Formation of new firms is important, since new firms create jobs and economic growth. When entrepreneurs lack the financial resources which are needed to start a firm, they often turn to banks to borrow money. Previous research has shown that relationships between banks and new business borrowers most often are local and that the dependence on banks differs across industries. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to investigate if local access to banks has a stronger relationship with the rate of new firm formation in some industries than in others. Based on cross-sectional data on all Swedish municipalities in 2009, a series of OLS regressions are estimated to test if variables used to describe the bank market in a municipality are related with the new firm formation rate, both in total and in different industry categories. The results show that the number of bank branches per capita is positively related with the total new firm formation rate. In regards to the inter-industry differences, the findings indicate that local access to banks is more important for new firm formation in some industries than in others.

With corporate social responsibility (CSR) becoming more important to stakeholders and thus firms, understanding the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP) is becoming more and more important. Although there is much research examining the general CSR-CFP relationship, there is very little, if any, research that investigates the CSR-CFP association across industries. With a sample of 429 firms from the S&P 500, my study looks to see if this association differs between the consumer and nonconsumer sectors. Time-series regression analyses reveal that while the CSR-sales relationship is negative for both consumer and nonconsumer companies, the CSR-gross profit association is more positive for nonconsumer than consumer firms.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka om det finns några branschspecifika skillnader i valet av redovisningsmetod hos svenska onoterade företag i fyra olika branscher. De fyra branscherna är bank-, finans- och försäkringsverksamhet, bygg-, design- och inredningsverksamhet, fastighetsverksamhet samt partihandel. Studien har utifrån bland annat institutionell teori, positiv teori och tidigare forskning format två hypoteser; H1: Majoriteten av företagen i urvalet kommer att tillämpa IFRS, och H2: Företag inom samma bransch kommer välja samma redovisningspraxis. Undersökningen genomförs inledningsvis med en kvantitativ metod genom att analysera företagens årsredovisningar från år 2020 för att se om de tillämpar IFRS eller K3 i sin koncernredovisning. Därefter tillämpas en kvalitativ metod som ett komplement till resultatet från den kvantitativa datainsamlingen. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med 15 respondenter från urvalet i de fyra olika branscherna. Resultatet visar att majoriteten av företagen tillämpar K3 och endast ett fåtal företag tillämpar IFRS. Det kvalitativa resultatet visar att majoriteten av respondenterna väljer att tillämpa K3 då den är lättare än IFRS samt att företagen inte har några planer på en börsnotering eller internationalisering. Därmed finns det inga starka incitament att frivilligt tillämpa IFRS före K3. Resultaten kan kopplas till institutionell teori såsom tvingande isomorfism då flera respondenter upplever ett tvång från moderbolag och banker att de egentligen bör tillämpa IFRS. Man kan även koppla resultaten till mimetisk isomorfism då vissa företag ser till vad andra företag i samma bransch tillämpar för redovisningsmetoder. Det går däremot inte att göra någon koppling till normativ isomorfism, positiv redovisningsteori eller tidigare forskning för denna studies urval. / This study aims to investigate whether there are any industry-specific differences in the choice of accounting method among Swedish unlisted companies in four different industries. The four industries are “banking, finance and insurance”, “construction, design and interior design”, “real estate” and “wholesale”. Based on institutional theory, positive theory and previous research, the study has formed two hypotheses; H1: Most of the companies in the sample will apply IFRS, and H2: Companies in the same industry will choose the same accounting practices. The survey is initially carried out using a quantitative method by analyzing the companies' annual reports from 2020 to see if they apply IFRS or K3 in their consolidated accounts. Then a qualitative method is applied as a complement to the result from the quantitative data collection. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 respondents from the sample in the four different industries. The results show that most companies apply K3 and only a few companies apply IFRS. The qualitative result shows that most of the respondents choose to apply K3 as it is lighter than IFRS and that the companies have no plans for a stock exchange listing or internationalization. Thus, there are no strong incentives to voluntarily apply IFRS before K3. The results can be linked to institutional theory such as compelling isomorphism as several respondents experience a compulsion from parent companies and banks that they should apply IFRS. One can also link the results to mimetic isomorphism as some companies look at what other companies in the same industry apply for accounting methods. However, it is not possible to make any connection to normative isomorphism, positive accounting theory or previous research for the selection of this study.