In the summer of 2018, Sweden was taken by surprise and engulfed by forest fires on an unprecedented scale. Various forms of crisis volunteerism (CV) proved essential in the large scale response that ensued. Previous information systems (IS) research gives insights, both theoretically and practically, on the potential of IS and digitalisation to enhance and support crisis response. However, the forest fires demonstrated that CV practices and practitioners in Sweden have practically no such support. CV is, in other words, an essential part of the crisis response system, but unsupported by dedicated digitalisation. The aim of this thesis is therefore to understand what is required to enable a digital transformation (DT) that will significantly improve CV practice and the overall crisis response system. Sweden is not unique in this respect. From an international perspective, IS research devotes much attention to the area of crisis response. However, this is most commonly done using the perspective and needs of crisis management stakeholders as a departing point. Also, despite research on and the availability of IS solutions, the degree of practical implementation would appear to be low. This thesis is therefore also based on the perceived knowledge gap that the lack of IS and digitalisation supporting CV is, in part, a result of the lack of research focus on volunteer stakeholders and the CV practice itself. Another gap noted is the lack of knowledge regarding the real-world practice of CV which contributes to undermining the development and use of IS solutions for CV. This thesis, therefore, provides a much needed holistic understanding of real-world CV. This understanding moves the perspective of volunteer stakeholders to the forefront without losing the perspective of crisis management. This has been done via an empirical study in the aftermath of the Swedish forest fires crisis as well as via studies of international IS literature on crisis response and CV. This has resulted in a unique holistic and comprehensive model that relates to the complexity, dynamics and emergence involved in CV practice. Via this model it is possible to relate specific parts or aspects of CV practice, to the whole practice area and continue modelling attributes in greater detail, as required, depending on DT or IS design needs. Underlying the focus in this thesis lies a mild critique of previous IS research with more reductionist approaches, whereby the relevance of broader contextual understandings has been downplayed. The thesis aligns with perspectives on digitalisation and IS design, proposing the relevance of developing broader holistic understandings of research topics. That is, understandings that have greater potential to reveal how phenomena come into being and are adapted in environmental contexts. DT is understood in terms of a process whereby broader understandings of phenomena are used to identify needs (triggers), strategies and capabilities that will inform IS design initiatives. An analytical framework depicting this process and its main components and relationships has been designed in this thesis to contribute to an understanding of what is required to digitally transform CV practice. In summary, the thesis provides a new holistic approach and understanding for the CV practice area and how it may be digitally transformed. The thesis also contributes to a new perspective on DT, applied to a complex and non-organisation based setting. This knowledge is of relevance to both practitioners and IS researchers in crisis response and CV. The CV practice meta-model and the analytical framework for digital transformation can be used to enable and inform future digital transformation strategies and policy in Sweden and internationally. They can also contribute to guiding the initiation of practical IS design initiatives, with greater potential to enhance and improve both CV and overall crisis response. The research was performed within the information systems (IS) discipline.

En kris är vanligtvis förknippad med ett stort hot till företag och med en hög grad av osäkerhet. Varje krissituation är också unik vilket innebär att krishanteringen kommer att skilja sig åt beroende på den givna situationen. Coronavirusets utbrott utgör en global och unik kris som kommit att ställa restaurangbranschen inför en stor utmaning. Myndigheter har infört hårda restriktioner som har bidragit till ett minskat gästantal hos restaurangföretagen vilket resulterat i en minskad försäljning på kort tid. Med hänsyn till detta är syftet med denna studie att beskriva och förklara hur företag inom restaurangbranschen har hanterat rådande Coronakris. Syftet uppnås genom att jämföra restaurangföretagens strategier under Coronapandemin. Mer specifikt uppnås detta genom en kvalitativ studie i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med elva restaurangföretag i Norrbotten. Restaurangföretagens sätt att hantera Coronapandemin har sedan analyserats utifrån Contingency Theory, Simons LOC med utgångspunkt i interaktiva- och diagnostiska styrsystem samt teorin om den ideala användningen av ekonomistyrning. Studiens slutsatser visar att det finns många likheter i hur restaurangföretagen har hanterat och fortfarande hanterar den rådande Coronakrisen. Nya intäktsställen, finansiella åtgärder för att minska kostnader och förändring i planeringen har varit återkommande strategier för att överleva krisen. Resultatet visar att dessa strategier indikerar på ett möjlighetssökande beteende som stimulerar lärande, idéskapande och kreativitet samt uppmuntrar till dialog och debatt vilket tyder på att interaktiva styrsystem har en betydelsefull roll för att anpassa sig till rådande situation och bemöta de osäkerheter som uppstår under en krissituation. Studiens resultat visar även att många av restaurangföretagen upplever ett ökat behov av kontroll under osäkra perioder och nämner budget som en relevant kontrollmekanism, vilket tyder på ett diagnostiskt arbetssätt. Huvudslutsatsen blir därför att restaurangföretagen främst arbetar interaktivt men till viss del även diagnostiskt i sitt sätt att hantera Coronakrisen, vilket tyder på en viss balans mellan dessa styrsystem. / A crisis is usually associated with high uncertainity and with a major threat to companies. Each crisis is also unique, which means that every situation will be handled differently. The Coronavirus outbreak is a global and unique crisis that has posed a major challenge to the restaurant industry. Authorities have introduced restrictions that have limited the amount of guests at restaurants, which has in a short time frame resulted in reduced sales. With this in mind, the purpose of this study is to describe and explain how companies in the restaurant industry have managed the current Coronacrisis. The purpose is achieved by comparing the restaurants´ strategies during the Coronapandemic. More specifically, this is achieved through a qualitative study through semi-structured interviews with eleven restaurants in Norrbotten. The restaurants´ way of manage the Coronacrisis has then been analyzed from Contingency Theory, Simon´s LOC based on interactive- and diagnostic control systems and the theory of the ideal use of management control systems. The conclusion of the study show that there are many similarities in how restaurants have managed and still manage the current Coronacrisis. New revenue streams, financial measures to reduce costs and changes in planning have been recurring strategies for surviving the crisis. The results show that these strategies indicate on an opportunity-seeking behaviour that stimulates learning, creativity and encourages dialouge and debate. This, in turn, shows that interactive control systems play a significant role in adapting to the current situation and responding to the uncertainties that arise during a situation of crisis. The results of the study also show that many of the restaurants experience an increased need of control during uncertain times and mention budget as a relevant control mechanism, which indicates on a diagnostic approach. The main conclusion is therefore that the restaurants mainly work interactively but to some extent also diagnostically in their way of managing the Coronacrisis, which indicates on a certain balance between these control systems.

In this master’s thesis we examine how the public libraries’ role and mission has been interpreted during the covid-19 pandemic and how the public libraries adapted to the situation. Public libraries are communal spaces meant for the public and according to the Swedish library law the public libraries should work especially towards a few specified prioritized target groups. Therefore, we also wanted to consider which groups needs that have been fulfilled or not, through the adjustments during the pandemic. The material of the study consists of interviews with 14 public library directors and 1 developer of public libraries services. We applied Fairclough’s framework for critical discourse analysis on our interview material. This framework was supplemented with Habermas term the public sphere and with the discourses about public libraries identified by Hedemark.  In the thesis we identified reasons and arguments for how the public libraries readjusted their library activities and prioritized services. We also identified which discourses about libraries were noticeable in the library directors’ descriptions of the libraries’ role during the pandemic. Several discourses about libraries identified by Hedemark were common in the material. We also found a discourse that had not been identified by previous research, which we named the social meeting place discourse. We interpreted the prevalence of this discourse about libraries, which focuses on the social aspect of the library as a meeting place, as an effect of the pandemic. Since the libraries have not been able to function as meeting places during the pandemic, this function has become more noticeable. The closing of the libraries as meeting places has affected all the library users but has affected the libraries work towards the prioritized groups the most. In some areas of Sweden the public libraries have replaced some of the meeting place functions with new digital services. These adaptions vary greatly between different counties, which has meant that people have had different access to library services depending on where they live.  This is a two years master's thesis in Library and information science.

In December of 2019, the city of Wuhan in China reported an outbreak of a high number of pneumoniacases (Bassareo, 2020). The SARS-CoV-2 Virus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2)started to cause disturbance in societal functions, eventually leading to anomalous infection controlmeasures. Covid-19 was believed to have appeared in Sweden on 31st January and on the 9th ofMarch, it was confirmed in the Stockholm Region (Roden, 2020). Historically, pandemics have struckhumanity numerous times before, yet the virus proved that the modern world was still not prepared. Patients had to be accommodated in hospital corridors, general wards, and makeshift hospitals.Currently, the way of dealing with the virus is to admit patients into negative pressure isolation rooms.Negative pressure isolation rooms eliminate the airborne infectious particles, unlike regular emergencyrooms. Thus isolation rooms within alternative arrangements could offer a bigger space capacitywithout placing the burden on a municipality. Our thesis sheds light on disadvantages within temporary health facility solutions used during theCoronavirus pandemic. The project proposes an alternate strategy for dealing with sudden massdemand of hospital patient beds for quarantine units. This strategy involves a permanent buildingplanning, which is prepared in advance to limit the time for shifting space. In addition, multiple interiorfittings are prefabricated, easy to install as well as transport. By proposing a building with a floor planfor a primary office usage, the building could be transformed for a secondary usage as an infectiousdisease clinic in case of serious health threats to the modern welfare society. / I december 2019 rapporterade staden Wuhan i Kina ett utbrott av ett stort antal lunginflammationfall (Bassareo, 2020). SARS-CoV-2-viruset (allvarligt akut respiratoriskt syndrom-coronavirus 2) börjadeorsaka störningar i samhällsfunktionerna och ledde så småningom till avvikande åtgärder förinfektionskontroll. Covid-19 tros ha dykt upp i Sverige den 31 januari och den 9 mars bekräftades det iStockholmsregionen (Roden, 2020). Historiskt sett har pandemier drabbat mänskligheten flera gångertidigare, ändå bevisade viruset att den moderna världen fortfarande inte var beredd. Patienterna fick bo på sjukhuskorridorer, allmänna avdelningar och provisoriska sjukhus. För närvarandeär sättet att hantera viruset på att ta in patienter i negativ tryck isoleringsrum. Isoleringsrum med negativttryck eliminerar de luftburna smittsamma partiklarna, till skillnad från vanliga akutrum. Således kanisoleringsrum inom alternativa arrangemang erbjuda en större utrymmes kapacitet utan att belastaen kommun. Vår avhandling belyser nackdelar med tillfälliga sjukvårds lösningar som används under Coronaviruspandemin. Projektet föreslår en alternativ strategi för att hantera plötslig mass efterfrågan på sjukhuspatientsängar för karantän avdelningar. Denna strategi innebär en permanent byggnadsplanering,som är förberett i förväg för att limitera tiden det tar att skifta ett utrymme. Dessutom är flerainredningsdetaljer prefabricerade, lätta att installera och transportera. Genom att föreslå enbyggnad med en planlösning för en primär kontorsanvändning kan byggnaden omvandlas till ensekundär användning som är en infektionsklinik, i händelse av allvarliga hälsorisker mot det modernavälfärdssamhället.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur små- och medelstora svenska företag anpassar sin riskstyrning till följd av coronapandemin och vilka risker som företagen upplever varit mest betydande för sin verksamhet under pågående pandemi. Vidare är avsikten att undersöka vad som påverkar vilka åtgärder som vidtagits. Metod: En kvantitativ undersökning med deduktiv ansats där en webbaserad enkät använts för att undersöka hur små- och medelstora svenska företag anpassar sin riskstyrning till följd av kriser och vilka risker som företagen upplever varit mest betydande för sin verksamhet under pågående pandemi. T-tester och korrelationsanalyser har använts för att analysera resultaten och testa hypoteser som formulerats utifrån befintlig teori på forskningsområdet. Resultat: De undersökta företagen har primärt påverkats av volatila råvarupriser, utmaningar när det kommer till att säkerställa kontinuerlig materialtillgång samt att kunna få tillgång till rätt kompetens till verksamheten. De undersökta företagen har därutöver upplevt att deras ekonomiska resultat har försämrats under coronapandemin. Samtliga nollhypoteser antas i studien. Däremot har studien likväl kunnat påvisa förändringar i de undersökta företagens riskstyrning, däribland att företagen ökat antalet möten de håller om risker och att de ökat antalet leverantörer som de använder sig av för samma typer av varor i de fall då de upplevt störningar i försörjningskedjorna. Företagen som hade upplevt ökade störningar i försörjningskedjorna hade också ökat sina lager och avsåg så också i hög utsträckning göra efter coronapandemins slut. / Purpose: The aim of the thesis is to investigate how small and medium-sized Swedish companies adapt their risk management as a result of the corona pandemic and which risks the companies feel have been most significant for their operations during the ongoing pandemic. Furthermore, the intention is to investigate what affects what measures have been taken. Method: A quantitative survey with a deductive approach where a web-based survey was used to examine how small and medium-sized Swedish companies adapt their risk management as a result of crises and which risks the companies experience have been most significant for their operations during the ongoing pandemic. T-tests and correlation analyzes have been used to analyze the results and test hypotheses formulated based on existing theory in the research area. Results: The companies surveyed were primarily affected by volatile raw material prices, challenges when it comes to ensuring continuous material supply and being able to gain access to the right skills for the business. In addition, the companies surveyed have experienced that their financial results have deteriorated during the corona pandemic. All null hypotheses are adopted in the study. However, the study has nevertheless been able to show changes in the survey companies' risk management, including that the companies increased the number of meetings they hold about risks and that they increased the number of suppliers they use for the same types of goods in cases where they experienced supply chain disruptions. The companies that had experienced increased disruptions in the supply chains had also increased their stocks and intended to do so to a large extent after the end of the corona pandemic.

This paper explores the Swedish extradition of Balts who fought for the Axis powers in the Baltic eastern front during World War II. While previous research has focused on the fate of the detained, this study examines the political crisis that ensued from the extradition process. By employing a perspective of sovereignty, the study investigates the power struggle between the government, the Swedish press, and the parliament.   The theoretical framework of domestic sovereignty is utilised to analyse the power dynamics involved in the extradition. Drawing upon classical political thinkers, this study defines domestic sovereignty as the exclusive concentration of power within a central authority, without power-sharing among various entities. This concept differs from Westphalian sovereignty, where a central authority is independent from other sovereign states within its territory.   Through the lens of domestic sovereignty, this paper addresses two key questions. Firstly, it demonstrates that the prolonged and intensified extradition process resulted from the government's diminished ability to uphold domestic sovereignty. The press exerted influence over both the government and parliament, thereby creating a shared power structure. Secondly, the investigation suggests that the government proceeded with the extradition when it successfully reclaimed domestic sovereignty and reasserted itself as the sole authority.   To enhance the analysis, a critical discourse analysis is employed. This approach identifies the press as an influential agent capable of shaping public opinion and constituting discourse, rather than merely reflecting it. In this case, the press is recognised as a powerful actor engaged in a struggle for influence. The analysis incorporates text materials from four sources: newspaper articles covering the extradition, An interpellation in the Swedish parliament, documents from the foreign affairs committee of the parliament and government, and the diaries and notes of Swedish foreign minister Östen Undén.   Furthermore, the study investigates the parallels between domestic sovereignty and Westphalian sovereignty. As the government faced pressure from the Soviet Union, its Westphalian sovereignty was challenged, leading to it reclaiming its domestic sovereignty. This finding highlights the interconnectedness between these two forms of sovereignty in the context of the Swedish extradition of Balts during World War II.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate how professionals working within the Swedish Church and the City Mission in a municipality in southern Sweden describe their work with individuals in financial crisis, as well as whether and, if so, how they perceive themselves as complementing or replacing the responsibilities of the municipal welfare agency. During the ongoing inflation, prices for essentials such as food, rent, and electricity have increased, placing additional strain on the welfare state and the efforts of social workers to meet the needs of individuals in economic hardship. There is a lack of consensus in the research regarding the role that the Swedish Church and the City Mission should play in social work and the extent to which they provide aid. In times of inflation, the question becomes particularly relevant as civil society actors become more relevant when societal resources are insufficient. To address our research questions, we conducted a qualitative interview study involving eight participants from the Swedish Church and the City Mission. We employed neo-institutional theory to interpret our empirical data. Our study revealed that the Swedish Church and the City Mission in a municipality in southern Sweden emphasize their multifaceted function and flexible approach, enabling them to address various forms of needs among individuals experiencing financial crisis. They described themselves as being able to complement certain aspects of the municipal welfare agency's responsibilities, but their resources were too limited to fully replace these functions. Our study demonstrated that they could provide limited amounts of food, financial resources, and create a sense of community and belonging inside their organization.

Evenemangen i Sverige drabbades finansiellt, varumärkesmässigt och motivationsmässigt negativt av pandemin. Främst var det på grund av de regleringar som behövde göras för att skydda folkhälsan men mycket berodde också på de osäkerheter och den avsaknad av information som fanns kring viruset. Osäkerheten tillsammans med avsaknad av erfarenheter gjorde det svårt för evenemangsarrangörerna att agera på bästa sätt.  Varumärkesmässigt fallerade många evenemang där marknadsföring var normalt kopplad endast till när ordinarie verksamhet kunde genomföras varför kommunikationsarbetet prioriterades ner i stället för att lyftas upp. Beroende på organisation klarade sig evenemangen i kultursektorn relativt bra i och med de stora stöd som svenska samhället erbjöd. Utan dessa är risken att många mindre evenemang hade gått i konkurs. Hur avsaknaden av arrangemang har påverkat samhället i stort ekonomiskt är svårt att säga då evenemangssektorn involverar många parter och industrier. Organisationerna bakom evenemangen fick stora utmaningar kring motivationen, både bland anställda men framför allt bland ideellt engagerade när det inte längre fanns någon verksamhet att samlas kring eller rollerna och verksamheten förändrades mycket. Här saknade evenemangsarrangörerna kunskap kring exakt vilka de viktigaste motivationsfaktorerna är för engagerade inom evenemang något som hade kunnat mildra de negativa effekterna.  Evenemangen ställdes i hög grad in som svar på krisen och styrdes av externa faktorer. Som regleringar, avtal som behövde brytas innan de fick finansiella konsekvenser eller att andra aktörer gjorde det omöjligt att bedriva verksamheten. Några arrangörer byggde upp scenarion och jobbade med ambidextriöst ledarskap i syftet att kunna aktivt arbeta med nuvarande kris, lära sig längs med vägen samtidigt som framtiden planerades. Detta visade sig vara fördelaktigt även om det fanns stora svårigheter att beräkna sannolikhet enligt de omständigheter som rådde. Vi såg exempel på innovation under krisen i form av fler digitala evenemang, evenemang med sittplatser anpassade efter rådande regleringar till livesändningar som inte hade skett annars. Dessa var dock beroende av pandemins förutsättningar vilka när de inte längre rådde sänkte innovationernas värden. Några av innovationerna var fördelaktiga för arrangörerna och när väl regleringarna försvann drabbades i stället arrangören negativt av att inte kunna genomföra den verksamhet som skapats under pandemin.  Organisationerna har lärt sig mycket och det finns direkta värden att hämta från krisen för evenemangsbranschen. Inte bara i form av lärdomar för hur arrangörerna kan förbättra sina rutiner, krishantering, inkorporera digital teknik och justera det ekonomiska aspekter som biljettpris. Utan också i det att samhället har kunnat se hur viktiga evenemang är genom att de plockats bort. Detta tillsammans med vissa observationer pekar på att evenemangsbranschen kommer växa sig större efter pandemin jämfört med innan. / Festivals and other cultural events in Sweden were financially, brand-wise, and motivationally negatively affected by the pandemic. Mainly it was because of the regulations that needed to be made to protect public health, but a lot also depended on the uncertainties and the lack of information that existed around the virus. This together with a lack of experience made it difficult for the event organizers to act in the best way. In terms of branding, many events used marketing only in combination with when their events could be carried out. During the pandemic they therefore prioritized communication down instead of being lifted which would have been the correct approach. Depending on the organization, the events in the cultural sector did relatively well with the large support that society offered from the Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet) and furlough support. Without these, the risk is that many smaller events would have gone bankrupt. How the lack of events has affected society at large economically is difficult to say as the event sector involves so many parties and industries. The organizations behind the events faced major challenges regarding motivation, both among employees but above all among volunteers when there was no longer any activity to gather around, or the roles and activities changed a lot. Here, the event organizers lacked knowledge about exactly what the most important motivational factors are for those involved in events, something that could have mitigated the negative effects.  The events were largely canceled in response to the crisis and controlled by external factors. Such as regulations, agreements that needed to be cancelled before they had financial consequences or that other actors made it impossible to run the business. Some organizers built scenarios and worked with ambidextrous leadership in order to actively work with the current crisis while planning the future and learning along the way. This proved to be beneficial although there was great difficulty in calculating probability under the circumstances. We saw examples of innovation during the crisis in the form of more digital events, events with seating adapted to existing regulations and live broadcasts, some that would not have happened otherwise. However, these were dependent on the conditions and needs of the pandemic which, when the conditions in society change, lowers their value. Some of the innovations were beneficial for the organizers and once the regulations disappeared, the organizer was instead negatively affected by not being able to carry out the activities created during the pandemic.  The organizations have learned a lot and there are direct values to take from the crisis for the events industry. Not only in the form of lessons for how the organizers can improve their routines, crisis management, incorporate digital technology and adjust financial aspects such as ticket prices. But also, in that society has been able to see how important events are by their being removed. This together with some observations point to the event industry growing larger after the pandemic compared to before.

This qualitative study examines how emergency people are framed in Swedish evening-, and local newspapers during the forest fire in Västmanland, Sweden 2014. The study also includes if there is any difference between the framing due to the location of the newspaper. The study is based on qualitative text analysis. The theoretical basis is representation, framing theory, media image, media logic and a few conceptions from crisis communication theory. An overall result is that critique of emergency people never are answered. An other is that critique often is directed to people who haven’t been able to affect the critique situations.

I början på år 2020 klassificerades spridningen av covid-19 som ett globalt hälsoproblem. I mars samma år fick utbrottet benämningen pandemi, vilket är den högsta nivån av en folksjukdom. Spridningen av covid-19 har inneburit stora konsekvenser som medfört omställningar för världens alla länder, företag och människor. Pandemins oförutsägbara framväxt resulterade i en ekonomisk kris, som innebär att en rubbning skett i marknadens finansiella funktion att tillgodose likviditetsbehov och omfördela risker inom ekonomin. Tidigare studier har påvisat att företag som befinner sig i ekonomiskt turbulenta perioder, likt kriser, har medfört att företagsledningar vänder sig till redovisningstekniker som medför positiva effekter i rapportsammanställningar. I vetenskapligt sammanhang benämns dessa redovisningstekniker som earnings management. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om earnings management förekommit i svenska marknadsnoterade företag åren innan utbrottet av covid-19. Dessutom ämnar studien till att kontrollera om pandemins utbrott ökat förekomsten av earnings management bland svenska börsnoterade företag.Studiens genomförande grundade sig i en kvantitativ forskningsansats där kvantifierbara data sammanställts genom företags årsredovisningar från börslistorna large cap, mid cap och small cap för urvalsperioden 2012 till 2020. Mätningen av earnings management har skett genom sammanställningar av godtyckliga periodiseringar framräknade genom den modifierade Jones-modellen. Studiens resultat visade att de analyserade företagen tillämpade earnings management under perioden innan utbrottet av pandemin. Vidare visade resultatet att tillämpningen av earnings management inte ökat signifikant efter utbrottet av pandemin, vilket gick emot författarnas antaganden baserade på tidigare forskning och studier. Resultatet visade däremot en signifikant skillnad på tillämpad earnings management med hänsyn till företagsstorlek, i enlighet med tidigare studier och redovisningsteorier. Studiens slutsats innebar att fenomenet earnings management förekommer i svenska marknadsnoterade företag. Studien har däremot inte kunnat påvisa en signifikant ökning av tillämpad earnings management efter utbrottet av pandemin. Dessutom har forskarna påvisat att mindre företag tillämpar earnings management i en större utsträckning i jämförelse med större bolag. / In early 2020, the spread of covid-19 was classified as a global health problem. In March of the same year, the outbreak was designated a pandemic, which is the highest level of a public disease. The spread of covid-19 has had a major impact that has caused upheaval for every country, business and person in the world. The unpredictable emergence of the pandemic resulted in an economic crisis, disrupting the financial function of the market to meet liquidity needs and reallocate risk within the economy. Previous studies have shown that firms in economically turbulent periods, like crises, have caused managers to turn to accounting techniques that produce positive effects in reporting summaries. In the scientific context, these accounting techniques are referred to as earnings management. The aim of this study is to investigate whether earnings management has occurred in Swedish listed companies in the years prior to the outbreak of Covid-19. In addition, the study aims to test whether the pandemic outbreak has increased the prevalence of earnings management among Swedish listed companies. The study was based on a quantitative research approach in which quantifiable data were compiled through firms annual reports from the large cap, mid cap and small cap listings for the sample period 2012 to 2020. The measurement of earnings management was done through compilations of arbitrary accruals computed by the modified Jones model. The results of the study showed that the analyzed firms applied earnings management in the period before the outbreak of the pandemic. Furthermore, the results showed that the application of earnings management did not increase significantly after the outbreak of the pandemic, which was contrary to the authors assumptions based on previous research and studies. However, the results showed a significant difference in the application of earnings management with respect to firm size, in line with previous studies and accounting theories. The study concluded that earnings management is a used phenomenon in Swedish listed companies. However, the study did not find a significant increase in the use of earnings management after the outbreak of the pandemic. In addition, the researchers have shown that smaller companies apply earnings management to a greater extent in comparison with larger companies. This master's thesis is written in Swedish.