Bakgrund och problem: Ett välkänt ekonomiskt styrmedel som används av företagsledare för att motivera anställda till att utföra prestationer som ligger i linje med företagets mål är belöningssystem. Belöningssystem fungerar olika i olika branscher och måste anpassas efter typ av verksamhet och anställda. Ett relativt outforskat område är industribranschen, här utförs ofta kärnprocessen av arbetarna på golvet vilket gör det intressant att se hur ett industriföretag jobbar med belöningssystem mot dessa typer av anställda och identifiera kritiska områden för belöningssystemets funktion mot arbetare då detta är ett ostuderat område. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med ökad förståelse om hur industriföretag jobbar med belöningssystem gentemot arbetare och vad dessa arbetare har för erfarenheter av detta system. Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie är utförd på företaget Atlas Copco Power Technique Nordic som är verksamma inom industribranschen. Åtta respondenter har intervjuats genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Studien har anammat en abduktiv forskningsansats  Slutsats: Atlas Copco Power Technique Nordic använder sig av många olika belöningar i olika former för att motivera sina anställda, en kombination av icke-monetära belöningar är den främsta nyckeln för att skapa motivation hos anställda. Det framkommer att de monetära belöningarna exklusive lön inte har betydande påverkan på arbetarnas motivation och vilja att prestera. Det visar sig även att mål och rättvisa har en betydande roll vad gäller arbetarnas positiva inställning till belöningssystemet. / Background and problem: A well-known financial instrument used by business leaders to motivate employees to perform in line with the company's goal is the reward system. Reward systems work differently in different industries and must therefore be adapted to the type of business and type of employees in an organization. A relatively unexplored area is the industrial industry. Here the core processes are often performed by the blue-collar workers which makes it interesting to see how an industrial company works with reward systems towards these types of workers and identify critical areas for the reward system's function towards blue-collar workers as this is an unstudied area. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute to an increased understanding of how industrial companies work with reward systems towards blue-collar workers and what experience these workers have of this system. Method: A qualitative case study has been carried out at the company Atlas Copco Power Technique Nordic, which is active in the industrial industry. Eight respondents were interviewed through semi-structured interviews. The study has adopted an abductive research approach  Conclusion: Atlas Copco Power Technique Nordic uses many different rewards in different ways to motivate its employees, and the combination of non-monetary rewards is the main key to creating motivation in employees. It appears that the monetary rewards excluding wages have no meaningful effect on blue collar worker’s motivation and desire to perform. It also appears that goalsetting and justice play a significant role in terms of blue collar worker’s positive attitudes towards the reward system.

Bakgrund: Varje år går många företag i konkurs och detta innebär stora kostnader på kort sikt. Kreditgivare, ägare, investerare, borgenärer, företagsledning, anställda samt samhället är de som i störst utsträckning drabbas av detta. För att kunna bedöma ett företags ekonomiska hälsa är det därför en viktig del att kunna prognostisera risken för en konkurs. Till hjälp har vi olika konkursmodeller som har utvecklats sedan början av 1960-talet och fram till idag. Syfte: Att undersöka tre internationella konkursmodeller för att se om dessa kan tillämpas på svenska företag samt jämföra träffsäkerheten från vår studie med konkursmodellernas originalstudier. Metod: Undersökningen är baserad på en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi med en deduktiv ansats. Urvalet grundas på företag som gick i konkurs år 2014. Till detta kommer också en kontrollgrupp bestående av lika stor andel friska företag att undersökas. Det slumpmässiga urvalet kom att bestå av 30 konkursföretag samt 30 friska företag från tillverknings- och industribranschen. Teori: I denna studie undersöks tre konkursmodeller; Altman, Fulmer och Springate. Dessa modeller och tidigare forskning presenteras utförligare i teoriavsnittet. Dessutom beskrivs under teoriavsnittet några nyckeltal som är relevanta vid konkursprediktion. Resultat och slutsats: Modellerna är inte tillämpbara på svenska företag då resultaten från vår studie inte visar tillräcklig träffsäkerhet och är därför måste betecknas som otillförlitliga. / Background: Each year many companies go bankrupt and it is associated with significant costs in the short term. Creditors, owners, investors, management, employees and society are those that gets most affected by the bankruptcy. To be able to estimate a company’s financial health it is important to be able to predict the risk of a bankruptcy. To help, we have different bankruptcy prediction models that have been developed through time, since the 1960s until today, year 2015. Purpose: To examine three international bankruptcy prediction models to see if they are  applicable to Swedish business and also compare the accuracy from our study with each bankruptcy prediction models original study. Method: The study was based on a quantitative research strategy and also a deductive research approach. The selection was based on companies that went bankrupt in year 2014. Added to this is a control group consisting of healthy companies that will also be examined. Finally, the random sample consisted of 30 bankrupt companies and 30 healthy companies that belong to the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Theory: In this study three bankruptcy prediction models are examined; Altman, Fulmer and Springate. These models and also previous research in bankruptcy prediction are further described in the theory section. In addition some financial ratios that are relevant in bankruptcy prediction are also described. Result and conclusion: The models are not applicable in the Swedish companies.  The results of this study have not showed sufficient accuracy and they can therefore be regarded as unreliable.

<p><em>Background:</em> The international accounting standard regarding goodwill gives opportunities to several accounting procedure choices, as goodwill is a complex, intangible asset. The valuation of goodwill affects equity/asset ratio and income statement, which gives that the stakeholders’ impression of the group’s financial statement is affected by the valuation of this asset. It has been pointed out that difficult economic times bring impairment loss to the fore. During financial crisis, equity/asset ratio may be significant as the economy of the groups is expected to be strained.</p><p><em>Purpose:</em> The purpose of this essay is to explain the appearance of the possible relationship between a group’s impairment loss for goodwill and their equity/asset ratio, during financial straits. Watts and Zimmerman’s debt/equity hypothesis serve as the starting point for our study. This hypothesis expresses, ceteris paribus, that the larger debt/equity ratio, the more likely it is to select accounting procedures that shift reported earnings from future periods to the current period. According to the hypothesis there should be a positive relationship between a group’s equity/asset ratio and their percentage share of goodwill impairment loss. A high equity/asset ratio would motivate a higher impairment loss for goodwill, as a lower equity/asset ratio would induce a lower impairment loss.</p><p><em>Method:</em> We decided to investigate all groups with the parent company listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm within the sectors financials and industrials. In financials, banks were excluded. The data was collected from annual reports of 2008 and was analyzed with the statistical analyzing methods correlation and regression.</p><p><em>Result/conclusion:</em> For those industrial groups which have had impairment loss for goodwill, the result is in accordance with Watts and Zimmerman’s hypothesis. A strong positive linear relationship could be found for those groups, but not for the sector as a whole. The equity/asset ratio therefore seems to not affect the decision of whether to lose impairment or not, but when the decision is made, the ratio of equity/asset seems to affect the size of the impairment loss. Within the financial sector, no relationship could be found – neither for the groups which have had impairment loss nor the sector as a whole.</p>

Background: The international accounting standard regarding goodwill gives opportunities to several accounting procedure choices, as goodwill is a complex, intangible asset. The valuation of goodwill affects equity/asset ratio and income statement, which gives that the stakeholders’ impression of the group’s financial statement is affected by the valuation of this asset. It has been pointed out that difficult economic times bring impairment loss to the fore. During financial crisis, equity/asset ratio may be significant as the economy of the groups is expected to be strained. Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to explain the appearance of the possible relationship between a group’s impairment loss for goodwill and their equity/asset ratio, during financial straits. Watts and Zimmerman’s debt/equity hypothesis serve as the starting point for our study. This hypothesis expresses, ceteris paribus, that the larger debt/equity ratio, the more likely it is to select accounting procedures that shift reported earnings from future periods to the current period. According to the hypothesis there should be a positive relationship between a group’s equity/asset ratio and their percentage share of goodwill impairment loss. A high equity/asset ratio would motivate a higher impairment loss for goodwill, as a lower equity/asset ratio would induce a lower impairment loss. Method: We decided to investigate all groups with the parent company listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm within the sectors financials and industrials. In financials, banks were excluded. The data was collected from annual reports of 2008 and was analyzed with the statistical analyzing methods correlation and regression. Result/conclusion: For those industrial groups which have had impairment loss for goodwill, the result is in accordance with Watts and Zimmerman’s hypothesis. A strong positive linear relationship could be found for those groups, but not for the sector as a whole. The equity/asset ratio therefore seems to not affect the decision of whether to lose impairment or not, but when the decision is made, the ratio of equity/asset seems to affect the size of the impairment loss. Within the financial sector, no relationship could be found – neither for the groups which have had impairment loss nor the sector as a whole.