<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.

Börsåret 2020 har varit ett unikt år som präglats av ett kraftigt börsras, men även en historiskt snabb återhämtning. Det unika händelseförloppet härrör ur en pandemi orsakad av ett coronavirus, vilket skapat nya underlag för studier av investerares beslutsfattande ur ett börspsykologiskt perspektiv. Syftet med studien var att kartlägga vilka börspsykologiska faktorer som indikerats hos investerare under pandemin. Intentionen var att undersöka huruvida det förelåg samband mellan börspsykologiska faktorer och investerares beslutsfattande. Studien har främst tillämpat en kvantitativ metod i form av en tvärsnittsdesign för att uppnå generaliserbarhet, men har även inslag av kvalitativ forskningsdesign för att erhålla en djupare förståelse. I syfte att besvara studiens forskningsfrågor har en statistisk analys i form av bivariata och multivariata linjära regressionsanalyser genomförts. Resultatet visar att samtliga undersökta börspsykologiska faktorer indikeras hos investerare och att det existerar ett flertal signifikanta samband mellan faktorerna och investerares beslutsfattande. Vidare har studien uppmärksammat en problematik i investerares självuppfattning och brister i de tillämpade testerna för börspsykologiska faktorer. Slutligen har en modell framtagits i syfte att bistå med underlag som kan öka förståelsen och medvetenheten inom ämnesområdet och således skapa bättre förutsättningar för rationella investeringsbeslut. / The stock market during 2020 has been a remarkable year that has experienced a major marketcrash, but also a historical recovery. The unique course of events derives from a pandemic causedby a coronavirus, which has generated new data for research of investors’ decision making from abehavioral finance perspective. The purpose with the research was to map biases which havebeen indicated by investors during the pandemic. The intention was also to investigate whetherthere were relationships between biases and the decision making of investors. This thesis hasmainly applied a quantitative method in the form of a cross-sectional study to achievegeneralizability, but it also has elements of qualitative research to obtain a deeper understanding.In order to answer the research questions, a statistical analysis in the form of bivariate andmultivariate linear regression models has been applied. The result concludes that all theinvestigated biases were indicated, and several significant relationships between the biases andthe decision making of the investors. Furthermore, the research has shown two problematicaspects. The first is the self-perception of investors and the second is the weaknesses of theapplied tests for biases. Finally, a model has been developed with the aim to contribute withuseful research that can create better conditions for rational investment decisions through anincreased understanding and awareness in the area of behavioral finance.

Generation Z har under sin korta tid som investerare på den finansiella marknaden varit med om en säregen börskrasch till följd av coronapandemin 2020. Börskraschen 2020 var unik i förhållande till tidigare börskrascher såsom IT-kraschen 2000 och finanskrisen 2008 eftersom marknaden återhämtade sig och nådde nya rekordnivåer inom ett halvår. Samtidigt stod svenska investerare under de första månaderna av 2022 inför ett nytt ras där den genomsnittliga aktien på Stockholmsbörsen sjunkit med ungefär 36% från dess högsta nivå under perioden 2020–2022 till följd av en hög inflationstakt samt Rysslands invasion av Ukraina. Forskningen kring den yngsta gruppen investerare, generation Z, som saknar erfarenhet av långvariga osäkra marknadsförhållanden är bristfällig och ger därmed upphov till en ny grupp investerare att studera. Studiens syfte är att studera hur riskbenägenhet samvarierar med börspsykologiska bias, kognitiv reflektionsförmåga och erfarenhet från tidigare finansiella kriser samt hur dessa faktorer skiljer sig mellan generation Z och tidigare generationer. Studien finner att generation Z till större del faller för samtliga börspsykologiska bias förutom överreaktion och visar på ett flertal signifikanta skillnader mellan generation Z och äldre generationer. Resultatet visar även att anchoring och konfirmeringsbiassamvarierar signifikant med riskbenägenhet och att den största skillnaden mellan generation Z och äldre generationer kan hänföras till börspsykologiska bias. / Generation Z has during their short time as investors experienced a market crash due to the covid-pandemic in 2020 but also a quick recovery in the same year where the market reached a new all-time high. The market crash in 2020 was unique compared to the crash following the burst of the Dot-com bubble in 2000 and the financial crisis in 2008 because of the quick recovery of the stock market that led to new all-time highs. However, during the first months of 2022, Swedish investors were once again experiencing a market crash where the average stock on the Stockholm stock exchange had lost more than 36% of its value since their peak between 2020-2022 due to high inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The youngest group of investors, generation Z, lacks experience from long-lasting uncertainties in the stock market. Research regarding generation Z is insufficient which gives rise to a new group of investors to study. The purpose of the thesis is to study the relationship between risk tolerance and psychological biases, cognitive reflection and experience from previous stock market crashes and how these factors differ between generation Z and older generations. The thesis finds that generation Z is indicated to be more affected by every psychological bias except overreaction and finds several significant differences between generation Z and the older generations. The result also shows that confirmation bias and anchoring have a significant relationship to risk tolerance and that the largest differences between generation Z and older generations are derived from psychological biases.

Bakgrund: Coronapandemin präglade under lång tid människors vardag såväl som de finansiella marknaderna. Den kraftiga nedgången i februari - mars år 2020 och den rekordsnabba återhämtningen påverkade privatinvesterare. Dessa investerare stod inför tuffa beslut, och präglades av stress och oro. Under volatila tider sker inte alltid rationella beslut, och denna typ av beslutsmiljö kan påverka investerare att vara mer mottagliga av psykologiska bias. För att undvika att gå i samma fällor, är det av intresse att kartlägga börspsykologiska faktorers påverkan på privatinvesterares agerande och vilken effekt det har på deras diversifiering i aktieportföljen. Eventuella skillnader i agerande under börsnedgångarna visar även om investerarna själva lärde sig någonting från den första börsnedgången och ändrade sitt beteende till den andra börsnedgången. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att kartlägga privatinvesterares agerande på aktiemarknaden under Coronapandemin. Detta för att kunna uttala sig om, privatinvesterares beteende under börsnedgången i februari - mars 2020, samt den andra börsnedgången i oktober samma år. Genom att undersöka två tidsperioder går det att observera skillnader i beteende. Metod: Studien använde sig av en enkätstudie med tvärsnittsdesign för att på generell nivå ha möjlighet till att uttala sig om privatinvesterares agerande under börsnedgångarna. Slutsats: Studien har visat att samtliga undersökta börspsykologiska bias har påverkat privatinvesterare under båda börsnedgångarna men det finns dock skillnader mellan perioderna. Om respondenterna själva får beskriva deras agerande har många angett att de har agerat rationellt under krisen, något som tidigare forskning också konstaterat. Diversifieringen har ökat i aktieportföljen efter börsnedgångarna, jämfört med hur det såg ut vid slutet av 2019. Det är dock inte säkerställt att detta är en effekt av nedgångarna. Slutligen finns det även skillnader i börspsykologiska faktorer och diversifiering mellan demografiska faktorer och erfarenhet från tidigare kriser. / Background: The Corona pandemic has affected people’s everyday life as well as the financial markets. The big decline in the stock market that happened in February-March 2020 and the record fast recovery impacted private investors in a big way. Investors had difficult decisions to make during times of stress and worry, which does not always lead to optimal decisions. The investors could be more affected by biases during times of crisis. To avoid walking into the same traps again it is of investor’s interest to map psychological biases and how they affect the diversification in their stock portfolios. Eventual differences in behavior between the stock market decline in February-Mars and the one in October could be spotted by comparing the two periods. This would show if the respondents themselves learned from the first stock market decline to the second one, hence changing their behavior. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to map private investors’ behavior in the stock market during the Corona pandemic. This will make it possible to discuss private investors’ behavior during the stock market declines in February-March 2020 as well as the one in October the same year. This will make it possible to see differences in behavior. Method: The study used a survey study with cross-sectional design to be able to discuss private investors’ behavior at a general level. Conclusion: The study has shown that all studied psychological biases to affect private investors during the stock market declines, showing there are differences between these periods. If the respondents describe their own actions, then many of say themselves that they acted rational during the crisis, something that previous studies have shown. The diversification has also increased after the stock market declines compared to how it was at the end of 2019, but it is not certain that it is an effect of the stock market declines. There are also differences between demographic factors and experience from previous crises with regards to psychological biases and diversification.