The study investigates the relationship between intellectual capital and share prices on the Nasdaq OMXS30 companies between 2001 and 2010. This, by using content analysis to score the companies' disclosure of intellectual capital and linear regression to test for a relationship with the corresponding share prices. We find a significant positive relationship between Price and Intellectual capital only for one of its subcategories: Internal Capital. The other two, Human Capital and External Capital, were both negatively correlated, explaining why we could not see a relationship between our total Intellectual capital score and price. Apart from this, we see that the average IC disclosure increased significantly during our researched time period and that IC disclosure in knowledge-intensive companies is statistically higher than for capital-intensive companies when it comes to External Capital and Human Capital. For Internal Capital, as well as for Total intellectual capital disclosure, we could not see any difference.

Bakgrund och problem: Det som fokuseras är bedömningen av vad som är utgifter för utveckling, om dessa ska aktiveras som en tillgång i balansräkningen eller kostnadsföras löpande, och vad som påverkar redovisningen. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om och förståelsen för hur företag redovisar utgifter för FoU. Ett delsyfte är att också förklara varför de redovisar som de gör. Ett annat delsyfte med studien är att undersöka om redovisningen och bedömningen av vad som är FoU påverkas av subjektivitet. Metod: För att uppfylla studiens syfte har en kvalitativ metod med fallstudier som huvudsaklig undersökningsdesign använts.  Fyra intervjuer har genomförts, varav tre med för studien intressanta företag som har möjlighet att aktivera utgifter för utveckling i balansräkningen. För att få en kompletterande bild och ett annat perspektiv genomfördes även en intervju med en revisor. Empiri och slutsats: Den främsta orsaken till hur företagen i studien redovisar är vad standarden, IFRS, säger. Med en tillräcklig och övertygande argumentation, så är det ändå möjligt att göra företagsspecifika tolkningar och tillämpningar av principerna i IFRS. Detta genom att exempelvis tillämpa försiktighetsprincipen och väsentlighetsprincipen vid bedömningar av om FoU uppfyller kriterierna för aktivering i IAS 38. Endel företag som redovisar enligt IFRS tillämpar företagsspecifika väsentlighetskriterier för materialitetsgränser som anger ett lägsta belopp för utvecklingskostnader som kan aktiveras. Dessa undre gränser lämnar trots allt ett relativt stort utrymme att inte ta upp utvecklingsprojekt i balansräkningen utan istället kostnadsföra utgifter för utveckling om det är något som företaget önskar. Ingen av de intervjuade personerna i studien anser att språkliga hinder och bristande kommunikation mellan tekniker och ekonomer, har någon inverkan på bedömningen av vad som är utvecklingskostnader eller inte och för värderingen av FoU. / Background and problem: The focus lies on the decision and judgment of how to account for R & D in the entities, if it is an intangible asset or not. Aim: The aim with the study is to increase the knowledge of how entities account for R&D. One part of the aim is to also explain why they are doing it in that way. Another aim of the study is to explore if the accounting of the R&D is influenced by subjectivity. Method: A qualitative research method where case studies as the main design has been used. The empirical material has been collected through four interviews. Three of these interviews were made with persons in for the study interesting companies which had the possibility to capitalize development cost in the balance sheet. To have another picture and perspective on the situation one interview was made with an authorized public accountant. Result and conclusion: The foremost reason to how the entities in the study account for R&D is what the standard, IFRS, tells. It is possible to convince with argument to do company specific interpretations and applications of the principles in IFRS. For example this could be done thrue application of the principle of carefulness or of the principle of essential in the judgment and decision if the R&D fulfills the criteria for capitalizing, especially IAS 38, point 57 d. Some entities who account according to IFRS use company specific criterion of essential for materiality which state a lowest amount for development cost to be activated. These lower boundaries for materiality leave a relative big space to the entities not to activate development cost in the balance sheet if that is what the company wish. None of the interviewed persons in the study think that scarce communication between economist and engineers affect the judgment and decision of R&D and if the development cost is an intangible asset.

<p>Background: Accounting of intangible assets have increased during the last years which have created a debate about if trademarks should be accounted as assets with the uncertainty of the value in mind. Valuation and accounting of trademarks are of interest for accountants and investors. These should be able toget information about the assets that are of importance for the company. A solid brand can be of great value for a company, which should be accounted for. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this master is to examine the function of the brand in the different companies in the study and map the definitions that the different companies have of brands. We also want to describe and investigate how and why companies choose to present its brands and also investigate the reliability of the used methods of valuation. Accomplishment: To fulfil our purpose, the annual reports from the companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange were studied. An inquiry was sent to complement the collected information. For further draught we interviewed a lender and a brand expert. </p><p>Result: Companies define a brand from three different perspectives; marketing-, accounting- and legally perspectives. The companies definitions differ depending on which line of business they work. The most important functions of the brand also differ depending on which line of business they work, generally the companies bring out the distinction and the customer loyalty functions of the brand. Six of the 33 companies in the study has valuated their trademarks. These also have chosen to activate the obtained values. The fact that all companies that have valued its trademarks also activate them may have its reason in that they don´t see a relevance in just valuating the trademark for internal use. The methods of valuation the companies have used are the Cash-flow method, the cost- based method of valuation and the market-based method of valuation. In accounting of trademarks the companies bring out the precautionary principle and solely aquired trademarks are activated in accordance to RR15.</p>

Uppsatsen behandlar personalekonomi och huruvida mänskliga resurser ska behandlas som en tillgång för organisationer eller inte och fokus ligger på ideella idrottsorganisationer. I teori och empiri påvisas att människan är en viktig resurs för en organisation. Fokus i uppsatsen ligger i att applicera beräkningen av värdet av personalen som en tillgång på ideella idrottsorganisationer, där personalen består till stor del av volontärer. Trots att det rör sig om donerad arbetskraft existerar ändå kostnader kring volontärer, vilket empirin bevisar. Det tydliggörs både av volontärer samt de som ansvarar för volontärer att viss ersättning som exempelvis mat och kläder förväntas, vilka är betydande kostnader att kalkylera. Det framkommer även att välmående och den sociala miljön kring eventet är av betydande vikt för ett fortsatt engagemang samt en positiv och motiverande miljö. / The essay deals with human resources and whether or not they should be treated as an asset or not for organisations and it focuses primarily on nonprofit sport organisations. Theory and empirics show that humans are an important asset in an organisation. The essay focuses on applicating the measurement of the value of personnel as an asset to nonprofit sport organisations, where the volunteers make up for a big part of the staff. In spite of it being donated workforce there are costs to consider in the usage of volunteers, which is proved in the empirics of the essay. It is made clear both by volunteers and people responsible for volunteers that some compensation, in the form of food and clothes for example, is expected by volunteers and these are significant cost to account for. Well-being and the social environment in events are shown to be of significance regarding a continued commitment from the volunteers and also to maintain a positive and motivating environment.

Sammanfattning Datum: 2008-06-04 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi Författare: Kristina Andersson Anette Titze Enköping Västerås Handledare: Matti Skoog, universitetslektor Titel: Immateriella tillgångars värde i två företagsspecifika situationer konkurs relaterat till företagsförvärv Problem: Intressenter som verkar kring ett företag måste kunna få en helhetsuppfattning om dess värde. Redovisningsteoretiker har länge ansett att immateriella tillgångar bör redovisas i större omfattning i balansräkningen, både de som kan aktiveras enligt regelverket samt de osynliga så som personalen. Svårigheten med att värdera dessa tillgångar är med andra ord ett problem, därav den fortgående debatten. Därför är det intressant att studera hur tillgångarna behåller sitt värde i händelse av konkurs, sett i relation till företagsförvärv. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att diskutera problematiken kring värderingen av de immateriella tillgångarna och studera i vilken utsträckning värdet behålls i förvärvs- respektive konkurssituationer. Metod: Författarna har använt regelverk, relevant litteratur, samt artiklar inom området där värderingsproblematik har diskuterats. Vidare har primärdata samlats in i form av handlingar från företag där konkurs har avslutats och intervjuer med sakkunniga inom området för att kunna studera praxis. Studien har således en kvalitativ ansats. Slutsats: De immateriella tillgångarnas värden påverkas olika då det gäller huruvida de behåller sitt bokförda värde i händelse av konkurs och företagsförvärv. I konkurs tenderar denna tillgång att tappa hela sitt bokförda värde, vilket är viktigt för företagets intressenter att känna till. Särskilt de intressenter med säkerhet i företagets tillgångar. Vid företagsförvärv behålls det bokförda värdet och kan till och med öka, vilket har betydelse för tidigare ägare till företaget då denne erhåller betalning även för företagets osynliga resurser. Sökord: Immateriella tillgångar, konkurs, värdering, intressenter / Abstract Date: 2008-06-04 Level: Bachelor thesis in business administration Authors: Kristina Andersson Anette Titze Enköping Västerås Advisor: Matti Skoog, Lecturer Title: The value of intangible assets in mergers and bankruptcy situations Problem: Stakeholders operating on a company must be able to get the full ramifications of its value. Researchers have long believed that intangible assets should be reported to a greater extent on the balance sheet, both those that can be activated under the regulatory framework and the invisible, for example the company staff. The difficulty in valuing these assets is a problem, hence the continuing debate. Therefore, it is interesting to study how the assets will retain its value in the event of bankruptcy, in relation to acquisitions. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to discuss the problem of valuation of the intangible assets and to study the extent to which the value is retained in mergers and bankruptcy situations. Method: The authors have used the regulatory framework, relevant literature, and articles in the area where the problem regarding valuation have been discussed. Furthermore, the raw data collected in the form of documents from companies in which the bankruptcy has been completed and interviews with experts in the field to study the practice. The study therefore has a qualitative approach. Conclusion: The intangible asset values are affected different in terms of whether they retain their book value in the event of bankruptcy and acquisitions. In bankruptcy they tend to lose their book value, which is important for the company's stakeholders to know. In particular, those stakeholders with security in the company's assets. At acquisitions the book value is retained and may even increase, that is relevant to the former owner of the company when receiving payment for the company's invisible resources. Keywords: Intangible assets, bankruptcy, valuation, stakeholders

There are several major research papers on accounting choice that intends to explain and analyze how the intangible assets should be classified. However, there are not many theses or major research papers on football clubs and the accounting choice they make when it comes to the accounting of one of their most important assets, their players. This thesis intends to explain and analyze why Swedish football clubs makes the accounting choice that they make. Furthermore, the intentions are to explain the consequences of these choices and find out if that affects the football clubs vision of true and fair view. The methods that will be used for this study is an examination of the financial documents along with interviews. One of the theories in the study is the institutional theory, which explains that organizations in the same industry tend to become more alike. The study has shown that Swedish football clubs are given a choice, to present the player contracts on the balance sheet or as an expense in the income statement. The majority of the clubs presented the player contracts in the balance sheet. The main reason for that is said to be that the costs can be spread over several years, which means it will be easier to meet the financial requirements from the Swedish Football Association.

Bakgrund och problem: Dagens företag består allt mer av immateriella tillgångar då samhället vi lever i har blivit allt mer högteknologiskt och kunskapsintensivt. När småföretag vill expandera vänder de sig vanligtvis till banker för att ansöka om krediter. Det finns dock en stor kritik mot hur banker hanterar utlåning till småföretag. Överlag är det väldigt svårt för småföretag att bli beviljade krediter hos banker, speciellt för de småföretag som har en hög andel immateriella tillgångar. Vissa forskare menar även att det finns skillnader i hur immateriella tillgångar bedöms vid kreditbeslut. Vi vill därför undersöka följande: Hur bedömer banker immateriella tillgångar vid kreditbedömningar av småföretag? Hur skiljer sig kreditgivarnas syn på de immateriella tillgångarna? Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur banker bedömer immateriella tillgångar vid kreditbedömningar av småföretag och om det finns några skillnader i kreditgivarnas bedömning. Vidare är syftet att studien ska bidra till en ökad förståelse kring vilken betydelse immateriella tillgångar har när banker fattar ett kreditbeslut. Studiens syfte är inte att generalisera och dra slutsatser kring hur alla banker bedömer immateriella tillgångar vid en kreditbedömningsprocess. Metod: Uppsatsen är skriven utifrån en kvalitativ ansats då målet med vår studie är att bidra till en ökad förståelse kring vilken betydelse immateriella tillgångar har när banker fattar ett kreditbeslut men även för att belysa hur osäkerheten med immateriella tillgångar behandlas ur bankernas situation. Kreditgivarnas personliga åsikter har en stor betydelse i vår studie, därför har vi också valt att använda en kvalitativ metod då den bidrar till att respondenternas personliga åsikter och reflektioner kan lyftas fram vilket är nödvändigt för att få en djupare förståelse. Slutsats: Vår studie visar att bankerna vid kreditbedömning av småföretag bedömer immateriella tillgångar på ungefär liknande sätt. Det fanns inga stora skillnader i själva bedömningen av de immateriella tillgångarna. Däremot skiljer sig kreditgivarnas syn på immateriella tillgångar. Trots att samtliga respondenter bedömde tillgångarna i princip på samma sätt kan vi se att det finns skillnader. Det är överlag väldigt svårt för småföretag med en hög andel immateriella tillgångar att bli beviljade krediter men det vi har kommit fram till i den här studien är att det faktiskt finns faktorer som kan påverka ett kreditbeslut och därmed också underlätta för dessa företag att bli beviljade krediter. / Background and problem: Today's businesses consist increasingly of intangible assets because the society we live in has become increasingly high-tech and knowledge-intensive. When small businesses are looking to expand, they usually turn to banks to apply for loans. However, there is a great criticism of how banks handle loans to small businesses. Overall, it is very difficult for small businesses to get credits granted by banks, especially for those small businesses that have a high percentage of intangible assets. Some researchers also believe that there are differences in how intangible assets are assessed on credit decisions. We therefore wish to examine: How do banks assess intangible assets on credit rating of small business? How lenders view differs on intangibles? Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine how banks assess intangible assets in the credit assessment of SMEs and whether there are any differences in lenders' assessment. An additional purpose of the study is to contribute to an increased understanding of the importance of intangible assets when banks make credit decisions. The study's purpose is not to generalize and draw conclusions about how all banks assesses intangible assets on a credit assessment process. Method: The essay is written from a qualitative approach because the goal of our study is to contribute to an increased understanding of the importance of intangible assets when banks make credit decisions but also to illustrate how the uncertainty of intangibles is treated from the banks' situation. The lenders ' personal opinions are of great importance in our study, therefore, we have also chosen to use a qualitative approach as it helps to highlight the respondents' personal opinions and reflections which are necessary to get a deeper understanding. Conclusion: Our study shows that creditors assess intangible assets similarly. There were no significant differences in the actual assessment of the intangible assets. However lenders view of intangible assets differs. Although all respondents assessed the assets in basically the same way, we can see that there are differences. Overall it is very difficult for small companies with a high proportion of intangible assets to be granted credits but that we have arrived to the conclusion that there are indeed factors that can affect a credit decision and therefore make it easier for these companies to be granted credits.

The game of football has transformed from just being a game into a huge economic market attracting investors from all over the world. As clubs spend more and more money on player acquisitions, player registrations (considered intangible assets) now represent a significant part of the total assets of major European football clubs. Due to this, treatment of player registrations has become a significant accounting issue. The purpose is to analyze and compare from the perspective of an investor, how a sample of European football clubs account and disclose values of player registrations. The purpose aim to answer the questions how and what kind of information each club discloses on their financial statements. Also, are current accounting procedures and disclosure harmonized, and do they present a true and fair view of top European clubs financial status. A descriptive case study was the most appropriate as it aims to answer the questions “how” and “why”. A sample selection filter was set in the beginning of the process together with the research questions. The final sample was set to be: Arsenal FC, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus FC and FC Porto. The purpose of the selection filter was to get a study both fair on economical as well as competitive sports level. Primary data consist of information from annual financial reports, and in order to enhance validity, interviews with professionals have been conducted and used.  Findings show similarities as well as differences in disclosure and treatment of football player registrations. All clubs meet the minimum requirements from IAS 38 and UEFA. However, how and what kind of information each clubs disclose differ substantially and due to lack of valuation models and the possibility to capitalize home-grown players and free agents, the value of player registrations is not presented in a true and fair view.

This thesis investigates the use of hedonic pricing models to value intangible assets that are owned by firms. This novel approach falls within the neoclassical methodology for the valuation of financial assets, and extends the framework by ordering an alternative methods by which assets may be compared. The firms performance, as measured by reported financial data and embodied in the DuPont ratios of the firm, is used to derive the characteristics of intangible assets. The shadow prices of these characteristics are estimated and used to derive a market-related value for the intangible assets. The empirical results support using this approach to value intangible assets.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD), / The confluence of a number of marketplace phenomena has provided the impetus for the selection and conduct of this research. The first is the so called value relevance of intangibles in determining share market performance of publicly listed companies. The growing gap between market and book values has been proposed as an indication of the impact of intangibles on share price values. A second related phenomenon is the increasing reliance on share price appreciation as the principal means for shareholder return as opposed to returns through dividends. This suggests that share prices are becoming an even more critical firm performance measure than traditional accounting-based firm performance measures like return on investment (ROI). A third phenomenon is the rapid growth in marketplace alliances and joint ventures, the number of which has grown rapidly over the past 30 years. The explanation for these phenomena may lie in the concept of corporate social capital (CSC) which, as an intangible asset (IA), has been proposed in several normative studies. CSC has been defined as “the set of resources, tangible or virtual, that accrue to a corporate player through the player’s social relationships, facilitating the attainment of goals” (Leenders & Gabbay, 1999, p3). However, constructs for CSC have only been loosely defined and its impacts on firm performance only minimally empirically tested. This research addresses this gap in the literature. The key aim of this research is to explore the impact of CSC on firm performance. Through the use of CSC as a lens for viewing a firm’s intangibles, several important sub-components of the CSC formulation are exposed. These include a firm’s market centrality (CENT), absorptive capacity (AC), internal capital (INC), human capital (HC) and financial soundness. Therefore, an extended aim for this research is to identify the differential impacts of the CSC sub-components on firm performance. Firm performance was measured as ROI, market-to-book ratios (Tobin’s Q) and total shareholder return (TSR). Overall, the research results indicate that CSC is a significant predictor of firm performance, but falls short of fully explaining the market-to-book value disparity. For this research an innovative computer-supported content analysis (CA) technique was devised to capture a majority of the data required for the empirical research. The use of a commercial news aggregation service, Factiva, and a standard taxonomy of terms for the search, allowed variables for intangible constructs to be derived from a relatively large sample of firms (n=155) from the global information technology services (ITS) sector from 2001 to 2004. Data indices for joint venture or alliance activity, research and development (R&D) activity, HC, INC and external capital (EC) were all developed using this CA approach. The research findings indicated that all things aren’t equal in terms of how the benefits of CSC accrue to different firms in the sector. The research indicated that for larger, more mature firms, financial soundness does not necessarily correlate with improved shareholder return. The inference is that these firms may have reached a plateau in terms of how the market is valuing them. In terms of market centrality, the research indicates that software firms could benefit from building a larger number of alliances and becoming more centrally connected in the marketplace. The reverse is true, however, for larger, more established firms in the non-software sectors. These companies can be penalised for being over-connected, potentially signalling that they are locked into a suite of alliances that will ultimately limit their capacity to innovate and grow. For smaller, potentially loss-making firms, the research indicates that investments in HC are potentially the only investment strategy that could result in improvements in profitability and shareholder return. Investments by such firms in R&D or INC developments are likely to depress shareholder value and therefore should be minimised in favour of HC investments. For larger, more established firms, investment in HC is beneficial for both ROI and TSR. Investments in areas like R&D and INC were found to be only beneficial to those firms who have the financial capacity to afford it. Firms that don’t appear to have the financial resources to support the level of investments they are making in R&D and/or INC were penalised by the market. Overall, the research provides specific insights into the links between firms and their performance, through appropriate investments in CSC. In terms of research practice, this research demonstrates the viability of computer-supported CA. Progress in the development of more intelligent search technologies will provide increasing utility to CA researchers, promising to unlock a vast range of textual source data for researchers that were previously beyond manual CA practices.