Previous research of the controller role is extensive and has been studied in several sectors, whichprovides a wide range of definitions of the controller role. These definitions have contributed to an ambiguous controller role in regards to what work assignments are most important and to whom the controller should report. This thesis aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the controller role based on work assignments within a decentralised organisation working with complex financial products. This thesis also contributes to an understanding of how controllers perceive that their role is affected by their work with handling information and their report relations. This has generated three research questions: What role does the controller have in a Swedish universal bank based on work assignments? What are the eventual differences in the controller role depending on department in the organisation? How do the controllers perceive that their role is affected by their work with handling information and by their report relations? Delimitation was made to analyse controllers at various levels in Handelsbanken. In order to create an understanding of the controller role in this context, an abductive approach as been used in order to combine existing theories with empirical findings. Based on a qualitative approach, triangulation was chosen to combine assembled empirical data with semi- structured interviews. The result of this study implies that controllers mainly lean towards the role as a Business partner as they work as a support function to provide local or higher managers with relevant analysis for decision-making. Based on work processes with information, the controllers lean towards an Analyst and Coach as they generally handle all business related information. From this case study, controllers in decentralised organisations possess the role as a Specialist as they  are  situated in separate departments with a clear focus. Results also show that more automated work assignments due to technological development do not increase the controllers’ opportunity to dedicate more time on analysis. Instead, increased information flows require controllers to allocate resources towards assembling information. In terms of report relations, close adherence towards the local managers does not affect the controller’s objective reporting to higher management and the controller can arguably bemore independent within their report relations than what is described by literature.

The use of Web-Based-Collaboration-Systems (WBCS) continues to grow as part of information technology development in the Architecture-Engineering-Construction (AEC) industry. WBCS provide different media channels to support collaboration across geographical distributed teams. However, many companies are still hesitant to integrate WBCS. This research provides an understanding of how WBCS are used in practice. Most distinctively, it obtained practice data from several major US architecture firms and examined about 30,000 transactions produced during actual design and planning projects as practicing architects, engineers and consultants used WBCS. The study investigated what information was used and exchanged among participants during the different design stages. This was related to the different media channels of WBCS. The raw project data has been coded and transformed into secondary data through computer-supported content analysis. Based upon categories from previous literature, such as communication, coordination and design theories, the data has been analyzed for sender, receiver, channel and content of information transmitted. The content has been characterized into work tasks, information handling behavior and design activities. Additional interviews with industry professionals produced information that had not been documented through WBCS and that corroborated the analytical findings. The combination of theory, quantitative, and qualitative analysis has been synthesized into a portrait of WBCS usage that was validated through triangulation. The analysis of digital records of design communication from practice through content analysis is a new research methodology in AEC. The evidence supporting design methods theory shows the changes in tasks and information handling in regards to the project phases. It indicates that the most frequent loops of design activity are Evaluation- Analysis-Synthesis and Evaluation-Synthesis-Evaluation. It documents the actual usage of WBCS based on descriptive statistics and Markov models. WBCS was used primarily as a document repository and calendaring tool. The remote team members used it more frequently than centrally located participants. The study shows the limitations of WBCS: none of the verbal communication was captured. More significant, the entire email exchange took place outside the WBCS. WBCS was used very extensively, if the implementation of the system supported the organizational structure and vice versa.

This work studied the information flow and information handling among different parties. The study focused on how educational materials on national tests from The Swedish National Agency for Education is managed by school principals and teachers and how the information is passed on to students. The data material was based on observations and interviews at two different high schools. Six teachers and their classes and principals participated in the study. The Agency was also interviewed. The results showed that opinions on the role of the national test varies between different teachers and the Agency. The study also showed that the dissemination of information in the schools is inadequate, information documents do not reach their target audience, and those who have access to the information do not read enough. This is partly due to lack of follow-up from the responsibles at the schools, but also teachers who do not seek out information that is available themselves. These shortcomings result in teachers carrying out national tests with their classes without being properly briefed, which could have consequences for both the students and the entire test system.

No description available.

The digitization of patient data and medical records used by the healthcare-industry in Sweden is rapidly developing. However; developing and changing things in this field is not an easy task because of the circumstances surrounding it. Digital systems intended to process, and hold, sensitive personal data, such as medical journals, must be developed with laws, confidentiality, integrity and availability in mind to secure that none of this data gets compromised. A complicating factor in regards to this is the fast rate of development within IT in contrast to the much slower bureaucratic process of the justice system. This means that laws and regulations oftentimes aren’t up to date with the newest available technology. With the purpose of establishing set regulations on how patient data should be properly handled the Swedish government enacted the Patient Data Act (sv. Patientdatalagen, SFS 2008:355) on the 1:st of July 2008. This act doesn’t only touch on safeguarding patient data but also deals with: A possibility for healthcare-providers to take part of other provider’s journals (a system for distribution and sharing of patient data).  The patients given right to at any time deny access of their data to any given healthcare-provider and/or specific personnel.  The possibility for patients to take part of follow-up information regarding access to their data and see, among other things, who’s accessed their files, at what time and which changes were made. In addition to the Patient Data Act the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and the Data Inspection Board inaugurated regulations regarding the handling of information and journal keeping of the healthcare-industry (SOSFS 2008:14). This legislative act concerns business organizational issues regarding healthcare-providers responsibilities involving handling of sensitive data. The legislation also sets requirements for routines when following up on logs, methods for authentication etc. In addition to enacted laws and applied technical solutions there is the aspect, and importance, of education of healthcare-personnel. A key component to secure information handling is a security conscious, well-educated staff. This thesis describes the complexity and existing issues between the development of IT and currently enacted laws and regulations regarding healthcare and electronic journal keeping. It also discusses approaches to these issues and the target objective of future technical and administrative implementations. In addition to the presentation of contemporary circumstances in the area the report also deals with proposed solutions to the aforementioned issues. It highlights the areas that are considered critical, and currently non-prioritized, with regards to patient integrity.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigo Romanato Leite.pdf: 735005 bytes, checksum: d78d736bf048f998493edfb524967d64 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-13 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The earnings management practices started to be researched more intensely, concerning international terms, after the corporate scandals occurred in the beginning of 2000 years In Brazil, this research topic has mainly focused the quantitative approaches (discretionary accruals evaluation and operational models discussion). The research that resulted the present work has highlighted, according to the statistical tests, that the companies audited by the Big Four have less degree of accruals discretionary regarding to the other companies audited by companies Non Big Four, then, showing that the largest audit companies have a larger capacity to mitigate earnings management. In the presented context, this work aimed to investigate which are the main factors that specify the higher power of the big audit companies (Big Four) in mitigating the earnings management practices. Also, it has being identified the tools used by the independent audit companies for the work performance process, which, among other aspects, could make easier the earnings management practices identification process. The research herein presented was performed using the qualitative method (exploratory by nature), and using as procedure the data collecting, heartfelt interview with eight audit professionals. The data collected were analyzed through content analysis, using the software NVIVO. In this research it was identified the main job differential factors of these companies: company insertion environment and abroad relationship, audit company structure, audit company exposure, audit tools, compliance with the independence rules, work methodology and audit procedures, auditors training and qualification. Also, it was noticed that the audit companies are able or not to use customized tools to perform the jobs, sampling extraction processes and results projection, being its utilization related to the audit company size. / As práticas de gerenciamento de resultado passaram a ser estudadas com mais intensidade, no âmbito internacional, após os escândalos corporativos ocorridos no início da década de 2000. No Brasil, as pesquisas sobre esse tema têm focado, principalmente, as abordagens quantitativas (avaliação de accruals discricionários e discussão dos modelos operacionais). A pesquisa que originou o presente estudo evidenciou, segundo os testes estatísticos que empresas auditadas pelas Big Four possuem menor grau de accruals discricionários em relação às demais empresas auditadas por empresas Non Big Four, indicando, assim, que as empresas de auditoria de maior porte possuem uma maior capacidade para mitigar práticas de earnings management. No contexto apresentado, este trabalho objetivou investigar quais são os principais fatores que determinam o maior poder das grandes empresas de auditoria (Big Four) na mitigação das práticas de gerenciamento de resultado. Complementarmente, identificaram-se as ferramentas utilizadas pelas empresas de auditoria independentes para o processo de execução dos trabalhos, as quais, entre outros aspectos, pudessem facilitar o processo de identificação de práticas de gerenciamento de resultado. A pesquisa realizada foi de natureza exploratória, com o uso do método qualitativo, utilizando como procedimento para a coleta de dados, entrevistas em profundidade com oito profissionais de auditoria. Os dados coletados foram tratados por meio da análise de conteúdo com a utilização do software NVIVO. Como principais resultados identificaram-se os principais fatores de diferenciação do trabalho das empresas objeto deste estudo: ambiente de inserção da empresa e relacionamento com o exterior; estrutura da empresa de auditoria; exposição da empresa de auditoria; ferramentas de auditoria; atendimento às normas de independência; metodologia de trabalho e procedimentos de auditoria; treinamento e qualificação dos auditores. Ainda, verificou-se que as empresas de auditoria podem ou não utilizar ferramentas customizadas para a execução dos trabalhos, e processos de extração de amostras e projeção de resultados, sendo que a utilização das mesmas pode estar relacionada ao tamanho da empresa de auditoria.

The Study aims to evaluate what kind of systems buyers of raw materials use for handling the flow of information in their supply chain of raw materials. Due to the complexity of the topic, the Study is only examining the continuous exchange of information between suppliers and buyers of raw materials. The purpose of the Study is to provide recommendations to Boliden on which system is suitable for implementation at the company. The Study’s results were achieved by collecting both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through interviews with raw materials buyers and trade organisations. A total of fifteen interviews were conducted in the Study. The secondary data was collected through a literature study. The results of the Study indicate that there exists four different solutions for managing the flow of information in a supply chain of raw materials. The most common solution among buyers of raw materials is to use the so-called “traditional” systems, i.e. e-mail, telephone and physical meetings. The second most common solution is to use an external information handling system provided by a trade organisation. The third most common solution is to use a commercial information handling system, i.e. a system provided by a commercial provider. Lastly, the least common solution is to develop an information handling system on its own, i.e. a proprietary information handling system. The conclusion of the Study is that Boliden should use two information handling system simultaneously, i.e. an external information handling system and the traditional information handling systems. However, Boliden should also look into the option of developing a proprietary information handling system.

Swedish companies have invested a lot of time, effort and resources into becoming moreenvironmentally friendly. The primary focus of this on-going process has been to implementenvironmental management systems and to develop more environmentally friendlytechnologies. Measuring the effects of these actions has proven more difficult. Theintroduction of environmental indicators is emerging as a simple, yet effective way forcompanies to measure their environmental performance, increase the control of theirenvironmental activities and help the decision making process when developing new productsand processes. The aim of the project is to study to what extent eight Swedish companies in three differentbranches of industry use environmental indicators, if there are any similarities and differenceswithin and between branches and if any conclusions can be drawn. The companies chosen arethree companies within the pulp- and paper producing industry, three companies within theiron- and steel producing industry and two companies within the car manufacturing industry.The primary method of analysis is to study the environmental report from one factory of eachcompany, the environmental section of the financial report and/or the environmental report ofthe entire company or business group and environmental information on each company’s website. No interviews were conducted with any of the companies, since it was deemed that therewas not enough time if they were to be meaningful. Before the evaluation, the concept of environmental indicators needs further examination. Theindicators are comparative, comparing an environmental quantity to a financial one. Examplesof common indicators are energy use per quantity of produced product or emissions of CO2-equivalents per tonne of produced product. Since the denominator is the same, companieswith significantly different sizes of production can easily be compared to each other. Today itis hard if even possible to compare companies within the same branch to each other and evenharder to compare ones in different branches to each other or to branch indexes. The lack ofcommon guidelines for measuring, processing and presenting the results of environmentalperformance data is the biggest problem when using environmental indicators today. The environmental indicators can be used in a number of different roles. Today they are usedto measure and compare the environmental performance of a company as well as tools forcommunication to various stakeholders. If the companies continue to develop the indicators,they can be used pro-actively in the decision making process as well as to highlight problemareas and to track the progress towards goals set by the company. Some of the companies inthis report are already using indicators in one or more of the advanced roles. All the companies were evaluated in two different ways, qualitatively and quantitatively atthree levels of reporting. The three levels were the environmental report from a single factory,the environmental report for the entire company/business group and the environmentalinformation on the Internet from each company. The qualitative evaluation analysed how the companies used environmental indicators, if thecompanies used them explicitly, if they used them to track goals and if there were differencesbetween the different levels of reporting. The analysis showed that only a few companies usedenvironmental indicators at the single factory level, but that all companies used them in thebusiness group reports and on the Internet. There was also a much higher degree of coherencybetween the companies financial reporting than there was in their environmental one. Thequalitative evaluation also showed that the pulp- and paper companies used the mostenvironmental indicators, the iron- and steel companies used them most effectively and thatthe car companies used them to their fullest extent. The quantitative evaluation analysed each company by itself to examine how each individualcompany used the environmental indicators. The differences between the use of indicators atthe different levels of reporting also became more evident. The pulp- and paper companieswere the most consistent while the iron- and steel companies had the biggest differences withthe car companies somewhere in between. The analysis also showed that companies that werepart of bigger business groups had bigger differences, especially if they were not part of themother company. There are two major conclusions that can be drawn from the report. The first one is thatcompanies use environmental indicators to measure and present their environmentalperformance because they see them as effective tools. The second one is that commonguidelines are necessary to develop the indicators further. The first conclusion can be drawn from the fact that all the companies use environmentalindicators as a tool for reporting their environmental performance in their primary channels ofinformation, the business group reports and on the Internet The second conclusion can be drawn from the fact that even though the companies werechosen because they produced different products, they turned out to have very similar types ofemissions but very different environmental indicators. Since all the companies are verysincere in their efforts to limit their impact, on the environment and the fact that they have allchosen environmental indicators to measure their impact the need for coherency is great forfurther development. It is doubtful that the companies themselves can develop the indicatorson their own which means that the authorities and possibly the branch organisations have towork together to develop common guidelines. The biggest challenges are to decide on thecommon rules of reporting and to put financial values on the environment. If these problemscan be resolved, environmental indicators can be used to their fullest potential in the future. / www.ima,kth.se