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.

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.

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.

Since January 1st 2005, public companies within the European Union shall prepare their consolidated accounts in conformity with the international accounting standards. The adopted accounting standards are IASB?s IAS/IFRS completed with interpretations. Furthermore, member states may permit or require public companies to prepare their annual accounts according to IAS/IFRS. Sweden has not yet given companies the ability to use IAS/IFRS in the annual accounts due to taxation difficulties the strong relationship between accounting and taxation brings.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att få en djupare insikt om hur en frikoppling mellan redovisning och beskattning skulle kunna se ut. Genom att undersöka hur revisionsbolagen ställer sig till SamRoBs förslag om en frikoppling, SOU 2008:80, och vilka konsekvenser ett avskaffande av det materiella sambandet kan medföra för K2-företagen vill vi skapa en djupare förståelse i diskussionen om en total frikoppling av det materiella sambandet för K2-företagen.Uppsatsens undersökning utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod och har en analytisk ansats. Data består av primär- och sekundärdata som kritiskt granskas för att bedöma undersökningens giltighet och tillförlitlighet.För att skapa förståelse kring sambandet mellan redovisning och beskattning presenteras relevanta begrepp och teorier. Vidare redogörs för innehållet i utredningen SOU 2008:80.Empirin presenterar respondenternas åsikter och synpunkter om utredningens, SOU 2008:80, förslag om en frikoppling mellan redovisning och beskattning. Respondenterna avser tre anställda från tre av de största revisionsbolagen i Sverige.För K2 företag innebär en frikoppling i praktiken en samordning.

Recent studies show that manufacturing companies to a larger extent use historical cost accounting in their internal accounts, at the expense of calculated costs. The explanation behind this is claimed to be that firms are subject to careful scrutiny by the stock market. Consequently, top management stresses the need of evaluating all parts of the firm from external accounting. However, lower management levels express a general concern that the incentive to invest in machines will decrease. This master thesis aims to investigate whether or not there is an objective reason behind this concern.

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.

Background: The valuation of growing crops is problematic partly due to weather conditions. 2011 showed that of all cultivated crops 42% were autumn sown which makes up a significant proportion of the total arable land in Sweden. This presented an opportunity to investigate more closely the methods and options used in the inventory valuation of biological assets. Problem: What options are there in the valuation of own-produced inventory specifically in the form of growing crops? Objective: This study's aim is to create an increased understanding of an agricultural company's options for inventory valuation of biological assets. In the survey of the options this study has found two main categories: rule-and principle-based accounting. Methods: A qualitative study with an abductive approach.

The purpose of this master thesis was to examine how the corporations quoted on the A-list on the Stockholm Stock Exchange were affected by the introduction of IFRS 3 Business Combinations. Their opinion about the accounting rule and the acquired goodwill in particular was focused as well. The authors wanted to see if there were any changes in ROE, return on equity, after the introduction of the new accounting standard.Data for this study was collected through interviews, questionnaires and annual reports. Interviews were held with corporate accounting managers of Assa Abloy, WM-data, Electrolux, Ericsson and SCA. Questionnaires were sent by e-mail to 50 companies and were answered by 30 of them.

In order to achieve comparability, which is one of the fundamental principles of accounting, companies should be consistent concerning the accounting policies they use. Only under certain circumstances changes in accounting policies are allowed, and when there is a change in accounting policies, it is important that the change is reported in a way that assures that the financial reports still achieve comparability. The purpose of this thesis is to establish which rules and recommendations about changes in accounting policies that exist in Swedish and German law and what their meaning is. Further, the purpose is to compare these rules and recommendations and discuss their differences and similarities, advantages and disadvantages. Since publicly traded European companies will be obliged to prepare their consolidated accounts in conformity with International Accounting Standards (IAS) from 2005, I also describe the content of IAS 8 which deals with changes in accounting policies, and discuss what the consequences of this transition might be for Swedish and German publicly traded companies considering changes in accounting policies.

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.

Abstract Title:                               Goodwill ? differences and similarities between how IFRS and U.S. GAAP treats goodwill Level:                              One year master, 15 credits Author:                           Oscar Larsen and Thomas Karlsson Supervisor:                     Leif Carlsson Examiner:                      Cecilia Lindh Year of publication:      2011 The main issue:              What are the differences and similarities of the treatment of goodwill between the U.S. GAAP and IFRS? What can the transition from U.S.

This thesis investigates management accounting systems in a Swedish health care environment. Through a qualitative case study of an activity-based cost accounting system that was introduced in 1994 at S:t Görans Sjukhus, a large Stockholm hospital, the following questions are addressed: What benefits can an activity-based cost accounting system offer the Swedish health care providers? What are the potential problems impeding the implementation of such a system? Main findings: an activity-based cost accounting system can improve the understanding of where costs are generated in the production processes. Comparisons between alternative production processes are improved, and the data may serve as a basis for internal pricing measures. Concerning the second question, difficulty in reconciliating the principles of economic control with the culture present in a hospital is identified as the main obstacle to a new management accounting system..

This thesis analyses the cost accounting system KPP and its use within the Swedish health care. KPP is designed to calculate and assign health care costs to individual patients. This would facilitate evaluations and comparisons of the costs for certain diagnosis, patient groups or clinics with a different mix of diagnosis. The study investigates the following questions: 1. Does the KPP-model theoretically work as a cost accounting tool for health care purposes? 2.

Recently, the IASB and the FASB initiated a joint project to determine which companies that could be defined as investment entities and thus subject to an exception from IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements. The first draft, ED/2011/4 Investment Entities, was published in 2011 and included six criteria that a company must meet in order to be classified as an investment entity. Based on academic theory, the fact that the IASB and the FASB published a joint proposal is interesting for several reasons. Traditional accounting theory tends to distinguish between two different approaches in standard setting: principles- and rules-based. The IASB is considered to have a principles-based approach, while the FASB is considered to have a rules-based approach.