Die Honorarberatung befindet sich überall in Europa auf dem Vormarsch. Sie ist eine von Regulierern geschätzte Alternative zur viel kritisierten Provisionsberatung. Im Widerspruch dazu verhalten sich Bankkunden zurückhaltend bis ablehnend. Dies wirft die Frage auf, worin die Ursachen liegen könnten. Mögliche Antworten werden auf Basis einer Choice-Based Conjoint-Analyse mit Kundenclusterung abgeleitet. Es zeigt sich, dass die Bankkunden gespalten sind. Eine kleine Gruppe von agilen, gut informierten, einkommensstarken Personen präferiert die Honorarberatung (6% aller Bankkunden). Währenddessen tendiert die große Masse der Kunden zur Provisionsberatung. Diese Masse zeichnet sich durch ein erstaunlich realistisches Bild von sich selbst aus. Sie hält sich für schlecht informiert und wenig erfahren, für unflexibel und nicht offen für Neues. Sie sucht ihr Heil in einem bedingungslosen Vertrauen zur Bank. Ein solches eröffnet Spielräume für opportunistisches Verhalten auch bei der Honorarberatung. Die Politik muss daher entweder die Honorarberatung regulatorisch gegen jede Art des Opportunismus absichern oder liberal agieren und Verstöße gegen den Vertrauensvorschuss ex post sanktionieren. / The transition to fee-based advisory is underway in Europe. The regulatory bodies consider this the preferred alternative in contrast to the commission-based agent approach. However, the same state of euphoria cannot be found among clients. Up until now, banking clients in Germany have been cautious, modest and reluctant. This prompts questions as to what could be the cause of such behaviour. Possible explanations can be found in a conjoint-analysis with client clustering. It can be shown that the behaviour of German clients in banking is divided. A small group of agile, well-informed individuals with high incomes prefers fee-based advisory services (6% of all clients). Meanwhile, the large majority of clients tend to prioritise the commission-based advisory service. Interestingly, this group is characterized by an astonishingly realistic picture of themselves. The clients consider themselves not properly informed, lacking experience, inflexible and not open for innovation. They seek salvation by granting unconditional trust to their banks. These clients cannot assess or judge if a new type of advisory method will offer any kind of advantage. If politics wants to promote the fee-based model it has to assure absolutely water-proof solutions, otherwise a resulting loss of confidence in case of misuse will be inevitable. Taking a more liberal approach, politics could leave several avenues open and instead sanction infringements of accredited trust.

Die vorliegende Ausgabe gibt einen Überblick über Zusammenhänge der Kapazitätsauslastung und den Veränderungen der Umwelt der Siedlungsentwässerung. Anhand des Abwasserentsorgers ABWASSERZWECKVERBAND „SPREEQUELLEN“ werden die Auswirkungen des demografischen Wandels auf die Gebühren unter Beachtung der Kostenentwicklung analysiert. Die Umwelt der Siedlungsentwässerung wird von politisch-rechtlichen, ökonomischen, soziokulturellen, technologischen und ökologischen Faktoren beeinflusst, welche miteinander im Zusammenhang stehen. Veränderungen dieser Faktoren beeinflussen die Kapazitätsauslastung in der Siedlungsentwässerung, besonders mit dem Rückgang des anfallenden Abwassers. Vor allem die lange Lebensdauer beziehungsweise Nutzungsdauer der Anlagen führt dazu, dass in der Planungsphase zukünftige Entwicklungen nicht immer vollständig abgeschätzt werden können. Auswirkungen einer geringeren Auslastung der Abwasseranlagen können zu Problemen beim Betrieb wie auch zu wirtschaftliche Folgen führen. Weiterhin werden mögliche künftige Strategien, wie zum Beispiel eine weitere Reduzierung der Kosten soweit dies bei einem weiterhin regulären Betrieb möglich ist oder auch eine Erhöhung der erhobenen Gebühren vorgestellt.

Over the past decades, investing and saving in mutual funds has become a popular alternativefor generating returns. Interest continues to grow and is widespread among different types ofinvestors, ranging from small-scale savers to professional investors, as well as differentgeographic markets. As interest and investment has grown, so has the range of fundsavailable, and with it the range of focused funds. Among these are real estate funds, fundsconsisting of holdings in the real estate market including different types of real estatecompanies and property-related assets. The ownership of funds is associated with a fee to cover various costs associated withoperating the fund. These fees can vary greatly in size across fund types and managers andaffect the fund’s performance and returns. Fees in relation to return have been researchedwith varying results and with the rise of focused funds, the authors felt that it should befurther investigated. The purpose of this study was thus formulated to investigate whetherthere is a relationship between fund fees and returns for real estate funds. This in turn toanswer whether it is justified for fund managers to charge a higher fee and to examine if theTheory of an Efficient Market holds or not. For this, a total sample of 69 real estate fundsfrom the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish markets during a 3 year period from 1th of January2020 to the 31th of December 2022 was examined. In summary, based on the conducted regression analyses, it can be inferred that the results,similar to previous research, vary. However, it can be observed that there is a negativerelationship between fund fees and the risk-adjusted returns of real estate funds whenanalysing funds that have been active throughout the examined period. The analyses alsoreveal that the age and size of the funds have an impact on the risk-adjusted returns, whereyounger funds with large assets generate higher returns. This means that young real estatefunds with large assets and lower fees generate higher returns compared to older funds withsmall assets and higher fees. Consequently, it is not justified for managers to charge higherfees, nor for investors to pay them. Investors seeking to maximise their returns are thereforeadvised to choose real estate funds with low fees. Finally, based on this, it can be assumedthat the Theory of Efficient Markets holds for real estate funds in the Swedish, Norwegian,and Finnish markets.

<p>  </p> <p>In the first chapter, we developed a dynamic equilibrium model of multiple stocks with extrapolators under the framework of Barberis, Greenwood, Jin, and Shleifer (2015a). Our model builds on the fact that extrapolative investors assign different relative weights of recent versus distant past return when forming their beliefs. We find that stock price increases in its own past performance measure, and is additionally associated with the past performance measure of the other stock if their dividends are correlated. The stock with higher relative weight have higher stock price, higher stock volatility, and lower risk premium. Both the own stock’s and the other stock’s past performance measure negatively predicts future stock price changes. </p> <p><br></p> <p>The second chapter includes Adem Atmaz, Stefano Cassella, and Huseyin Gulen as co-authors. In this chapter, we document considerable cross-sectional variation in survey expectations about aggregate stock market returns. While most investors are extrapolators who expect higher returns after a good market performance, some are contrarians who expect lower returns after a good performance. More notably, compared to extrapolators, contrarians have less persistent expectations that are corrected more quickly. Accordingly, we develop a dynamic equilibrium model accounting for these differences in expectations and find that the equilibrium stock price exhibits short-term momentum and long-term reversal as in the data. Furthermore, we test the key predictions of the model linking the shortterm momentum to observable differences between extrapolators and contrarians and find supportive evidence for our mechanism. </p> <p><br></p> <p>The third chapter includes Adem Atmaz and Suleyman Basak as co-authors. In this chapter, we develop a dynamic model of costly stock short-selling and lending market and obtain implications simultaneously supporting many empirical regularities. In our model, investors’ belief disagreement leads to lenders and short-sellers, who pay shorting fees to borrow stocks from lenders. Our main novel results are as follows. Short interest predicts future stock returns negatively and has a stronger predictive power than the corresponding dividend-price ratio. Higher short-selling risk can be associated with lower stock returns and less short-selling activity. Stock volatility is increased under costly short-selling. An application to the GameStop episode yields implications consistent with observed patterns. </p>

This paper seeks to investigate whether management fees, set by mutual funds, rely on a set of explanatory variables. The study includes equity, bond, and money market funds, all investing in securities registered in Sweden. Results obtained from the project show that changes in assets under management, standard deviation, and tracking error, for a course of 5 years, can provide some explanation to what management fees mutual funds set. In turn, this raises many interesting questions on how capital flows and fund differentiation affects the fees. Also, a market analysis of the Swedish fund market shows that elements of monopolistic competition are present. Finally, because of the scope of this study, several suggestions on further research have been made. / Denna artikel ämnar undersöka huruvida förvaltningsavgifter, satta av fonder, beror på ett antal förklarande variabler. Studien inkluderar aktie, obligations och korträntefonder, vilka investerar i värdepapper registrerade i Sverige. Resultat erhållna från projektet tyder på att förändringar i kapital under förvaltning, standardavvikelse och spårningsfel (tracking error), alla uppmätta över 5 år, delvis kan förklara vilka avgifter fonder sätter. I sin tur väcker detta flera intressanta frågor över hur kapitalflöden och fonddifferentiering påverkar avgifter. Dessutom visar en genomförd marknadsanalys över den svenska fondmarknaden att karaktäristiska drag av monopolistisk konkurrens är närvarande. Slutligen, i samband med studiens omfattning, så har flertalet förslag på vidare studier gjorts.

Structural changes in the knowledge economy have greatly affected the way business is conducted and the processes firms create value. The financial reporting system is inadequate as a result of such changes, and disclosure of intellectual capital (IC) information has gained importance for communicating with capital markets. Empirical research documents corporate governance (CG) factors influencing IC disclosure practices, as well as demonstrates the value-relevance and predictive power of IC information. The disclosure of IC information by listed firms is a topic that has attracted considerable attention from contemporary researchers, but scant empirical evidence exists. Much of the researchers has examined CG as a key determinant of IC (and nonfinancial) disclosure; in contrast, few provides evidence for explaining their controversial findings of board independence on disclosure. In addition, a lack of studies confirms the literature about the use of IC information by capital market participants. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine disclosure of IC information in relation to outside directors, auditors, and sell-side analysts respectively. The specific objectives of this thesis are to examine whether outside directors’ expertise is a determinant of IC disclosure; and the extent to which the disclosure of IC information impacts on audit effort and analysts’ forecasts. In order to address these research objectives, a content analysis of IC disclosure (a self-constructed index of 64 coded items) in strategic reports released by FTST 350 companies is used. The content analysis captures and measures IC disclosure by category (i.e., human, structural & relational capital), notion (i.e., static vs. dynamic), and connection (i.e., across categories vs. with strategies). Using multivariate regression models that were primarily developed upon information asymmetry arguments and agency theory, the specific objectives of this thesis are addressed in three empirical chapters. The findings in Chapter 3 showed that proportion of outside directors (NEDs) with cross-directorship, nonaccounting and academia expertise has a positive association with IC disclosures, whereas board independence itself has no effect on the disclosures. The findings indicates that the monitoring role of NEDs alone is inadequate in promoting IC disclosure. Rather, it supports the importance of the dual role (i.e., monitor and advisory) of a supervisory board. The results also respond to the UK CG Code in their recommendation that the combination of skills, experience and knowledge guarantees a sound information environment to the market. Nonetheless, findings raised a further concern about the quantity of IC disclosures when companies have more NEDs with accounting expertise. On whether and how disclosure of IC information impacts on audit effort, Chapter 4 found that firms with high levels of IC disclosure in the previous year pay more audit fees (proxied for audit effort) in the current year regardless of their earnings quality conditions. It was also found that firms greatly disclosing dynamic IC information are charged more than those of focusing on static IC disclosure. In addition, findings in Chapter 5 revealed that there is a negative relation between IC disclosure and analyst forecast errors, indicating that UK sell-side analysts appreciate the disclosure of IC information and thus confirming that IC information has predictive ability of explaining a firm’s future value. It was further identified that disclosed IC information absorbs the negative effect of concentrated executive ownership and opaque financial environment. Overall, the results of this thesis suggest that IC reporting process could be improved by having sufficient outside directors with certain types of expertise on the board. In doing so, improved IC disclosure helps to reduce information asymmetry (proxied by analyst forecast accuracy) between firms and outside investors, albeit firms bear a significant increase in audit fees. This study calls for guidelines for IC disclosure in the UK and the support of assurance services to enhance credibility of firm-provided IC information in a bid to promote the communication of IC information with the capital market.

Text in Afrikaans / Dit is belangrik vir 'n inligtingsdiens wat inligting aan die gemeenskap beskikbaar wil stel, om sekere faktore in ag te neem. 'n Belangrike aspek is of die instansie in staat is om 'n bepaalde diens te lewer wat betref voorraad, fasiliteite en personeel. 'n Vraag wat gevra moet word, is of hierdie diens teen betaling gelewer, of as 'n gratis diens aangebied moet word. 'n Belangrike aspek is die bemarking van dienste wat vroeer nie as deel van 'n ondememing sander winsoogmerke gesien is nie, maar deesdae deel van die bestuursproses uitmaak. Daar behoort ook 'n goeie verstandhouding en 'n vennootskap tussen die inligtingsdiens en die gebruiker in die gemeenskap te bestaan en samewerking tussen die partye behoort op hierdie wyse bewerkstellig te word. Om 'n pro-aktiewe inligtingsdiens aan te hied, is dit belangrik dat kennis geneem word van die inligtingsbehoeftes van die bestuurder in die handel en nywerheid. / Certain factors should be taken into consideration when an information service wishes to provide information to the community. An important matter is whether the institution is able to provide certain services as far as the collection, facilities and personnel are concerned. A question that should also be asked, is whether this should be a fee-based service, or a free service. Another important matter is the marketing of services, which in earlier times did not form part of a non-profit organization, but is nowadays regarded as part of normal management practice. There should also exist a good understanding and a partnership between the information service and the user in the community, and in this way co­ operation between both parties should be established. In order to provide a pro-active information service, it is important to have knowledge of the information needs of the manager in industry and commerce. / Information Science / M.Bibl. (Inligtingkunde)

Text in Afrikaans / Dit is belangrik vir 'n inligtingsdiens wat inligting aan die gemeenskap beskikbaar wil stel, om sekere faktore in ag te neem. 'n Belangrike aspek is of die instansie in staat is om 'n bepaalde diens te lewer wat betref voorraad, fasiliteite en personeel. 'n Vraag wat gevra moet word, is of hierdie diens teen betaling gelewer, of as 'n gratis diens aangebied moet word. 'n Belangrike aspek is die bemarking van dienste wat vroeer nie as deel van 'n ondememing sander winsoogmerke gesien is nie, maar deesdae deel van die bestuursproses uitmaak. Daar behoort ook 'n goeie verstandhouding en 'n vennootskap tussen die inligtingsdiens en die gebruiker in die gemeenskap te bestaan en samewerking tussen die partye behoort op hierdie wyse bewerkstellig te word. Om 'n pro-aktiewe inligtingsdiens aan te hied, is dit belangrik dat kennis geneem word van die inligtingsbehoeftes van die bestuurder in die handel en nywerheid. / Certain factors should be taken into consideration when an information service wishes to provide information to the community. An important matter is whether the institution is able to provide certain services as far as the collection, facilities and personnel are concerned. A question that should also be asked, is whether this should be a fee-based service, or a free service. Another important matter is the marketing of services, which in earlier times did not form part of a non-profit organization, but is nowadays regarded as part of normal management practice. There should also exist a good understanding and a partnership between the information service and the user in the community, and in this way co­ operation between both parties should be established. In order to provide a pro-active information service, it is important to have knowledge of the information needs of the manager in industry and commerce. / Information Science / M.Bibl. (Inligtingkunde)

Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Prissättningen av revisionsarvodet är komplext och kan påverkas av faktorer såsom klientens storlek och risk eller vilken revisionsbyrå som har anlitats. Tidigare forskning har visat att könsskillnader bland revisorer kan påverka revisionsarvodets storlek, där kvinnliga revisorer kan associeras med högre arvoden på grund av bland annat deras egenskaper, personlighetsdrag alternativt externa krav på mångfald från klienternas sida. Det finns en föreställning om att Sverige är mer jämställt jämfört med andra länder i Europa. Trots detta tyder forskning på att andra länder, som inte har ett lika högt jämställdhetsindex, har kommit längre gällande jämställdhet inom revisionsbranschen. Frågan som kan ställas är: påverkar den kvinnliga påskrivande revisorn revisionsarvodets storlek i Sverige och finns det således en kvinnlig premie på revisionsarvodet? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att förklara den kvinnliga påskrivande revisorns eventuella effekt på revisionsarvodet, i svenska börsnoterade bolag. Metod: Denna studie utgår från en deduktiv forskningsansats där tidigare forskning om revisionsarvodet samt befintlig teori om genus har legat till grund för studiens teoretiska referensram. Den teoretiska referensramen har sedan använts för att skapa en teoretisk modell, där förväntade samband om kvinnans direkta och indirekta samt bestämningsfaktorernas påverkan på revisionsarvodet presenteras. Denna teoretiska modell har sedan testats genom en kvantitativ forskningsmetod med empiriska data från svenska börsnoterade bolag. Datainsamlingen kommer från databaser såsom Datastream, Holdings, Business Retriever men även årsredovisningar, med fokus på år 2022. Slutsats: Det kan konstateras att den ojämna fördelningen, mellan kvinnliga och manliga påskrivande börsbolagsrevisorer, fortsatt består i Sverige. Trots detta finner vi inga signifikanta samband för kvinnans direkta och indirekta påverkan på revisionsarvodet. Med andra ord kan det konstateras att det inte finns någon skillnad i revisionsarvode mellan kvinnor och män och således existerar det ingen kvinnlig revisionspremie i Sverige. Däremot finner denna studie flertalet betydelsefulla samband mellan bestämningsfaktorerna och revisionsarvodet. Detta bekräftar att tidigare forskning om dessa bestämningsfaktorer till viss del även gäller i den svenska kontexten. / Background and problem: The pricing of audit fees is complex and can be influenced by factors such as client size and risk, or the choice of audit firm. Previous research has indicated that gender differences among auditors can impact the size of audit fees, where female auditors are associated with higher fees due to their attributes, personality traits, or external demands for diversity from clients. There is a perception that Sweden is more gender-equal compared to other European countries. However, research suggests that other countries, with lower gender equality indices, have made more progress in gender equality within the audit industry. The question that arises is: does the qualified female auditor affect the size of audit fees in Sweden, and thus, is there a female premium on audit fees? Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explain the potential effect of the qualified female auditor on the audit fee, in Swedish listed companies. Method: This study is based on a deductive research approach where previous research on audit fees and existing gender theory forms the theoretical framework of the study. The theoretical framework is then utilized to construct a theoretical model, presenting expected relations regarding the direct and indirect influence of women and determinant factors on audit fees. This theoretical model is subsequently tested using a quantitative research method with empirical data from Swedish listed companies. Data collection is sourced from databases such as Datastream, Holdings, Business Retriever, as well as annual reports, focusing on the year 2022. Conclusion: It can be noted that the uneven distribution, between female and male qualified auditors in listed companies, persists in Sweden. Despite this, we find no significant correlations for the direct and indirect influence of women on audit fees. In other words, it can be concluded that there is no difference in audit fees between women and men, and thus, there is no female audit premium in Sweden. However, this study finds several significant correlations between determinant factors and audit fees. This confirms that previous research on these determinant factors applies, to some extent, in the Swedish context.

The significant change of the banking business models is easily observable in the current banking industry. Banks are forced to find additional source of income besides the one from traditional activities and thus the non-interest income is growing in importance. One of the reasons behind is that the banks need to recover from severe impacts of financial crisis in 2008-2010 and they want to adapt to the environment of low interest rates which has been occurring in the market since 2011. In this thesis, we analyze the presence of direct effect of non-interest income (proxied by fee income) on banks' performance using data of 220 commercial and investment banks from U.S. and EU-28 countries over the period of 2007-2014. Using System Generalized Methods of Moment, the direct effect was not detected. However, we conclude that economy with low inflation rate and growing gross domestic product improves the banks' profitability, as well as high capitalization and operating and credit quality efficiency. Furthermore, we found out that the volatility of the non-interest income has increased earlier than the crisis in 2008-2010 and it has been achieving almost continuous level till 2011 when it started decreasing again. Thus the hypothesis about relationship between volatility and financial crisis was rejected.