Background: Charity and other non-profit organizations have traditionally not been subject to any particular regulation enforced by Swedish law. Recently though, accounting standards have been altered which, through the new "Bokföringslagen" as of first of January 2001, have affected accounting standards for non- profit organizations. One of the implications which the new"bokföringslagen"has for non-profit organizations in Sweden is the link which it establishes with other accounting regulations enforced by the "Årsredovisningslagen". This link will, in turn, determine which rules that apply for any particular organization. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how accounting regulations are handled by Swedish non-profit organizations.

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.

Aim: The aim of this thesis is to do a research about the users? conceptions to the K-project. The K-project is a simplifying work of today?s accounting regulations performed by the Swedish accounting standards board. The K-project is divided into four categories and the companies are divided into each category depending on its size.

SAMMANFATTNING Under det senaste decenniet har utvecklingen inom svensk lagstiftning gått oerhört fort fram. Anledningen är att de svenska redovisningsreglerna har anpassats efter de internationella som i första hand är avsedda för större bolag. Konsekvenserna blev ett allt för stort och komplext regelverk för de mindre bolagen. Bokföringsnämnden inledde därför arbetet med att ta fram förenklade redovisningsregler för de allra minsta företagen, de så kallade K1-företagen. Även regeringen har uppmärksammat de ökade kostnaderna för redovisningsarbetet vilka i dagsläget uppgår till 1 645 miljoner kronor för svenskt näringsliv.

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.

Background: Many different parties in the society are affected by the financial information delivered by the companies. Therefore, different interests want their ideas to have an impact on the accountning standards. The construction of the accounting standards are illustrated as a pure political process, where lobbying and conflicts of interest are determining factors. Purpose: The purpose is to understand the underlying interests behind regulation of financial accounting in Sweden and how these interests are manifestated in the establishment of accounting standards. Method: The thesis is designed as a casestudy of the regulation process which induced the legislation of the Årsredovisningslagen 6 kap 1 § 3st.

The Swedish accounting standards board has developed rules of simplification to unlisted companies in Sweden. This project is called the K-project and is divided into four different categories, K1-K4, after the different companies? size and legal form. The K-project was put together to develop how the ongoing reporting should be ended with an annual report. 2013 is the year to choose between K2 and K3-regulations in smaller, unlisted companies.

Abstract: Since the implementation of IFRS, many changes in accounting standards have occured. Companies that follow IFRS must therefore always adapt and change its accountingprinciples according to changes made by IFRS. The latest change that companies must consider and adapt to in their financial accounting is the revised version of IAS 19 regarding pensions. This study aims to investigate if there is a relationship between financial accounting and management accounting due to changes made by IASB. More specifically the study investgates how the removal of the corridormethod and the introduction of IAS 19 as an external approach has affected its management accounting in three large corporations in Sweden.

We investigate if the size of goodwill compared to total assets has any effect on the shareholders return on companies listed on the Swedish Stock market. We put up two different hypotheses with a foundation from previous research and later dismiss one of them. Our evidence does not show any indicators that the size of goodwill have an effect on the shareholders return, which brings us to believe that there, from a share holders point of view, isn?t any need for concern regarding the standards about accounting for goodwill as stated by IFRS. .

I Sverige infördes år 2005 nya regler för redovisningen i börsnoterade företag. Från och med den 1 januari blev dessa företag enligt lag tvingade att följa det regelverk som International Accounting Standards Board författar. Dessa standarder blev då gällande i hela EU.I vår uppsats inriktar vi oss på en av dessa standarder och dess amerikanska motsvarighet, nämligen IAS 38 som behandlar redovisning av immateriella tillgångar. Vi fokuserar på den typ av immateriell tillgång som uppstår genom forskning och utveckling. Den amerikanska motsvarigheten till denna standard heter FAS 2.International Accounting Standards Board är ett av två ledande organ som på ett internationellt plan definierar hur redovisningen ska se ut.

Since 2005 the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has prescribed a mandatory requirement that all ?Publicly Consolidated Entities? abide by the ?International Financial Reporting Standards? (IFRS). However, due to a difference in institutional elements, between countries, differences in financial reporting are still possible. This essay aims to identify such differences between Swedish and British companies in their adaptation of the IFRS, specifically differences in; ?Disclosure Requirements for Goodwill? specified in ?IAS 36 p 134?.

Since 1928 the Swedish accounting and taxation has been closely linked by law which today as the European Union works with its harmonisation of the European accounting systems brings up difficulties. The Union strives to integrate the countries different ways of accounting in order to make it easier to use and understand foreign information. The Swedish connection between accounting and taxation means that a harmonisation would change the whole system as its known today. The purpose with this study is to examine what the link between the two means and how a decoupling would affect Swedish accounting and auditing. We also want to examine how the Swedish taxation office, who currently uses the accounting as a ground for taxation, could guarantee the quality of the declaration without a proper underpinning. The study shows that a decoupling could lead to an increase in quality on swedish accounting and that the administration would become more difficult to handle. The risk of dividend of untaxed profits is not seen as a problem in this context.

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.

Since 1928 the Swedish accounting and taxation has been closely linked by law which today as the European Union works with its harmonisation of the European accounting systems brings up difficulties. The Union strives to integrate the countries different ways of accounting in order to make it easier to use and understand foreign information. The Swedish connection between accounting and taxation means that a harmonisation would change the whole system as its known today. The purpose with this study is to examine what the link between the two means and how a decoupling would affect Swedish accounting and auditing. We also want to examine how the Swedish taxation office, who currently uses the accounting as a ground for taxation, could guarantee the quality of the declaration without a proper underpinning. The study shows that a decoupling could lead to an increase in quality on swedish accounting and that the administration would become more difficult to handle. The risk of dividend of untaxed profits is not seen as a problem in this context.

Since 1928 the Swedish accounting and taxation has been closely linked by law which today as the European Union works with its harmonisation of the European accounting systems brings up difficulties. The Union strives to integrate the countries different ways of accounting in order to make it easier to use and understand foreign information. The Swedish connection between accounting and taxation means that a harmonisation would change the whole system as its known today. The purpose with this study is to examine what the link between the two means and how a decoupling would affect Swedish accounting and auditing. We also want to examine how the Swedish taxation office, who currently uses the accounting as a ground for taxation, could guarantee the quality of the declaration without a proper underpinning. The study shows that a decoupling could lead to an increase in quality on swedish accounting and that the administration would become more difficult to handle. The risk of dividend of untaxed profits is not seen as a problem in this context.