This thesis is an empirical event study that examines the short-run performance of initial public offerings (IPO), known as underpricing and initial return. I argue that literature which only presents equal weights could potentially give the reader a skewed understanding of the width of the concept. By using a new data set of Nordic IPOs during the period 2009-2018, I provide estimates using equal as well as market capitalization weights consistently to give a more nuanced and fair picture. The equally weighted first-day initial return is estimated to be 4.96% and the value weighted first-day initial return is estimated to be 5.32% during the examined time period. Further, the initial return is examined in relation to firm characteristics as well as quarterly index returns and issuance volume. No statistically significant characteristics that can identify additional levels of underpricing was found. Quarterly average initial returns and quarterly index returns are independent of each other. In line with previous literature the positive relationship of issuance volume and initial return is valid on a quarterly level, indicating that firms tend to go public in times of positive and higher initial returns to a greater extent.

The Nordic markets have in recent years been flooded by IPOs, which have attracted the attention of investors seeking to capitalise on the IPO market. Previous studies on the IPO market have found strong evidence of underpricing, which is increasing in good market conditons. Using a sample of 448 IPOs, this thesis have examinated how the IPOs in the Nordic region perfrom in the aftermarket during one year, dependent on the market conditon at the time of the issuance. The IPOs in the sample have been divided into subgroups based on the market condtion at the time of the issuance, and a totalt of three different defitnions of how the market conditoion is defined have been used. The abnormal return of the IPOs have furthermore been calculated against two alternative benchmarks to streanghen the validity of the result. The result of the study indicates that the underpricing of IPOs in the Nordic region is lower compared to other larger economies. Evidence have also been presented which show that the market condition at the time of the issuance greatly affects the return of the IPOs.

This study investigates an appropriate accrual-based model in detecting earnings management (EM) of Chinese firms undergoing initial public offering (IPO) process. The mainstream literatures show that state-owned enterprise (SOE) has involved with less earnings management (EM) than non-state-owned enterprise (NSOE) in pre-IPO market from 2003 to 2009. The reason is that SOE could borrow money from bank, compared to NSOE. However, SOE has been proven to conduct stronger EMs in pre-IPO market during 2011 to 2013 by manipulating with property plant and equipment (PPE), the flows of account receivable (AR) and long-term debt (LTD). Besides, I also suggest a new accrual-based model that could better fit into the unique features of Chinese firms in their process of IPO application.

Områdesbeskrivning: IPO-marknaden kan undersökas på olika sätt. Varför underprissättning är så förhärskande, om den går i cykler eller vad det är som påverkar den. Vi vill undersöka den svenska IPO-marknaden under perioden 2006-2020 och om den påverkas av makroekonomiska faktorer såsom inflation eller styrränta. Denna studie är inspirerad av tidigare forskning utförd av Tran och Jeon (2011) som undersöker om det finns samband mellan makroekonomiska faktorer och IPO-marknadens aktivitet på den amerikanska marknaden. Är det så att olika IPO-marknader påverkas av olika faktorer på unika sätt eller är IPO-marknader världen över homogena? Vi försöker dessutom framställa en modell som beskriver det mest gynnsamma förhållandet att genomföra en IPO under om målet är att anskaffa mer kapital. Syfte: Uppsatsen syfte är att undersöka den svenska IPO-marknadens aktivitet under perioden 2006-2020. Samt undersöka i vilken utsträckning den svenska IPO-marknadens aktiviteten påverkas av makroekonomiska faktorer. Med vår undersökning av de makroekonomiska faktorerna som grund kan vi således undersöka vilka makroekonomiska förhållanden som är mest gynnsamma för företag i Sverige att genomföra en IPO under om målet är att anskaffa mer kapital. Metod: En kvantitativ metod appliceras i denna uppsats för att besvara våra forskningsfrågor och datan vi samlar in analyseras med hjälp utav en regressionsanalys. Vi samlar in vårt datamaterial genom att läsa igenom årsredovisningar från de företag som genomfört en IPO under den tidsperioden vi undersöker. Hypoteserna formuleras utifrån tidigare forskning och ämnar att undersöka om de makroekonomiska faktorerna har ett positivt eller negativt samband med IPO-marknadsaktivitet. Resultat: Resultaten som vi finner är att det finns signifikanta samband mellan den svenska IPO-marknadens aktivitet och makroekonomiska faktorer. Vi identifierar ett förhållande som kan beskrivas som det mest gynnsamma makroekonomiska förhållandet utifrån vår modell. Begränsningar: Vår uppsats är begränsad till tidsperiod 2006-2020 samt den svenska IPO-marknaden. På grund av att viss information kring hur mycket kapital ett företag anskaffar vid sin IPO saknas så begränsas vårt urval. / Area description: IPO markets can be studied in different ways. Why underpricing is so prevalent, if the market moves in cycles or what influences the market. We want to study the Swedish IPO market during the period of 2006-2020 and if it is influenced by macroeconomic factors like inflation or the policy rate. This study is influenced by the work done by Tran and Jeon (2011) who examines if there are any relationships between macroeconomic factors and IPO market activity on the American PO market. Is it that different IPO markets are influenced by different factors in unique ways or are the IPO markets around the globe homogeneous. We try to produce a model that describes the most favourable environment to implement an IPO in if the goal is to acquire more capital. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to examine the activity of the Swedish IPO market during the period 2006-2020 and examine the extent to which the activity of the Swedish IPO market is affected by macroeconomic factors. Based on our study of the macroeconomic factors, we can therefore examine which macroeconomic conditions are most favourable for companies in Sweden to carry out an IPO under the goal of raising more capital.  Method: A quantitative method is applied in this thesis to answer our research questions and the data we collect is analysed with the help of a regression analysis. We collect our data by reading through annual reports from the companies that conducted an IPO during the period we are investigating. The hypotheses are formulated based on previous research and intend to investigate whether the macroeconomic factors have a positive or negative relationship with IPO market activity.  Results: The results we find is that there are significant relationships between the activity of the Swedish IPO market and macroeconomic factors. We identify a ratio that can be described as the most favourable macroeconomic ratio based on our model.  Limitations: Our thesis is limited to the period 2006-2020 and the Swedish IPO market. Due to the lack of certain information about how much capital a company raises at its IPO, our selection is limited.