Bakgrund: Skillnaden mellan anställdas och befattningshavares löner är större än tidigare vilket bidrar till en debatt kring VD-ersättning. En hög VD-ersättning kan skapa starka reaktioner hos aktieägare som strävar efter vinstmaximering. Idag är det uppenbart att bolag måste ta hänsyn till det miljömässiga ansvarstagandet vid affärsbeslut, vilket gynnar aktieägaren och genom incitamentsprogram kan det även påverka VD-ersättningen. Eftersom ersättningsstruktur och bolagsstyrning skiljer sig åt mellan länder blir det dessutom centralt att se till varje enskilt land.  Syfte: Studiens syfte är att förklara sambandet mellan bolagets aktiva arbete för ett miljömässigt ansvarstagande och VD-ersättningen i svenska börsnoterade bolag. Metod: Studien har en deduktiv forskningsansats och en kvantitativ forskningsmetod. Data från 131 svenska börsnoterade bolag samlas in och analyseras genom multipel regressionsanalys. Ett förklarande resultat framkommer till följd av hypotesprövning. Slutsats: Studien visar endast ett negativt signifikant samband mellan miljömässigt ansvarstagande och VD-ersättning i form av grundlön. En förklaring skulle kunna vara att grundlön är den mest frekvent använda ersättningstypen i Sverige. Dessutom är miljömässigt ansvarstagande och dess koppling till incitamentsprogram relativt nytt, vilket kan innebära att incitamentsprogrammen ännu inte är fullt utvecklade. Det kan istället tänkas finnas andra icke-monetära ersättningstyper som tillämpas. Studien skulle kunna vara ett argument för att incitamentsprogram ser olika ut i olika länder. Trots studiens resultat är det troligt att monetära incitamentsprogram kopplade till miljömässigt ansvarstagande kommer användas i större utsträckning i framtiden, eftersom miljömässigt ansvar är fördelaktigt för bolagets aktieägare samt att rapporteringen upplevs öka. / Title: The company's active work for environmental responsibility and its impact on Swedishlisted companies' CEO compensation.Background: The difference between employees' and executives' salaries is greater thanbefore, which contributes to a debate about CEO compensation. High CEO compensation cancreate strong reactions from shareholders as they strive for profit maximization. Today,companies must take environmental responsibility into account when making businessdecisions, which benefits the shareholder and affects CEO compensation through incentiveprograms. Since remuneration structure and corporate governance differ between countries, itis central to study each individual country.Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explain the connection between the company's activework for environmental responsibility and CEO compensation in Swedish listed companies.Method: The study has a deductive research approach and a quantitative research method.Data from 131 Swedish listed companies is collected and analyzed through multipleregression analysis. An explanatory result emerges from hypothesis testing.Conclusion: The study only shows a negative significant relationship between environmentalresponsibility and fixed CEO compensation. One explanation could be that fixed salary is themost frequently used type of remuneration in Sweden. In addition, environmentalresponsibility and its connection to incentive programs is relatively new, which means that theprograms may not yet be fully developed. There may be other non-monetary compensationtypes that are applied instead. The study could be an argument that incentive programs aredifferent in different countries. Despite this study’s results, it is likely that monetary incentiveprograms linked to environmental responsibility will be used to a greater extent in the future,since environmental responsibility is beneficial for the company’s shareholders and thatreporting is perceived to increase.

Företag använder idag hållbarhetsredovisning för att kunna redovisa deras ekonomiska, miljömässiga och sociala påverkan på ett sätt så att företagets intressenter kan se hur de arbetar med bland annat samhällsfrågor. Den innehåller information om hur ett företag arbetar mot sina hållbarhetsmål, detta för det har blivit mer vanligt att konsumenter vill bli mer medvetna kring bland annat hur produkterna produceras på grund av intresset för hållbarhetsfrågor. Under 2016 skedde en ändring i årsredovisningslagen som innebar att flera företag var skyldiga att upprätta en hållbarhetsredovisning, detta för att se hur de arbetar med miljöfrågor på ett mer öppet sätt. Därför är syftet med uppsatsen att undersöka hållbarhetsfrågor i hållbarhetsrapporter från olika börsföretag vid tre olika årtal, 2015 innan ändring av årsredovisningslagen, 2017 som är året lagändringen skedde och år 2021 som är fyra år efter lagändringen. Med detta för att se om lagen har haft påverkan på företagen och deras redovisning. Forskningsfrågan lyder “Har det blivit någon skillnad i hållbarhetsrapporterna efter ändringen i årsredovisningslagen?”. I undersökningen användes en kvalitativ innehållsanalys där analyser genomfördes på fyra olika börsnoterade företags hållbarhetsrapporter. En kodning gjordes från deras hållbarhetsrapporter, där kodningen utgick från två begreppen: miljö och social. Slutligen blev resultatet att man kan se en förändring efter lagändringen på hur alla företag hållbarhetsredovisar vid de tre undersökta tillfället. Detta ser man genom att före det obligatoriska lagkravet så valde några företag att utesluta viss information kring vissa teman eller att inte ta upp något alls, till att det var mer utvecklat efteråt, alltså ändrades företagen sitt sätt att redovisa. / Companies today use sustainability reporting to be able to report their financial, environmental and social impact in a way that the company's stakeholders can see how they work with, among other things, social issues. It contains information about how a company works towards its sustainability goals, this because it has become more common for consumers to become more aware of, among other things, how the products are produced due to the interest in sustainability issues. In 2016, there was a change in the Annual Accounts Act which meant that several companies were obliged to draw up a sustainability report, this to see how they work with environmental issues in an open manner. Therefore, the purpose of the essay is to examine sustainability issues in sustainability reports from various listed companies at three different years, 2015 before the amendment to the Annual Accounts Act, 2017 which is the year after the amendment to the Act and 2021 which is four years after the amendment to the Act. With this to see if the law has affected the companies and their accounting. The research question reads "Has there been any difference in the sustainability reports after the change in the Annual Accounts Act?". In the survey, qualitative content analysis was used, where the analysis is carried out on the sustainability reports of four different listed companies. A coding was done from their sustainability reports, where the coding was based on the two concepts of environment and social. Finally, the result was that you can see a change after the change in the law in how all companies report on sustainability during all three years investigated. This can be seen by the fact that before the mandatory legal requirement, some companies chose to exclude certain information about certain themes or not to include anything at all, until it was more developed afterwards, so the companies changed their way of reporting.

The purpose of our paper is to study how ownership structure affects ARL (audit report lag) in Swedish companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. In particular, family ownership (FAMO), institutional ownership (INSO) and foreign ownership (FORO) are analysed. Audit report lag is defined as the period between the end of a fiscal year to the signing of the audit report, which is directly followed by the release of an annual report. Based on a sample of 814 firm-year observations for Swedish-listed firms for 2020-2022, this study finds a significant negative relationship between audit report lag and both family and foreign ownership. The results indicate that audit report lag decreases when family and foreign ownership increases. Moreover, the findings suggest that family-owned firms have a shorter audit report lag compared to non-familyowned firms. No statistically significant relationship was discovered between ARL and institutional ownership. Arguments for our results can be found in the agency theory, signalling theory, and consequently the reputational hypothesis. Companies with certain ownership structures may try to signal certain information to investors to achieve the best possible reputation and external perception. Signalling theory has implications for companies that want to combat agency theory type 2 through timely reporting.

No / This paper seeks to contribute to the existing business strategy and the environment literature by examining the effect of governance structures on environmental performance within a unique context of improving environmental governance, policies, regulations and management. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which corporate board gender diversity, including the proportion, age and level of education of female directors, affect environmental performance of Chinese publicly listed corporations. Using one of the largest Chinese datasets to-date, consisting of a sample of 383 listed A-shares from 2011 to 2015 (i.e., observations of 1,674), our findings are three-fold. First, we find that the proportion and age of female directors have a positive effect on the overall corporate environmental performance. Second, our findings indicate that the proportion and age of female directors also have a positive effect on the three individual environmental performance components, namely environmental (i) strategy, (ii) implementation and (iii) disclosure, respectively. Finally, and by contrast, we do not find any evidence that suggests that the level of education of female directors has any impact on environmental performance, neither the overall environmental performance measure nor its individual components. Our findings have important implication for regulators and policy-makers. Our evidence is robust to controlling for alternative measures, other governance and firm-level control variables, and possible endogeneities. We interpret our findings within a multi-theoretical framework that draws insights from agency, legitimacy, neo-institutional, resource dependence, stakeholder, and tokenism theoretical perspectives.

This dissertation reflects the results of a study during which the 2006 annual reports of the top-40 JSE listed companies, were assessed for their disclosure of the required corporate governance statements. Content analysis was used to identify the information. The results obtained indicate that the majority of the JSE's top-40 listed companies adhere to good corporate governance disclosure practices. However, there are areas in which the non-disclosure of information was prevalent. These include the disclosure of information on the selection of external auditors and whistle blowing. Future research, employing sources such as SENS announcements, press releases, trading updates, cautionary announcements and websites together with annual reports should be conducted. / Financial Accounting / M.Com. (Accounting)

本研究以中國大陸上市公司為研究對象，探討股票報酬與公司治理間之關係。此外，為了檢視中國大陸公司治理是否為股票市場上之系統風險，本研究採用學術上廣為使用之四因子模式（Carhart 1997）作為基本迴歸模型，藉由控制住影響大部分股票變異之四因子，純粹探討公司治理指標對於股票報酬之解釋能力。最後，本研究進一步比較各公司治理指標對於股票報酬變異之解釋力相對強弱為何。 實證結果發現： （1）國家股股東持股比率相對較高、董事會規模相對較大、董事長兼任總經 理之公司具有較高股票報酬；而機構法人持股比率相對較高、公眾股股東持股比率相對較高、獨立董事占董事會比率相對較高之公司則具有較低股票報酬。 （2）絕大部分公司治理指標對於超額股票報酬具有顯著影響力，本研究進而推論中國大陸公司治理為股票市場上之系統風險之一。然而，公司治理指標對於提升四因子模式解釋力之程度相當有限。 （3）在原本四因子模式中加入「國家股股東持股比率溢酬因子」、「獨立董 事占總董事人數溢酬因子」二公司治理指標，會比加入「公眾股股東持股比率溢酬因子」、「董事會規模溢酬因子」指標具有較佳之模式解釋力。而在模式中加入「公眾股股東持股比率溢酬因子」、「董事會規模溢酬因子」二公司治理指標又比「機構法人持股比率溢酬因子」指標具有較佳之模式解釋力。 / This study investigates the relation between corporate governance and stock returns in China’s listed companies. Additionally, I apply four-factor model (Carhart 1997) to examine whether China’s corporate governance mechanisms are systematic risks in stock market. At last, I compare the explanation power of excess returns among all corporate governance indexes. I find that: (1) Firms, with higher level of nation ownership, larger board size and dual roles of chairman and managing director, have higher returns; firms ,with higher level of legal person ownership, of public ownership, of independent directors’ ratio, have lower returns. (2) Most Corporate governance indexes have significant impacts on excess stock returns, so we infer that corporate governance in China is one of systematic risks in stock market. However, I also find that corporate governance indexes add few margin contributions to four-factor model. (3) Governance indexes of nation ownership and of independent directors’ ratio have more impact on stock returns than the index of public ownership and of board size. Meanwhile, index of public ownership and of board size have more impact on stock returns than the index of legal person ownership.

This thesis examines responses to the problem of stock market short-termism ('SMST'). SMST is defined as investors preferring short-term financial returns over potentially more profitable longer-term investment opportunities. Such short-termism may result in serious real-world consequences. Company executives appear to respond to short-term pressures in ways that jeopardize the long-term sustainability of listed companies negatively impacting investors and other stakeholders including employees, customers and the community at large. This thesis provides an original contribution to the academic literature via an in-depth examination of all significant regulatory and financial industry efforts meant to reform SMST in major capital markets after the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. I hypothesize that the extensive discussion of the SMST issue has generated substantial reforms. Based on an analysis of the implemented reforms, I reveal that the anticipated surge of SMST reform has not occurred. I then explore why the widespread SMST discussion has not resulted in greater reform efforts. This examination reveals the complex nature of the SMST problem and the evidentiary issues inherent in viably identifying and measuring the harms of SMST. However, I determine that there is probable cause for concern justifying SMST reform measures. Further, I conclude that SMST issues arise because investors are biased towards short-term returns when calculating risk. This bias is evident in share pricing, meaning that share prices are not a reliable indicator of fundamental corporate value. Based on this conclusion, an original dual pathway for SMST reform is proposed. This dual pathway indicates that SMST reform measures must either: (1) reduce the actual or perceived excessive discounting of future returns by investors (i.e. make share prices better reflective of long-term value); or (2) cut-off the transmission mechanisms of SMST into the listed company (i.e. sever the link between share prices and corporate decision-making). Assessing the reforms against this dual pathway reveals that few of the reforms are conceptually effective. Of the few reforms that are conceptually effective, most are relatively 'light' touch. A 'light' touch approach may not be problematic, however, as such measures are easier to implement than 'hard' law. In the case of regulatory reforms, a 'light' touch approach provides scope for flexibility to minimize the many potential harms associated with 'hard' law measures. Consequently, this thesis concludes that SMST reform is more likely to occur if reformers pursue a 'lighter' touch approach meant to reduce excessive discounting of future returns and 'nudge' capital markets away from their harmful short-termism focus.

Este trabajo se enmarca en el ámbito de las empresas españolas cotizadas durante el periodo comprendido entre el año 2003 y 2007, y concretamente, en la retribución del equipo de alta dirección. Tres son los estudios que se llevan a cabo con el objetivo de determinar hasta qué punto las empresas son capaces de controlar y adaptar las retribuciones de su equipo de alta dirección a los requerimientos económicos, contextuales y políticos -consejo de administración y estructura de propiedad- y en qué medida dichas retribuciones se relacionan con los resultados de las empresas, prestando una mayor atención a los factores políticos. Para lo cual se emplea la metodología de datos de panel. / This work is included in the scope of the Spanish companies during the period between 2003 and 2007, and indeed, in the pay of the senior management team. Three studies carried out in order to determine to what extent companies are able to control and adjust the salaries of its top management team to economic, political, contextual and board and ownership structure " and to what extent these fees are related to business performance, and paid more attention to political factors. To which is used panel data methodology.

中國加入WTO之後，大陸經濟體制轉型。從早期的計劃經濟到現在的市場經濟。投資政策也趨向「引進來，走出去」，此外，有鑑於大陸具有廉價的勞工和市場潛力，外資紛紛從所謂綠地投資或藉由合格境外投資者等間接投資方式轉為合併或收購為主的直接投資為取向。然而，面對上市公司因為涉及中國大陸特有的「股權分置」現象，使外資於併購上有一定困難度。再者，中國大陸特有的「民族情感」因素，使行政機關常常藉由「國家安全」等不確定法律概念而否准外資併購。 本文主要針對外資併購上市公司經常適用之法令作整合及研究，並論及外資併購上常運用之契約條款進行分析。此外，針對外資併購常遇到之問題提出淺見並針對外資併購中債權人及中小股東之保護提出論述，以供外資於併購中如何在外資獲利及中小股東權益保障獲得平衡點。 / Since China has become the members of WTO, the economic structure has transformed. From the early plan structure becomes to market structure. The policy of investments is tend to be “attract in and walk out”, besides, because of the cheaper workers and marketing potential of China, the foreign investor’s investment policy is going to be from the indirect investment of green island investment or QFII to the direct investment of Merger & Acquisition. However, in face of the especially system phenomenon of “delaminate of stock rights”, makes the merger& acquisition by foreign investors difficultly. Moreover, because of the especially factor of “the nationality of friendship”, makes the administrative organizations often refuse the permition of foreign investors by “national security”. In this essay, be focus on the research the merger& acquisition by foreign investors in common use of the authority laws and decrees, and analyzing the common use of the contracts articles. Besides, to be aimed at the problems of the merger& acquisition by foreign investors and the protection of shareholders and creditors, I try to supply some suggestions in order to make the balance of the merger& acquisition by foreign investors and the protection of shareholders and creditors.

Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur revisorer reviderar goodwillposten gällande företagsförvärvad goodwill i svenska noterade bolag och hur revisorer förhåller sig till nedskrivningsprövning enligt IFRS. Studiens syfte är även att undersöka vad revisorer anser om de tre faktorerna neutralitet, väsentlighet samt revidering som grund för framtida beslutsfattanden och hur dessa tre faktorer påverkar revideringen. Den metod som använts är en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en kombination av en induktiv och deduktiv ansats. Den empiriska undersökningen har gjorts utifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer och dessa utfördes övervägande med auktoriserade revisorer. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats och återkopplats till tidigare forskning för att besvara studiens forskningsfrågor. Studien visar att goodwill är ett omdiskuterat ämne på grund av att posten är svår att värdera samt att det är svårt att separera övriga immateriella tillgångar från goodwill. Studien visar även att revisionsbevis är en viktig del i revisionsprocessen. Gällande nedskrivningsprövning enligt IFRS visar studien att regelverket är komplicerat och att det därmed kräver kompetens och förståelse. Med detta konstateras att tydligare regelverk och riktlinjer skulle vara fördelaktigt. Resultaten från studien visar att revisorerna anser ej att agera neutralt i sin bedömning är ett problem och att detta anses vara en förutsättning för att utöva yrket. Gällande goodwillpostens väsentlighet visar studien att postens storlek är avgörande samt att det ej finns någon fastställd modell vid bedömning av väsentlighetstal. Studien visar även att revidering av goodwillposten bidrar med kvalité och tillförlitlighet till årsredovisningarna. Reviderade årsredovisningar är därmed viktigt för investerarnas framtida beslutsfattanden. Ett förslag till vidare forskning är att utföra en liknande studie med ett större urval samt komplettera denna med företagens synvinkel av hur de arbetar med nedskrivningsprövning enligt IFRS. / The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how auditors should audit existing goodwill in Swedish listed companies and how the auditors relate to impairment test under IFRS. The study's purpose is also to investigate what auditors consider about the three factors - neutrality, substantial and auditing as a basis for future decision-shaping process and how these factors influence the auditing. The method used is a qualitative research method with a combination of inductive and deductive approach. The empirical investigation was made based on semi-structured interviews and these were conducted predominantly with certified public auditors. The empirical data have been compared to previous research in order to answer the research questions. The study shows that goodwill is a debated topic due to the record is difficult to value and that it is difficult to separate other intangible assets from goodwill. The study also shows that the statement of qualifications is an important part of the audit process. Applicable impairment according to IFRS study shows that the regulatory framework is complicated and that it therefore requires expertise and understanding. This shows that clearer rules and guidelines would be beneficial. The results of the study show that the auditors do not think that acting neutral in their assessment is a problem and that this is considered a prerequisite for the exercise of the profession. Existing goodwill substantial study shows that the record size is crucial, and not see any fixed model when assessing materiality speech. The study also shows that the auditing of goodwill contributes to quality and reliability to the financial statements. Audited financial statements are thus important for investors ' future decision shaping process. A suggestion to further research is to conduct a similar study with a larger sample and supplement this with enterprise point of view of how they work with impairment testing under IFRS.