affect this balance.

Background: With an increased global market, where companies seek capital abroad, the demand for a more uniform accounting standard has been raised. This uniform accounting standard is not yet available, differences between accounting standards still exists. Several Swedish companies seek risk capital in the USA and some are part of a concern that is listed on the American stock exchange. This means that the Securities and Exchange Commission requires the companies to do a reconciliation to US GAAP on those items that are considered material. This can be an extensive work for the companies if the knowledge about the differences between Swedish GAAP and US GAAP does not exist.

This report describes the process of translating Russian financial information in accordance with Russian Accounting Standards to IFRS, International Financial Reporting Standards. The author describes the two regulatory frameworks and reveals a number of risk factors in the process. These risk factors may affect the reliability of figures from Russian companies. The conclusion states some recommendations on how these risk factors can be managed..

AbstractTitle: The Swedish real estate companies choices of valuation within investment properties and its further effects on the qualitative characteristics of accounting.-A study of the Swedish real estate companies listed and non - listed on the stock market, after the application of the international rule board.Background and Problem: From January 2005, all companies, listed on a stock market within the European Union, are required to prepare their consolidated accounts using common set of International Accounting Standards, IAS/IFRS. In Sweden, this opportunity has also been given to non-listed companies, to voluntary implement these rules in their consolidated accounts. One difference between Swedish accounting rules and contemporary International rules, deals with the accounting treatment of investment properties, which foremost affects the real estate market?s accounts. In contrast to the Swedish Financial Accounting Standards Council?s recommendation RR 24, the new standard, IAS 40, permits a choice between different accounting alternatives.

Concurrently with higher demands on comparability between companies, all Swedish listed parent companies are guilty to apply international accounting standards, IFRS/IAS, no later than January 1, 2005. In this thesis IFRS 7 Financial instruments: Disclosures, that treats information about financial instruments, is investigated. IFRS 7 aims to establish a good international standard for disclosures about financial instruments. The purpose of this thesis is to study differences in the interpretation of IFRS 7 Financial instruments: Disclosures between Swedish life insurance companies, problems ? if any ? that associate with the recommendation, the recommendation?s effect on accounting and the attitudes towards IFRS amongst the Swedish life insurance companies.

Enligt IAS 40 ? Förvaltningsfastigheter, definieras förvaltningsfastigheter som ?mark eller byggnader eller del av byggnad som innehas i syfte att generera hyresinkomster eller värdestegring?. Onoterade fastighetsbolag i Sverige har idag möjlighet att välja mellan att värdera sina fastigheter till anskaffningsvärde eller verkligt värde.IAS ? International Accounting Standards är en internationell redovisningsstandard inom EU som började tillämpas i januari 2001, men blev obligatorisk för börsnoterade bolag år 2005. Dessutom har alla medlemstater möjlighet att lagstifta om IAS-redovisning i icke-noterade bolag.

Enligt IAS 40 ? Förvaltningsfastigheter, definieras förvaltningsfastigheter som ?mark eller byggnader eller del av byggnad som innehas i syfte att generera hyresinkomster eller värdestegring?. Onoterade fastighetsbolag i Sverige har idag möjlighet att välja mellan att värdera sina fastigheter till anskaffningsvärde eller verkligt värde.IAS ? International Accounting Standards är en internationell redovisningsstandard inom EU som började tillämpas i januari 2001, men blev obligatorisk för börsnoterade bolag år 2005. Dessutom har alla medlemstater möjlighet att lagstifta om IAS-redovisning i icke-noterade bolag.

Since 2005 all companies listed on a regulated stock exchange within the European Union are required to present their financial reports in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Accounting Standards (IAS). The purposes of these standards are to accomplish international harmonization of accounting rules to make financial reports more comparable. However, recent research has shown that some firms tend to use goodwill strategically in a business combination by manipulating the acquired assets and consciously allocate the intangible assets to goodwill to reduce the depreciation in the income and decrease costs. This phenomenon may reduce the comparability between financial reports and thus has an opposite effect on the purpose of IFRS and IAS.The aim of this study is to show how the companies involved in this study allocate goodwill strategically. Furthermore, the introduction of the new standards has contributed to that goodwill now is a subject for impairment test, therefore we want to show whether this affected the comparability of the companies in this study.An empirical study was conducted, based on interviews with four Swedish managers.

IASB is currently working with the replacement of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. The new standard IFRS 9 Financial Instruments is said to be based on principles as opposed to the more rules-based IAS 39. This thesis examines the third phase of the project regarding micro hedge accounting. The expressed goal from IASB is to provide more useful hedge accounting information by reducing complexity of the standard. To examine the potential effects of the transition from the rules based IAS 39 to the more principles based IFRS 9, we have performed a case study on a major Swedish bank.

Since 2005 all companies listed on a regulated stock exchange within the European Union are required to present their financial reports in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Accounting Standards (IAS). The purposes of these standards are to accomplish international harmonization of accounting rules to make financial reports more comparable. However, recent research has shown that some firms tend to use goodwill strategically in a business combination by manipulating the acquired assets and consciously allocate the intangible assets to goodwill to reduce the depreciation in the income and decrease costs. This phenomenon may reduce the comparability between financial reports and thus has an opposite effect on the purpose of IFRS and IAS.The aim of this study is to show how the companies involved in this study allocate goodwill strategically. Furthermore, the introduction of the new standards has contributed to that goodwill now is a subject for impairment test, therefore we want to show whether this affected the comparability of the companies in this study.An empirical study was conducted, based on interviews with four Swedish managers.

Bakgrund och problem: IFRS 8, rörelsesegment, är ett resultat av det samarbetsprojekt som pågår mellan de två dominerande normsättarna på redovisningsområdet, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) och Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). IASB offentliggjorde i november år 2006 IFRS 8 som ersatte IAS 14, segmentrapportering, för räkenskapsår från och med 1 januari år 2009. IFRS 8, har till skillnad från IAS 14 ledningsperspektiv på sin segmentrapportering i de finansiella rapporterna, vilket kan bidra till lägre jämförbarhet mellan företagen och högre relevans.Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera skillnaderna mellan IAS 14 och IFRS 8 vad gäller antalet segment, mellan årsredovisningen för år 2008 och första kvartalsrapporten för år 2009. Syftet mer konkret, är att undersöka om företagen i studien har förändrat antalet segment samt om det påverkat jämförbarheten.Metod: Urvalet för studien är de 255 företag som var listade Stockholmsbörsens listor Large Cap, Mid Cap och Small Cap den 9e november 2009. Studiens är en jämförelse på företagens förändring i antal rapporterade segment mellan årsredovisningen år 2008 och första kvartalsrapporten för år 2009.Resultat och slutsatser: Författarna kan inte statistiskt säkerhetsställa att en förändring skett i antalet segment.

Laws, regulations and generally accepted accounting principles hold options on how companies should recognize revenue. Generally accepted accounting principles are determined by standard-setting bodies as the Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Supervisory Authority, which is influenced by international standard-setting bodies as the IASB. Service revenue is generally recognized when performance is completed, but there are variations in when a performance is considered complete. The different accounting options available create difficulties in comparing companies over time and between companies, which in turn creates difficulties to achieve a true and fair view. By clarifying what methods and principles in accounting for service income the unlisted companies in Sweden are using and why these differences exist, we have been able to study how the comparability and the true and fair view is affected by these differences.

The following essay investigates emission rights accounting. Presently there are several methods through which emission rights can be accounted for by companies. The rights can for instance be valued at fair value or nominal value and as marketable securities or intangible assets; due to a lack of consensus or clear standards companies use these or other accounting methods to value their rights. This essay investigates whether there is a relationship between the company?s choice of accounting method, the key ratio number of owned emission rights/total assets, the accounting firm used and the yearly result as a sign of earnings management.Through a quantitative study based on questioners and numbers from the annual reports three hypothesis are tested.

Laws, regulations and generally accepted accounting principles hold options on how companies should recognize revenue. Generally accepted accounting principles are determined by standard-setting bodies as the Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Supervisory Authority, which is influenced by international standard-setting bodies as the IASB. Service revenue is generally recognized when performance is completed, but there are variations in when a performance is considered complete. The different accounting options available create difficulties in comparing companies over time and between companies, which in turn creates difficulties to achieve a true and fair view. By clarifying what methods and principles in accounting for service income the unlisted companies in Sweden are using and why these differences exist, we have been able to study how the comparability and the true and fair view is affected by these differences. The aim was to study the underlying factors that companies do their financial report differently.

Earlier this year the Swedish migration board gave a part of their responsibility for the separated children to those municipalities that have signed an agreement with them, so that the children can get the best handling of their matters and also to lift the heavy pressure of the Swedish migration board. Our aim in this paper is to see how this division is made and which areas of responsibility they have. We want to see how this process is being handled in relation to these children?s rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Swedish law. To get the best information possible we used a qualitative method.