Bakgrund: De verksamheter som bedriver miljöfarlig verksamhet enligt miljöbalkenär anmälnings- eller tillståndspliktiga. Dessa företag ska lämnamiljöinformation i förvaltningsberättelsen. Tidigare studier visar attföretagen inte följer denna regel fullt ut. Som förklaring till företagensval av att miljöredovisa eller att inte redovisa sin miljöpåverkan användervi oss av legitimitetsteorin och intressentteorin.Syfte: Syftet med undersökningen är att för år 2013 se hur väl detillståndspliktiga företagen i Dalarna följer lagen om miljöredovisningoch vilka faktorer som kan förklara deras tillämpning av lagen.Metod: Studien bygger huvudsakligen på kvantitativ metod med inslag avkvalitativ metod. Vi använder en deduktiv ansats för att skapa fyrahypoteser om omsättning, branschtillhörighet, revisionsbyrå ochskuldsättningsgrad. Urvalet är de tillståndspliktiga företagen i Dalarna.Varje företag kan ha flera enheter som är tillståndspliktiga och vårt urval,Dalarna, blir 209 enheter varav 116 är stora enheter.Slutsats: Företagen i Dalarna uppfyller inte lagen om reglerad miljöredovisning tillfullo. Endast 18 av 116 stora enheter uppfyller alla fyra punkterna.Däremot är det 61,2 procent av de stora enheterna som får tre poäng.Som en jämförelse med Ljungdahls studie där nästan 27 procent når trepoäng ser vi en klar förbättring. De faktorer som kan förklara företagenstillämpning av lagen i vår undersökning är omsättning, de som anlitarrevisionsbyrån PwC samt branschtillhörighet avlopp och avfall. Av defyra hypoteser som vi använder är det en som stämmer, två som förkastasoch en som vi inte med säkerhet kan avgöra om den ska vara kvar ellerförkastas. / Background: Companies that require permits under the Environmental Code are forcedto provide environmental information in the annual report. Previousstudies show that companies do not follow this rule entirely. We uselegitimacy theory and stakeholder theory to explain companies’ choice toreport or not report the environmental impact.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how well the permit businesses inDalarna, for the year 2013, follow the law of mandatory environmentaldisclosure and which factors influencing their applications of the law.Methods: The study is based mainly on quantitative method with elements ofqualitative method. We use a deductive approach to create fourhypotheses. They are revenue, industry, accounting firm and leverage.The selection is the licensed businesses in Dalarna. Each company canhave multiple units that require a license. Our sample, Dalarna, gets 209units of which 116 are units that belongs to large companies.Conclusion: Companies in Dalarna do not fulfill the law of mandatory environmentalreport entirely. Only 18 of the 116 large units meet all four points.However, it is 61.2 per cent of the large units who get three points. Wecan see a clear improvement in comparison with Ljungdahls study. In hisstudy there were almost 27 percent of the companies who reach threepoints. The factors that influence companies' application of the law in oursurvey is revenue, accountancy firm PwC and also industry affiliationsewage and waste. Of the four hypotheses we use there is one that's right,two that are rejected and one that we cannot with certainty determinewhether it should be retained or rejected.

Intäkter är ett stort och viktigt område inom redovisning. Redovisningen av intäkter är imånga fall problematisk eftersom intäkterna behandlas annorlunda i olika standarder och iolika delar av världen. International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) och FinancialAccounting Standards Board (FASB) arbetar sedan 2002 med ett harmoniseringsprojekt somsyftar till att ta fram en heltäckande standard för intäkter som ska kunna applicerasinternationellt. Utkast till den nya standarden har presenterats av IASB, vilket har fått mångareaktioner från olika företag i olika branscher. Den del av standarden som fått mest kritik frånföretagen är den ökade mängden tilläggsupplysningar som kommer krävas i företagensfinansiella rapporter. Standarden kommer bli obligatorisk för företag inom EuropeiskaUnionen (EU) och dess införande planeras i dagsläget till 2015. Samtidigt som företagen måste följa lagar och standarder i sin redovisning måste de ocksåförhålla sig till sina intressenter och deras krav på företagen och de finansiella rapporterna.Det finns olika typer av intressenter och deras krav kan skilja sig beroende på vemintressenten är. Ett företags förmåga att tillmötesgå intressenterna och deras krav påverkarintressenternas syn på företaget och därmed företagets legitimitet. I uppsatsen undersöker vi vad företag anser om de ökade kraven på tilläggsupplysningar somden nya standarden för intäktsredovisning innebär och om detta kan komma att påverkaföretagens legitimitet. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att de representerade företagen anser att den nyastandarden för intäktsredovisning kommer att få en begränsad effekt på deras legitimitet.Företagen anser att de ökade krav på tilläggsupplysningar som standarden innebär är den delav standarden som skulle kunna påverka legitimiteten mest, bland annat på grund av desspåverkan på de finansiella rapporternas kvalitativa egenskaper. / Accounting for revenues is both a big and important issue. The procedure is often difficultbecause of the many different ways in which revenue can be treated in different accountingstandards and by different countries around the world. The International AccountingStandards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) have beenworking together since 2002 on harmonizing their accounting standards concerning revenues.Their ambition is one complete standard for revenues that could be applied by companies incountries worldwide. IASB has presented an exposure draft to the new standard whichreceived many reactions from different companies in different industries. Most of thecriticism has been directed to the increased amount of disclosures in the companies’ financialreports. The new standard for revenues will be mandatory for companies in the EuropeanUnion (EU) and is planned to be introduced in 2015. While companies need to adapt to accounting rules and standards they also have to relate totheir stakeholders and the stakeholders’ demands and expectations on the companies and theirfinancial reports. There are different types of stakeholders and their expectations can varydepending on who they are. A company’s ability to satisfy their stakeholders’ expectationsaffect the stakeholders’ view on the company and thereby the company’s legitimacy. In our essay we study companies’ opinions towards the increased amount of disclosures thatthe new standard for revenues requires and if this can affect the companies’ legitimacy. The result of the study shows that the opinion of the companies represented is that the newaccounting standard for revenues will have limited effect on their legitimacy. The companiesconsider the increased amount of disclosures that the new standard requires as the part of thestandard that could have the biggest effect on their legitimacy, for example through thedisclosures’ impact on their financial report’s qualitative characteristics.

Under de senare åren har fenomenet CSR blivit oerhört aktuellt bland både företag, intressenter och samhället i övrigt. Det har framställts att det numera berör hur utvecklingen av CSR påverkar företags beslutsfattande. Här finns två sidor som talar emot varandra, dels en där forskarna menar på att CSR har en påverkan på beslutsfattande medan den andra sidan anser att CSR inte påverkar beslutsfattandet i någon vidare utsträckning. Syftet med denna studie är att utforska kring hur CSR påverkar företags beslutsfattande. Koncernen som kommer att beaktas i studien är ICA-Gruppen. Med hjälp av en abduktiv metod jämför vi en tidigare teori och vårt empiriska insamlade material för att finna mönster och förståelse av verkligheten.  Genom studiens kvalitativa metod har fem semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts hos olika ICA-handlare då vi eftersträvar en djupare förståelse av hur CSR integreras i beslut. Intervjuerna fortlöpte utefter en intervjuguide som i sin tur baserades på vår teoretiska referensram. Avslutningsvis analyserades empiriskt material mot utvalda begrepp. Vår slutsats kring studien är att främst fem faktorer avgör hur CSR integreras i beslut där beslutets storlek har en avgörande aspekt. Dessa faktorer observeras i en modell i analysen. Ett framtida forskningsförslag är hur CSR påverkar investeringsbeslut. Intressant hade även varit att se hur beslutsstorlekens inverkan på CSR.  Vårt bidrag med denna studie är att öka förståelsen kring hur beslutsfattare, i vårt fall ICA-handlare, tar hänsyn till CSR när beslut ska fattas. Vi anser att resultatet kan i viss mån vara överförbart till andra branscher och företag men man får ta viss faktorer i beaktande. / During these past years the phenomena CSR has become highly topical to companies, stakeholders as well as common society. It has been determined that development of CSR affects companies decision making. However, there are two sides to this. While some researchers claim that CSR affect the decision making, some also mean that CSR’s influence to decision making is not very strong. Our purpose with this study is to investigate, analyze and increase the comprehension of how CSR affect decision making among companies. The group that will be observed in the study is ICA- Gruppen. Using an abductive method we compare an earlier theory and our empirical collected material to find patterns and understanding of reality. In order to attain a deeper understanding of how CSR affect decisions, through the study’s qualitative method, five semi structured interviews was made with different ICA retailers. The interviews were conducted with help of an interview template which we based on our theoretical references. In conclusion, empirical material was analyzed to selected terms. Our conclusion of the study shows that mainly five factors determine how CSR will be integrated in decisions where the decision size has a crucial aspect. These factor are observed in the study. Future research proposals would be to understand how the decision size affect CSR. Our contribution with this study is to provide increased understanding of how decision makers, in this case ICA retailers, take CSR into account. We think the results could be implemented in other trades and organizations, however certain factors must be taken into account.

Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur Sveriges kommuner förhåller sig till hållbarhetsmått. Vi ska studera vilka hållbarhetsmått som rapporteras samt vad som påverkar användningen av dessa hållbarhetsmått. Metod: Vi har använt oss av en enkätundersökning som skickats ut per mail för att samla in vårt empiriska underlag. Vi har sedan analyserat underlaget med hjälp av programmet IBM SPSS Statistics 22 för att sedan redovisa våra resultat i form av tabeller och löpande text. Resultat & slutsats: Resultatet av vår studie visar att kommuner rapporterar hållbarhetsmått i genomsnitt i viss till måttlig utsträckning. Den visar även att kommuner med drivande kommunledning tenderar att rapportera och använda hållbarhetsmått i större utsträckning än andra kommuner. Den pekar också på att antal miljöprojekt som kommunen bedriver samt om kommunen låter sig inspireras av andra kommuner även påverkar utsträckningen av rapporteringen och användningen av hållbarhetsmåtten. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vårt förslag till fortsatt forskning är att göra en mer ingående analys av Sveriges kommuners hållbarhetsredovisning då vi på grund av tidsbegränsning inte kunnat göra någon mer ingående analys. Vidare forskning kan granska vilka effekter den bristande hållbarhetsredovisningen i många kommuner orsakar. Uppsatsens bidrag: Vår undersökning bidrar till nya insikter om hur Sveriges kommuner hållbarhetsredovisar. Vi belyser vilka hållbarhetsmått som kommunerna rapporterar samt vad som påverkar rapporteringen och användningen av hållbarhetsmåtten.

There has been a dearth of research on ‘auditors and environmental matters’ since Collison (1996) and Collison and Gray (1997) completed their study on the views of UK auditors about whether auditing is changing, or should be changing, in relation to environmental concerns. It is now more than ten years since the publication of that study. Growing international concern for environmental matters has since led to the issue of International Auditing Practice Statement (IAPS) -1010: The consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial report in 1998 and, in New Zealand, Audit Guidance Statement (AGS) -1010: The consideration of environmental matters in the audit of a financial statement in 2001. Yet, to date, there has been no examination of the impact of IAPS-1010 or AGS-1010 on either current audit practice, or the issues raised by Collison (1996) and Collison and Gray (1997). This doctoral thesis has attempted to address the environmental impact gap in the auditing research literature. In particular, it has investigated the consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial reports in the light of AGS-1010, with a view to understanding better the following issues: (1) how auditors generally perceive the consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial reports; (2) the common approaches and practices auditors undertake when auditing environmental matters; (3) the challenges (if any) that auditors face in the audit of environmental matters (4) the impact (if any) of AGS 1010 on current audit practice and, finally, (5) how current practices in the audit of environmental matters may be improved and further developed to meet better the espoused aims of AGS-1010. Qualitative interviews with twenty-seven senior financial audit practitioners and others in New Zealand provided the basis for the findings. The interviews were taped, transcribed and managed with the use of computerised qualitative analysis software (NViVo7). Key findings from the research interviews were as follows: (1) the introduction of AGS-1010 had little impact on current audit practice in New Zealand; (2) environmental matters were treated no differently from any other audit issues, and auditors tended to apply common, familiar audit approaches in dealing with environmental matters; (3) auditors found the effective auditing of environmental matters challenging owing to their inability to identify such matters, and their lack of relevant expert knowledge. The most significant finding from this study is that, in general, common audit practices were riddled with issues of concern. These issues point to a broader and more significant problem. It would seem that current audit practices fail to consider many potential audit issues (including environmental matters) adequately in the audit of financial reports. For auditors to be more effective in their audit practice and in protecting the public interest, not only does audit methodology need a major review, but auditors themselves need to change their attitudes and mindsets in their approach to auditing.

Background: Corporate social responsibility has received a lot of attention because of the impact that companies have on the society and the environment. EU is taking legislative measures to further increase the awareness and importance of CSR. The banking industry is often excluded from CSR discussions and research studies, due to the perception that the banking industry has a limited effect on CSR matters. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate CSR reporting levels from Swedish banks. Furthermore, the impact of bank size, board size, and board diversity on CSR reporting level will be examined through hypotheses testing. Method: Data is collected from annual and sustainability reports of Swedish banks. Statistical tests are then conducted and analyzed by the authors. Conclusion: The results show that CSR reporting levels by the Swedish banks is increasing. There is a positive effect on CSR reporting level by bank size, and a negative effect by board diversity. No significant relationship could be found on board size.

Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) related issues has increased in relevance in recent years. To address societal pressures, many firms introduce corporate social responsibility (CSR) committees in their boards. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether CSR committees have an impact on ESG performance in Swedish listed firms. Prior literature has offered inconsistent findings regarding the link between CSR committees and ESG performance, which might be due to the lack of systematic understanding on the topic or the use of varying ESG measurements. This study contributes to the present knowledge by analyzing if CSR committees substantively increase ESG performance, or if it may simply be a symbolic act to enhance legitimacy, meet stakeholder demands, and conform to normative pressures in high stakeholder-oriented countries, such as Sweden. A multiple OLS regression is conducted to analyze a sample of 299 Swedish listed firms on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm for the year 2020. The results indicate a positive and significant relationship between CSR committees and ESG performance, which could be interpreted as CSR committees not being utilized as impression management tools but rather fundamentally contribute to increase the firm’s ESG performance. However, drawing generalizable conclusions is difficult since the study is limited by endogeneity concerns. Nevertheless, these results may have implications for practitioners who consider implementing CSR committees to enhance the firm’s ESG performance.

Sustainability reporting is something that has gained much ground lately, and there is no sign of it decreasing. The purpose of a sustainability report is to disclose the non-financial information between a company and its stakeholders. To present a sustainability report is mandatory for larger companies, many smaller companies do also provide its stakeholder with one voluntarily. In the last decade there has been a steadily increasing trend when it comes to being environmentally friendly. More companies need to take responsibility for their actions in the world, in order for it to sustain and last longer. There have been some scandals throughout the years when it comes to sustainability reporting which has made a negative impact on the reliability of the reports. Previous research and literature have shown that there are a lot of uncertainties when it comes to what exactly transparency means and how it can be interpreted from different perspectives and situations. The purpose with this study is to collect information and analyze the interpret transparency of a sustainability report from an investors perspective. The information collected can then be addressed to answer the research question “How is the transparency in a sustainability report perceived by an investor?.” The thesis is using a qualitative methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews and has an inductive research approach. The theories connected to the conceptual framework in this thesis is signaling theory and legitimacy theory. The semi-structured interview was made with people who own stocks in a company that presents a sustainability report, also called investors. Twelve investors were interviewed and provided good information to create a comprehensive answer for the research question. The result of this study shows that the investors do not think a sustainability report is transparent enough. They believe that companies do not show the whole truth in a sustainability report. The information is not fully complete, one hundred percent truthful, as objective as it can be/not angled, and the information is used in other purposes rather than just disclose non-financial information. These answers do not match up with a general definition of transparency which then means that a sustainability report is not interpreted as transparent by the investors participating in this particular study. The investors do also believe that one general definition of transparency or area specific definition would be better. They do also advocate for more external interference of the reports.

Large European auto manufacturers are responsible for being at the forefront when the industryis advancing towards a more sustainable practice. However, there is a problem with assessing companies´ sustainability performance because it can be camouflaged through low-quality reporting, preventing stakeholders from scrutinizing companies’ commitment to sustainable development. Instead, a substantive reporting practice where companies show their actualsustainability performance through high-quality reporting is preferable. Nonetheless, existing research fails to explain the changes in sustainability reporting practices, as there is limited research focusing on European auto manufacturers and much of the research only covers one specific point in time. This thesis will investigate changes in the disclosure quality of 4 large European auto manufacturers over five years and answer how their sustainability reporting practices have changed by analyzing 20 sustainability reports through quantitative content analysis. The findings signal a move toward more substantive sustainability reporting where two companies significantly increased, and two had minor advancements. It indicates less camouflaging of sustainability performance which is crucial to promote sustainable development and provide incentives to transition towards sustainable practices. However, the information did not become more accurate, which caused concerns as auto manufacturers may have found other ways to camouflage sustainability performance.

Sustainability is a subject that seems to continuously gain popularity and importance in society.Hence, many aspects of the business world also revolve around the matter. One view onsustainability is that the current generation should act in a manner that allows the next generationto have similar foundations to prosper. An important factor in this involves the investment effortsfrom the companies, in particular the industrial companies. Therefore, this thesis aims toinvestigate the potential influence that recently increased interest rates have on sustainabilityefforts within Swedish manufacturing businesses. The responses to this phenomenon have beendiverse, with arguments that sustainability initiatives will remain unaffected, others suggestingadverse effects, and a few proposing that only a reduced demand following increased rates willbe impacted. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to gain valuable insights into theimplications of changing business climates on sustainability work and investments with theresearch question being what insights can be gained regarding sustainability efforts by exploringthe experiences of companies facing increased interest rates? We interviewed six listed Swedishcompanies with a production line to gain a deeper understanding from their experiences on howthey face increased interest rates and balance their sustainability efforts. This thesis draws uponseveral theoretical frameworks, including the stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, trade-offtheory and corporate social responsibility (CSR). These theoretical perspectives provide acomprehensive foundation for understanding the complexities and dynamics surroundingsustainability efforts in the context of changing interest rates.To gather the necessary insights, this research employed a qualitative approach in theinterpretivist paradigm, conducting semi-structured interviews with a purposive non-probabilitysample of six participants. By capturing the experiences and perspectives of the participants, thestudy aims to generate rich and nuanced data that can improve our understanding of the impactof increased interest rates on sustainability efforts. Our analysis of the empirical results revealedthat these companies, despite potential challenges, remain committed to their sustainability goalsand efforts. They have not perceived any immediate threats to their goals due to increased interestrates.Thus, sustainable investments remain a critical aspect of companies’ strategies to meet globalsustainability goals. Motivated by legitimacy, stakeholder expectations and CSR commitments,companies integrate sustainability into their operations and influence stakeholders to participatein sustainable value creation. While the effects of interest rate hikes are diverse, companiesmaintain their sustainability efforts and strive to achieve their goals although potential risks andchallenges may arise in the future.