<p>The purpose with this essay is to investigate whether the legal capital can be justified as creditor protection and whether the legal capital prevent entrepreneurship.</p><p>Historically the legal capital has been justified by means of creditor protection. Nowdays the development within EU rather reduces or abolish the legal capital. Sweden has recently, 1 of April 2010, reduced the legal capital from 100 000 Swedish crowns to 50 000 Swedish crowns. In the preparatory work it has been admitted that the legal capital does not in reality offer creditors much protection. Although the lawmaker decides to retain the legal capital and justifies the legal capitals existence with the argument that involuntary creditors has the need of the legal capital. It is also argued in the preparatory work that a reduction of the legal capital does not necessarily mean that new business creation will increase. Rather, the private limited liability company will instead be more available.</p><p>I will present different authors views on the legal capital doctrine. The views that are presented are critical to the legal capital doctrine. I will also present different statistics that compares countries legal environment and how it effects entrepreneurship</p><p>My conclusions are that legal capital can be questioned, especially on efficiency grounds. I also argue that legal capital in fact hinders entrepreneurship and I base my premise on the different statistics that has been presented.</p><p> </p>

The purpose with this essay is to investigate whether the legal capital can be justified as creditor protection and whether the legal capital prevent entrepreneurship. Historically the legal capital has been justified by means of creditor protection. Nowdays the development within EU rather reduces or abolish the legal capital. Sweden has recently, 1 of April 2010, reduced the legal capital from 100 000 Swedish crowns to 50 000 Swedish crowns. In the preparatory work it has been admitted that the legal capital does not in reality offer creditors much protection. Although the lawmaker decides to retain the legal capital and justifies the legal capitals existence with the argument that involuntary creditors has the need of the legal capital. It is also argued in the preparatory work that a reduction of the legal capital does not necessarily mean that new business creation will increase. Rather, the private limited liability company will instead be more available. I will present different authors views on the legal capital doctrine. The views that are presented are critical to the legal capital doctrine. I will also present different statistics that compares countries legal environment and how it effects entrepreneurship My conclusions are that legal capital can be questioned, especially on efficiency grounds. I also argue that legal capital in fact hinders entrepreneurship and I base my premise on the different statistics that has been presented.

This thesis aims to investigate the effects of the Swedish minimum capital requirement in relation to the Swedish private limited liability companies. The issue of whether there should be a requirement for minimum share capital has been debated in Sweden and the rest of the European Union. Sweden and other continental European countries have a tradition of providing a minimum share capital requirement in order to provide creditor protection. Countries that administer an Anglo-Saxon tradition such as England and the United States do not express the same belief in the minimum share capital’s function as creditor protection and has therefore abolished these requirements. The European Union’s Second Company Law Directive provides a minimum share capital of EUR 25,000 for companies similar to the Swedish public limited liability company. The companies comparable to the Swedish private limited liability companies is thus regulated under the law of the Member States themselves. In Sweden the frequently used arguments for abolishing the minimum share capital requirement are the rule’s dysfunction as creditor protection, the fact that the minimum share capital does not consider the specific capital demand of the company and the potential obstacle effect on entrepreneurship. The author agrees with these arguments but emphasises the minimum share capital’s function as an “entrance fee” to the private limited liability company form as an argument why the requirement should maintain in Swedish company law. The rules in ABL regarding protection of restricted equity could be replaced by a solvency-sufficiency test similar to the provision in § 6.40 MBCA. The minimum share capital’s obstacle effect on entrepreneurship could be reduced by introducing a beneficial loan with low interest rate provided by the state or the municipalities.

There exists an extensive literature related to creditor protection and its relation to the financial market, but few if any studies try to asses its net impact on the stability of the economy. In this paper we investigate the effects of creditor protection on the business cycle, and the economy during times of financial distress. More precisely we investigate how creditor protection is related to the recovery from financial crises, and how it affects growth volatility. We find support for our hypothesis that creditor protection is positively related to business cycle volatility and that this effect might work through a destabilising of the credit market.

This study examines the relationship of firm-level corporate governance and firm value, proposing a moderating effect by country-level creditor protection rights in case of M&amp;As. In order to analyse this setting a sample of 331 deals over the period of 14 years (2002-2015) was evaluated. Evidence for a negative relationship of corporate governance and firm value could be found and provides support for the negative spillover theory. Moreover, proof for a negative moderating effect of creditor protection rights is in line with previous literature which suggests that stronger creditor protection rights result in lower risk-taking behaviour which consequently leads to lower firm value. This connection of creditor rights and risk-taking is therefore influencing corporate governance. Furthermore, stronger creditor protection rights are assumed to directly affect firm value. However, no definite conclusion regarding the assumed negative relationship of firm value and creditor protection rights can be drawn since this finding is lacking statistical significance.

Legal Capital of Capital Companies, its Formation and Protection This diploma thesis deals with theoretical concepts on legal capital, its economic significance and mainly with statutory rules of legal capital formation. The attention is given to various aspects of monetary as well as non-monetary contributions to the legal capital of capital companies, inclusive of the legal capital minimum requirement, and also the issue of no par value shares is mentioned. The Czech law is based on the capital formation and maintenance doctrine. Also the European law, which influences Czech legal rules to a high extent, stands on the principles of fixed legal capital. This means that capital companies must be provided by their owners (members, shareholders) with a certain capital stock at the time the companies are formed and come into being and this capital stock must be kept in the company for its whole life. The sense of these rules is predominantly seen in the protection of creditors. The capital formation rules comprise mainly the requirement for minimum legal capital and rules concerning the contributions to the legal capital. The minimum capital requirement is aimed at securing that the capital company starts its business with sufficient funds. The regulation of contributions is meant to ensure that the...

En grundläggande princip för ett aktiebolag är att aktieägarna inte har något personligt betalningsansvar för bolagets förpliktelser. I syfte att skydda bolagsborgenärerna så finns det i aktiebolagslagen ett flertal kapitalskyddsregler. I 25 kap. ABL finns de så kallade kapitalbristreglerna. Reglerna bygger på att när en kritisk kapitalbrist har uppstått, så ska styrelsen iaktta ett visst handlingsmönster som syftar till att antingen läka kapitalbristen, eller inleda en ordnad avveckling av bolaget. Underlåter bolagets företrädare att vidta de åtgärder som lagen föreskriver så kan dessa personer bli solidariskt medansvariga med bolaget för de förpliktelser som uppkommer därefter. En grundläggande utgångspunkt i syfte att skydda bolagets borgenärer är att den kontrollbalansräkning som handlingsmönstret ålägger bolaget att upprätta ska granskas av bolagets revisor. Syftet med den oberoende granskningen är att förhindra att styrelsen fuskar med kontrollbalansräkningen genom antedatering, eller genom att t.ex. tillämpa felaktiga värderingsprinciper. Efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten 2010 finns det inte längre något krav på granskning för små aktiebolag i Sverige. Detta har påverkat över 350 000 aktiebolag och riskerar att utgöra ett reellt hot mot borgenärsskyddet. Syftet med studien är således att undersöka hur avskaffandet av revisionsplikten har påverkat borgenärsskyddet i kapitalbristlagstiftningen. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys har tillämpats för att besvara studiens syfte. En granskning av myndighetsdokument, offentliga utredningar, förarbeten och lagtexter har genomförts för att få en helhetsbild för det befintliga rättsläget. Vidare har juridisk doktrin och lagkommentarer från auktoritativa parter samt kommentarer från dags- och kvällstidningar granskats i syfte att åskådliggöra eventuella tillkortakommanden med kapitalbristreglerna efter avskaffandet av revisionsplikten. Granskningen ligger till grund för den kronologiska genomgång som resultatet bygger på. Våra slutsatser påvisar att kapitalbristreglerna i första hand ämnar att skydda bolagets borgenärer. Det har i lagens förarbeten identifierats meningsskiljaktigheter angående vilka intressenter som faktiskt tillgodoses av revisorsgranskningen som kapitalbristreglerna till stor del lutar sig mot. Studien har också funnit att ett flertal auktoritativa myndigheter såsom Ekobrottsmyndigheten, Riksrevisionen, Brottsförebyggande rådet och Skatteverket har riktat kritik mot avskaffandet av revisionsplikten och dess effekter. Den slopade revisionsplikten kvarstår alltjämt, trots kritiken, vilket tyder på att företagarorganisationerna som stödjer reformen tillsammans utgör ett inflytelserikt intressentkollektiv. Slutligen kan konstateras att avskaffandet av revisionsplikten har försämrat det skydd som borgenärer tidigare åtnjutit genom 25 kap. 13-18 §§ ABL. Då revisorns oberoende granskning utgjort en grundpelare i kapitalbristlagstiftningen så förefaller den befintliga lagen inte vara ändamålsenlig i syfte att skydda ett borgenärskollektiv. / A basic principle for a limited company is that the shareholders have no personal responsibility for the company’s liabilities. In order to protect general creditors the Swedish Companies Act contains several capital protection rules. Chapter 25 in the Swedish Companies Act contains the so-called capital shortage rules. The rules are based on the fact that when a critical capital shortage has arisen, the board must observe a certain pattern of action that aims to either restore the shareholders’ equity, or petition the court for a liquidation order. If the board of directors fails to take the measures prescribed by law, these individuals may become jointly and severally liable for obligations that incur during the period of such failure to act. A fundamental premiss for the purpose of protecting the company’s creditors is that the balance sheet for liquidation purposes needs to be examined by the company’s auditors. The purpose of the auditors examination is to prevent the board from cheating with the balance sheet for liquidation purposes by backdating, or by applying incorrect valuation principles. After the abolition of the audit obligation in 2010, there is no longer any requirement for auditing for small limited companies in Sweden. This has affected more than 350 000 companies and risks being a real threat to the creditor protection. Thus, the purpose of the study is to examine how the abolition of the audit obligation has affected the credit protection in the capital shortage rules. A qualitative content analysis has been applied in order to fulfill the purpose of the study. An examination of government documents, public investigations, preparatory works and legal texts has been carried out in order to identify the existing legal situation. Furthermore, legal doctrine and legal comments from authoritative parties as well as comments from daily and evening newspapers have been examined in order to illustrate eventual shortcoming with the capital shortage rules, after the abolition of the audit obligation. The examination forms the basis of the chronological review on which the result is based on.Our conclusions prove that the capital shortage rules primarily aim to protect the company’s creditors. Disagreements have been identified in the law’s preparatory works regarding which stakeholders that actually are catered by the auditors’ audit on which the capital shortage rules are based on. The study has also found that a number of authoritative authorities such the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, Swedish National Audit Office, Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention and the Swedish Tax Agency have criticized the abolition of the audit obligation and its effects. The abolished audit obligation still remains, despite the criticism, which indicates that the corporate organizations that support the reform, together constitute an influential stakeholder collective. Finally, it can be stated that the abolition of the audit obligation has impaired the protection that creditors previously enjoyed through Chapter 25 sections 13-18 in the Swedish Companies Act. Since the auditor’s unbiased review constituted a cornerstone of the capital shortage rules, the existing law does not appear to be appropriate in order to protect a creditor’s collective. This paper is hereinafter written in Swedish.

Die erste Studie analysiert den Einfluss von Gläubigerschutz auf die internationalen Anlageentscheidungen in Anleihemärkten. In den Ländern mit einem überdurchschnittlichen Gläubigerschutz wirkt ein verbesserter Gläubigerschutz im Heimatmarkt positiv auf die Nachfrage nach ausländischen Anleihen, reduziert jedoch den positiven Effekt des ausländischen Gläubigerschutzes auf die internationale Diversifikation. Die zweite Studie analysiert die Behavioral Finance Erklärungsansätze für Home Bias. Es wird gezeigt, dass Patriotismus und Intoleranz gegen Unsicherheit einen negativen Einfluss auf die internationale Diversifikation in Anleihemärkten haben. Die dritte Studie analysiert die Vorhersagekraft der Händlerpositionen auf die Renditen der Terminkontrakte für Agrarrohstoffe mittels Quantil-Regressionen. Dadurch können signifikante Granger-Kausalitäten zwischen Händlerpositionen und Renditen entdeckt werden, die nicht durch die traditionellen Granger-Kausalitätstests für den Mittelwert der Renditeverteilung aufgedeckt werden können. Die vierte Studie untersucht die kurz- und langfristigen Einflüsse der Spekulanten auf die Preisbildung in den Edelmetallterminmärkten. Es wird gezeigt, dass die kumulierten Änderungen in Händlerpositionen die Edelmetallterminpreise vorhersagen können. Die letzte Studie berücksichtigt die Nichtlinearitäten in der Vorhersagekraft der Handelsaktivität für Renditen in den Bullen- und Bärenmarktphasen der Edelmetallterminmärkte. Die Richtung der Granger-Kausalität zwischen Handelsaktivität und nachfolgenden Renditen ist oft asymmetrisch in den unterschiedlichen Marktphasen, was durch den unterschiedlichen Informationsgehalt der Transaktionen erklärt werden kann. / The first study analyzes the relationship between domestic creditor protection and foreign investment in bond markets. For the investing countries with relatively high levels of domestic creditor protection, a high level of domestic creditor protection is associated with a higher international diversification in bond portfolios and reduces the sensitivity of foreign investment to the foreign creditor protection. The second study explores the behavioral determinants of home bias in debt markets. It shows that patriotism and uncertainty avoidance reduce international diversification. The third paper analyzes the relationship between financial activity and returns in twelve agricultural futures markets based on quantile regressions. Quantile regressions detect significant Granger-causal effects from trader positions to returns that would not have been unveiled while using the traditional "Granger causality in mean" approach. The fourth essay investigates long- and short-term effects of speculative activity on the price mechanism in precious metals futures markets and shows that accumulated changes in positions of speculators have the potential to forecast returns. The last study accounts for non-linearity in the predictive power of trading activity for precious metals futures returns in bull and bear market states. The direction of Granger causality from trading activity to subsequent returns is often asymmetric across bull and bear markets, which may be explained by the different informational content of trades.

<p>Title: The implementation of valuation of tangible and financial assets to fair value – and its effects on the creditor protection</p><p>Course: Bachelor theses in business accounting, 10 Swedish credits</p><p>Author: Sam Espeland</p><p>Advisor: Ogi Chun</p><p>Key words: IAS 16, 39, 40, fair value, creditor protection, equity</p><p>Purpose: The purpose with the essay is to examine how the implementation of the IAS standards that regard valuation to fair value, effects the equity and how the effects on equity affects the creditor protection.</p><p>Methodology: The essay is using both a quantitative and a qualitative approach in which the quantitative part constitutes of data collection from annual reports and the qualitative part constitutes of interviews.</p><p>Theoretical perspective: The theory gives a thorough understanding in how the IAS standards are designed, furthermore the procedure at liquidation and lack of capital is being treated, moreover some relevant terms and concepts are being treated.</p><p>Empirical foundation: This chapter is divided into two parts, in one part the results from the quantitative approach is being presented in diagram form, and in the other part the interviews are being presented.</p><p>Conclusions: The implementation will give a higher equity for most real estate companies, but likely also for example the mining industry. The creditor protection will likely be worsened among the industries that experience an increase in equity since their activities may proceed for a longer time before they have to be liquidated.</p> / <p>Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur införandet av IAS standarder som rör värdering till verkligt värde, påverkar eget kapital och hur detta i sin tur påverkar borgenärsskyddet.</p><p>Metod: Uppsatsen använder sig av både ett kvantitativt och ett kvalitativt upplägg där den kvantitativa delen utgörs av datainsamling från årsredovisningar och den kvalitativa delen utgörs av intervjuer.</p><p>Teoretiskt perspektiv: Teorin ger en ingående kunskap i hur IAS standarderna är utformade, dessutom behandlas förfarandet vid likvidation och kapitalbrist, vidare behandlas en del relevanta termer och begrepp.</p><p>Empiri: Empirin är uppdelad i två delar, i den ena delen redovisas resultatet av den kvantitativa ansatsen i diagramform, och i den andra delen redovisas utförda intervjuer.</p><p>Slutsatser: Implementeringen av relevanta IAS standarder ger ett ökat eget kapital för fastighetsbranschen men sannolikt även för t ex. gruvbolag. Borgenärsskyddet kommer sannolikt försämras bland de branscher där eget kapital ökar, eftersom deras verksamhet kan fortgå under en längre tid innan de måste träda i likvidation.</p>

The harmonization within EC Company Law has been relativley successful. Despite its relative success; important differences still remains in European company law. The freedom of establishment itself, and the ECJ’s interpretation of the freedom provides European companies with a substantial cross-border mobility. As a consequence of this mobility, together with the differences in national legislation; mandatory rules in company law can be easily evaded. A typical example of this is that a Swedish enterprise, by running their business through a British private limited company, can escape the Swedish legislation on capital contributions when forming a company with limited liability for its members. These rules are thereby undermined. The fact that these, otherwise mandatory, rules can be evaded should result in a questioning of their existence. The main purpose of rules on minimal capital contributions is to safeguard the interests of the creditors of the company. The analysis in this thesis shows that the Swedish legal capital regime is very unlikley to fulfill its purpose. The alternative, English company law, can in various aspects be seen as more efficient. / Den gemenskapsrättsliga harmoniseringsprocessen har på bolagsrättens område varit relativt framgångsrik. Trots detta går det i dagsläget inte att tala om någon konform europeisk bolagsrätt. Betydande skillnader kvarstår mellan de nationella bolagsrättsliga regelverken. Den EG-rättsliga etableringsfriheten, och EG-domstolens tolkning av densamma, innebär att de europeiska företagen ges ett relativt stort mått av gränsöverskridande rörelsefrihet. En följd av denna mobilitet tillsammans med skillnaderna i de nationella regelverken är att tvingande nationell bolagsrättslig lagstiftning relativt enkelt kan kringgås. Ett typexempel på detta är att svenska företagare, genom att bedriva sin verksamhet i ett engelskt aktiebolag, kan undgå det svenska kravet på tillskjutande av ett minsta aktiekapital vid bildandet av ett privat aktiebolag. Det svenska kapitalkravet kan därmed sägas vara underminerat. Blott det faktum att det svenska kapitalkravet underminerats innebär att dess existens bör ifrågasättas. Syftet med kapitalkravet är främst att skydda borgenärernas intressen i bolagen. Mot bakgrund av vad som framkommer i denna uppsats kan det svenska kapitalkravets effektivitet betvivlas. Alternativet, den engelska bolagsrätten, kan ur en rad aspekter sägas vara mer ändamålsenlig.