Abstract Master Thesis (4FE18E), Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Spring 2023 Titel: The CFO’s role for a successful acquisition A qualitative study of business leadership in the acquisition process Background & problem: An acquisition is created when a company buys another company through a negotiation that meets certain technical, financial and legal criterias. There are three different types of acquisitions which are horizontal, vertical and cross-border, all of which have different purposes and underlying motives. There are many factors that affect an acquisition process because the process is so complex, long and difficult. Some factors are more obvious than others and some are more studied than others. Among other things, humanistic factors are mentioned such as changes in management or company culture, relations and interaction between different roles or how tasks such as creating the strategy behind the acquisition have their impacts. The role of a CFO can be divided into three roles, which are Merger Strategist, Synergy Manager and Business Integrator. Or it can be said that a CFO's role in the acquisition process will be a driving role or participating role in pretty much all parts of the acquisition process, from the start of the process to its end. An acquisition usually aims to result in synergy effects, which can be divided into two categories, financial synergies and operational synergies. Acquisitions can be considered unsuccessful in the sense that the expected synergy effects after the acquisition have not been successfully realized. Many have a skeptical view of mergers and acquisitions and believe instead that companies on their own already are as efficient as they can be and that an acquisition would not increase this efficiency. However, several aspects still speak in favor of carrying out business acquisitions, and Sacui & Maticiuc believe that it is a much more efficient and faster way to create growth and competitive advantages than relying only on organic growth. However, some researchers and experts in the field still believe that historically they have witnessed many acquisitions but not as many with a successful outcome. More research and more people interested in the subject came in the 1980s, but still the number of successful acquisitions around the world has not changed since then. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to map the CFO's role and importance in acquisition processes, as well as to describe and analyze factors that can affect the implementation and outcome of the acquisition, to finally arrive at a conclusion for how a CFO can handle these factors in their leadership role. Method: The study's research approach is based on a qualitative multiple-case study that has been created with a deductive approach with inductive elements. The study is also based primarily on a semi-structured interview form but also parts of a more open interview form, this in order to achieve the flexibility and mobility for the respondents to shape their answers in their own ways. The study's respondents have been formed according to a goal-directed selection based on certain criteria, criteria shaped by the study's purpose and questions. Criteria that were followed for this study's selection were for the financial directors only their professional role, for other roles they were that they either work closely with their financial director or that they were extremely involved in the company's acquisition process. Results & conclusion: The study results in how a finance director can work in all phases of an acquisition process and in what way this gives importance to the success of the acquisition. The result also shows how the CFO throughout the acquisition will have an important role, while at the same time it will shift in size and importance. The study's conclusion will land in three aspects with the aim of highlighting the importance of understanding the competence profile created for a finance director in the acquisition process, shedding light on the important and decisive strategy work and in an understanding that all acquisitions need a situational approach and that this study therefore does not can be fully applied to all types of acquisition processes.

Studien fokuserar på om könsfördelningen i företagsledningen hos svenska börsnoterade företag påverkar den frivilliga information som redovisas i årsredovisningar. Data har samlats in från databaser och manuellt från årsredovisningar. Studien använder en regressionsanalys och resultatet visar att fler kvinnor i styrelsen eller en kvinnlig ekonomidirektör leder till att företag redovisar mer frivillig information. Vi finner inget samband mellan könet hos den verkställande direktören och frivillig redovisning, något som förmodligen beror på att urvalet endast består av två procent kvinnliga verkställande direktörer. Resultatet bidrar till att öka informationen om frivillig redovisning och hur det påverkas av könsfördelning i svenska företagsledningar. Det är av praktisk relevans för svenska företag och investerare då ökad informationsgivning bidrar till minskad informationsasymmetri vilket ger lägre agent- och kapitalkostnader. Framtida studier kan med fördel använda ett större urval för att undersöka om könsfördelningen i ledningen påverkar mängden frivillig redovisning. Exempelvis genom att även inkludera mindre och onoterade företag.