There are multiple ways to analyze stock companies. One way is using fundamental analysis, which means one is analyzing the company’s business key figures, such as revenue, net income and more. The key figures that were chosen to be analyzed in this report were: revenue, net income, free cash f low, return on invested capital and debt-to-equity ratio. In this thesis, machine learning was implemented to evaluate if it is possible to automate fundamental research of companies and to be able to produce a portfolio that would outperform the Swedish stock index. The data set used for both training and testing the classifiers contained the company’s basic information, 10 years of fundamental history and stock price history from the past 10 years. The companies examined were every stock listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq First North, Spotlight Market, Nordic Growth Market and PepMarket. The data that was gathered stretches from 2012 to 2021 which were split up into f ive-year periods and made up the training and testing period. The training data contained fundamental history from every company from these five-year periods. The classifier’s results from the testing period were used to create the portfolios during the holding period 2021-2022 to benchmark against the Swedish stock index. The results indicate that it is indeed possible to create portfolios using machine learning that will outperform the market over a year of holding the stocks. / Det finns många olika sätt att analysera aktieföretag. Ett sätt är att använda fundamental analys, vilket innebär att man analyserar företagets nyckeltal, såsom omsättning, årets resultat, etc. Nyckeltalen som har valts att analyseras i denna studie var: omsättning, årets resultat, fritt kassaflöde, avkastning på investerat kapital samt skuldsättningsgrad. I denna avhandling har maskininlärning implementerats för att undersöka om det är möjligt att automatisera fundamental forskning av företag och skapa en portfölj som ger bättre avkastning än svenska aktieindex. Data som används för både träning och testning av klassificerare innehöll företagens grundläggande information, 10 år av fundamental historik samt aktiekurs historik för dem senaste 10 åren. Företagen som undersöktes var varje aktie listad på Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq First North, Spotlight Market, Nordic Growth Market och PepMarket. Data som har samlats sträcker sig från 2012 till 2021 och var uppdelade i femårsperioder till träning och testning. Träningsdata innehöll fundamental historik från varje företag från dessa femårsperioder. Resultaten från klassificerare från testning perioden användes för att skapa portföljer under 20212022 som jämfördes med svenska aktieindex. Resultaten från detta indikerar att det är möjligt att skapa portföljer med hjälp av maskininlärningsmetoder som kan ge bättre avkastning än svenska aktieindex över en innehavsperiod på ett år.

Biophysikalische Veränderungen der Produktionsbedingungen zwingen Landwirte zur Anpassung ihrer klimasensiblen Produktionsprozesse. Eine ökonomische Bewertung dieser strategischen Alternativen ist angesichts der Unsicherheiten durch den Klimawandel von hoher Bedeutung. Mit nur wenigen empirischen Studien befindet sich die Forschung in diesem Bereich jedoch noch im Anfangsstadium. Die vorliegende Studie zielt auf die Entwicklung eines integrierten ökonomischen Rahmens für die Bewertung von Anpassungsoptionen ab. Die theoretische und ökonometrische Analyse wird dabei anhand (1) einer prozessorientierten Analyse von Produktionsverfahren und Anpassungsoptionen auf Basis der Theorie der Betriebslehre sowie (2) eines hedonischen (Ricardianischen) Ansatzes, basierend auf der Theorie zu Landrenten und Veränderungen des Nettobetriebseinkommens, in Abhängigkeit von klimatischen Variablen durchgeführt. Die Analyse von Input-Output-Verhältnissen der Reisproduktion basiert auf einer umfassenden Befragung von 300 „klimaangepassten“ Landwirten über acht Jahre in Bangladesch. Es werden insgesamt 14 Anpassungsoptionen für zwei Anbauperioden von Reis identifiziert. Eine Kombination der Methoden ermöglicht dabei drei Vorteile: (1) Eine geringere Ressourcennutzung in Kombination mit einer moderaten produktiven Leistung und einem hohen Nettoeinkommen, (2) eine Verringerung von Treibhausgasemissionen sowie (3) einen klimaangepassten Betrieb. Es wird gezeigt, dass sich Temperaturänderungen in beiden Perioden negativ auf das Betriebseinkommen auswirken. Niederschlagsänderungen sind in allen Modellen signifikant und positiv zu bewerten. Die Studie zeigt eindeutig, dass eine sukzessive Anpassung das Betriebsergebnis signifikant erhöhen und zu einer Steigerung des Betriebseinkommens beitragen kann. Durch die Modellierung der Auswirkungen verschiedener Szenarien des Klimawandels auf das Nettobetriebseinkommen werden die nachteiligen Effekte auf zukünftige Betriebseinkommen aufgezeigt. / The bio-physical change in the production environment has directed farmers towards strategic alternatives for farming practices. The economic assessment of these adaptation options is of great importance in facing the uncertainty of climate change. However, the economic assessment of farm-level adaptation options remains in its infancy with few empirical studies. The study framework analyzes economic implications of alternative farming activities relating to climate change in several dimensions. The theoretical and empirical economic approach of the study can be characterized in two distinct ways: (1) the process-based approach following farm management theory by production performance analysis and the appraisal of adaptation and (2) the hedonic (Ricardian) approach based on land rent theory and the change in net farm income in relation to climatic variables. The analysis of input-output relations of rice farming was done based on an intensive survey of 300 adapted farmers in Bangladesh over 8 years at different climate thresholds. The study assesses different adaptation options for two rice growing seasons, namely Boro and Amon. These options are (1) low resource use, moderate productive performance and high farm net income, (2) minimum GHG production and (3) farms coping with changing climatic conditions. The study reveals that marginal impacts of temperature on farm net income are negative for all seasons. The marginal impacts of rainfall were found to be positive and significant for all models in the study. It is also evident from the analysis that successive adaptation significantly increases farm productivity and contributes to the revival of farm revenue up to a threshold level. Finally, based on estimated climate variability models of farm net income, the study presents a model that simulates according to future climate change scenarios. It indicates adverse effects of climate change on future farm income.

Esta tese tem como objetivos: [i] estabelecer os fatores preponderantes para a decisão de investimentos em ativos capazes de gerar de renda mensal de longo prazo; [ii] desenvolver ferramentas de avaliação do investimento para auxiliar na tomada de decisão; e [iii] identificar as expectativas dos investidores, com o intuito de construir um conjunto de premissas para o desenvolvimento de produtos mais ajustados aos seus anseios. Isto é feito por meio de análise comparativa com outras oportunidades de investimento, que leva em conta as expectativas, o humor e as características culturais, racionais, emocionais do investidor e do ambiente externo que o cerca. Para isso é necessário ampliar o conhecimento no campo da análise do comportamento do investidor, com base em sua percepção e expectativas acerca da oportunidade de investimento para a geração de renda mensal de longo prazo (RMLP). É preciso conhecer melhor as raízes das necessidades, desejos e aspirações do ser humano, e da diversidade proveniente das características particulares de cada indivíduo que vive em uma sociedade moderna e organizada, em um mundo que está evoluindo muito rapidamente, com escassez de recursos naturais, de energia e que apresenta grandes mudanças na estrutura da sociedade, das ciências econômicas, do conhecimento e do trabalho, e que, em seu íntimo, busca a felicidade no que entende ser melhor, principalmente para si e para a sua família. / This thesis aims: [i] to establish the predominant factors in the decision-making of investment in assets capable of generating long-term income; [ii] to develop tools for evaluating the investment to assist in the decision-making, and [iii] to identify the expectations of investors, with the aim of building a set of assumptions for the development of products more tailored to their desires. This is done through comparative analysis with other opportunities for investment, which takes into account the expectations, mood, and cultural, rational, and emotional characteristics of the investor and the environment that surrounds him. To this end, it is necessary to expand the knowledge in the field of analysis of the investors behavior, based on his perception and expectations about the investment opportunity for the generation of \"long-term monthly income\" (RMLP). We need to understand better the roots of the needs, desires, and aspirations of human beings, and diversity resulting from the particular characteristics of each individual who lives in a modern and organized society, in a world that is evolving very quickly, with scarcity of natural resources and energy, and that presents great changes in the structure of society, of economic sciences, knowledge and work, and who at his core, seeks the happiness in what he thinks is best, especially for himself and his family.

A credit card as a banking product has a dual nature both as a convenient loan and a payment tool. Credit card profitability prediction is a complex problem because of the variety of the card holders' behaviour patterns, a fluctuating balance, and different sources of interest and transactional income. The state of a credit card account depends on the type of card usage and payments delinquency, and can be defined as inactive, transactor, revolver, delinquent, and default. The proposed credit cards profit prediction model consists of four stages: i) utilisation rate and interest rate income prediction, ii) non-interest rate income prediction, iii) account state prediction with conditional transition probabilities, and iv) the aggregation of the partial models into total income estimation. This thesis describes an approach to credit card account-level profitability prediction based on multistate and multistage conditional probabilities models with different types of income and compares methods for the most accurate predictions. We use application, behavioural, card state, and macroeconomic characteristics as predictors. This thesis contains nine chapters: Introduction, Literature Review, six chapters giving descriptions of the data, methodologies and discussions of the results of the empirical investigation, and Conclusion. Introduction gives the key points and main aims of the current research and describes the general schema of the total income prediction model. Literature Review proposes a systematic analysis of academic work on loan profit modelling and highlights the gaps in the application of profit scoring to credit cards income prediction. Chapter 3 describes the data sample and gives the overview of characteristics. Chapter 4 is dedicated to the prediction of the credit limit utilisation and contains the comparative analysis of the predictive accuracy of different regression models. We apply five methods such as i) linear regression, ii) fractional regression, iii) beta-regression, iv) beta-transformation, and v) weighted logistic regression with data binary transformation for utilisation rate prediction for one- and two-stage models. Chapters 5 and 6 are dedicated to modelling the transition probabilities between credit card states. Chapter 5 describes the general model setups, model building methodology such as transition probability prediction with conditional binary logistic, ordinal, and multinomial regressions, the data sample description, the univariate analysis of predictors. Chapter 6 discusses regression estimation results for all types of regression and a comparative analysis of the models. Chapter 7 describes an approach to the non-interest rate income prediction and contains a comparative analysis of panel data regression techniques such as pooled and four random effect methods. We consider two sources of non-interest income generation: i) interchange fees and foreign exchange fees from transactions via pointof- sales (POS) and ii) ATM fees from cash withdrawals. We compare the predictive accuracy of a one-stage approach, which means the usage of a single linear model for the income amount estimation, and a two-stage approach, which means that the income amount conditional on the probability of POS and ATM transaction. Chapter 8 aggregates the results from the partial models into a single model for total income estimation. We assume that a credit card account does not have a single particular state and a single behavioural type in the future, but has a chance to move to any of possible states. The income prediction model is selected according to these states, and the transition probabilities are used as weights for the particular interest rate and non-interest rate income prediction models. Conclusion highlights the contributions of this research. We propose an innovative methodological approach for credit card income prediction as a system of models, which considers the estimation of the income from different sources and then aggregates the income estimations weighted by the states transition probabilities. The results of comparative analysis of regression methods for: i) utilization rate of credit limit and ii) non-interest income prediction, iii) the use of panel data with pooled and random effect for profit scoring, and iv) account level non-binary target transition probabilities estimation for credit cards can be used as benchmarks for further research and fill the gaps of empirical investigations in the literature. The estimation of the transition probability between states at the account level helps to avoid the memorylessness property of the Markov Chains approach. We have investigated the significance of predictors for models of this type. The proposed modelling approach can be applied for the development of business strategies such as credit limit management, customer segmentation by the profitability and behavioural type.

Esta tese tem o objetivo principal de demonstrar empiricamente que as companhias abertas brasileiras "gerenciam" os seus resultados contábeis como resposta a estímulos do mercado de capitais. Inicialmente, é elucidado o significado de alguns conceitos, tais como "gerenciamento" dos resultados contábeis e acumulações discricionárias. Discute-se o perfil do mercado de capitais brasileiro e as circunstâncias ambientais nas quais são gerados os relatórios contábeis financeiros das companhias abertas brasileiras, enfatizando-se o papel dos órgãos reguladores e da legislação comercial e tributária. A seguir, depois da revisão da literatura brasileira e estrangeira na área de "gerenciamento" dos resultados contábeis, documentaram-se evidências para as companhias abertas brasileiras do "gerenciamento" dos resultados contábeis para: a) Evitar reportar perdas, b) Sustentar o desempenho recente e c) Reduzir a variabilidade dos resultados. O período de estudo foi os anos entre 1995 e 1999, tendo como base de dados principal a Economática. Empiricamente, foi implementado um modelo de regressão múltipla para estimar as Acumulações Discricionárias, que são proxy do valor discricionariamente alterado dos resultados contábeis. Com base na pesquisa, verificou-se que as empresas brasileiras com resultados muito ruins os manejam de maneira a piorá-los ainda mais, visando melhores resultados no futuro. Em termos de desempenho no mercado, constatou-se que empresas que manejam "artificialmente" os resultados conseguem no curto prazo seduzir os investidores; entretanto, no longo prazo, o mercado identifica o procedimento e essas ações são penalizadas com os piores desempenhos acumulados. Nos apêndices, é estudada a influência da Governança Corporativa e da Auditoria Independente na propensão à prática do "gerenciamento" dos resultados contábeis, bem como é estimado o coeficiente de resposta dos retornos das companhias abertas brasileiras aos resultados contábeis. / This thesis has the main purpose to present empirical evidence that Brazilian public companies practice earnings management as a response to capital market incentives. Initially, some important concepts are elucidated, such as earnings management and discretionary accruals. In addition, specific aspects of Brazilian capital market, as well as its financial reporting environment are briefly discussed. After a literature review in this area of Earnings management, it will be documented evidences that Brazilian public companies manage their earnings to: a) Avoid reporting losses; b) Sustain recent performance and c) Income smoothing. The study period of the empirical analysis is between 1995 and 1999, and the most important source of information is Economática. As part of the research, It was implemented a multiple regression model to estimate discretionary accruals, that are used as proxies for the amount of earnings management. Among several observations, it was verified that Brazilian companies practice big bath accounting, so in case of bad results, the companies manage their earnings to report even worse losses, in order to have better future earnings. In terms of performance in the stock market, it was documented that companies that artificially manage their results, towards income decreasing or income increasing, can fool the market in the short run, but in the long run the investors realize the procedure, and their stocks will underperform the market. In the appendixes of this thesis some factors that can reduce earnings management are discussed, such as Corporate Governance and Independent Auditing. Other short analysis is the estimation of the earnings response coefficient for Brazilian public companies.

<p>This thesis examines companies offering their services for free to Internet users, byemploying digital free business models. As a framework Chris Anderson’s classificationsof “free” business models are used. A sample of eleven companies that provide “free”services was selected and divided into four groups. These were search engine, socialnetworking/community, content based and others. Their profitability was then measuredin relation to their valuation with the help of P/E ratios within and among the groups. Aregression analysis was also conducted to compare profitability of either one of two“free” business models used by the researched companies.Findings were that search engine and social networking/community companies appear tohave profits for the period researched. No strong trend for overvaluation could be foundin either of these groups, except for individual companies with high P/E ratios. Neithercompany within the content based group showed any profits. Their marginal costs weretoo high but this may change with technological progress. Regression analysis could notshow any significant results employing either the “Freemium” or the advertising “free”business model to be more profitable than the other. Significant results could be shownbeing a content based company and being unprofitable. Comparison between specificcompanies gave mixed results but network effects appear to create dominant playerswithin each group. Employing more than only the advertising “free” business modelseems to be efficient in raising revenue per user for social networking/communitycompanies.</p>

Background: Charity and other non-profit organizations have traditionally not been subject to any particular regulation enforced by Swedish law. Recently though, accounting standards have been altered which, through the new "Bokföringslagen" as of first of January 2001, have affected accounting standards for non- profit organizations. One of the implications which the new"bokföringslagen"has for non-profit organizations in Sweden is the link which it establishes with other accounting regulations enforced by the "Årsredovisningslagen". This link will, in turn, determine which rules that apply for any particular organization. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how accounting regulations are handled by Swedish non-profit organizations. Further, our aim is to disentangle how the new "Bokföringslagen" has affected the use of accounting in non-profit organizations. In addition to this we also attempt to establish clarity between relevant concepts and terms as we conduct a brief survey of how accounting standards are applied in non-profit organizations. Finally we suggest options and alternatives for sections of the accounting standards where change is needed. Delimitation: Only those non-profit organizations, which according to current legislation should set up a year closure or annual report (that is"large"non- profit organizations), will be studied in this essay. Further has a geographical delimitation of the selection been done, to the Swedish county of Östergötland. Realization: The collected information has been obtained through interviews with 15 large non-profit organizations. Conclusion: Accounting in large non-profit organizations in Sweden has not been affected to any larger extent by the new legislation. The handling of tangible assets has not changed. The conception net income is not relevant for non-profit organizations and donations are treated as gifts, which causes risk of confusion. The above shows that the advisory organization of "Bokföringsnämnden" ought to make a statement on how non-profit organizations ought to respond to the new "Bokföringslagen". / Bakgrund: Hjälporganisationer och andra ideella föreningar hör till en grupp juridiska personer i samhället som inte omfattas av någon särskild lagreglering. Nyligen har dock redovisningen i ideella föreningar kommit att omfattas av den nya bokföringslagen, vilken trädde i kraft den 1 januari 2001. Detta innebär att kraven har specificerats, vad gäller redovisning för ideella föreningar. Förändringar som den nya bokföringslagen för med sig innebär bland annat en koppling till årsredovisningslagen och att en mängd gränsbelopp och regler måste beaktas för att bestämma vilken redovisningsplikt som föreligger. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur vissa delar av redovisningen i ideella föreningar hanteras samt utreda hur den nya bokföringslagen har påverkat redovisningen. Vidare ämnar vi att göra en begreppsutredning samt undersöka i vilken utsträckning den nya bokföringslagen tillämpas och om det finns behov av förändrad reglering på området. Avgränsningar: Endast de ideella föreningar som enligt aktuell lagstiftning ska upprätta årsbokslut eller årsredovisning, det vill säga stora ideella föreningar, undersöks i denna studie. Vidare har en geografisk avgränsning av urvalet gjorts till Östergötland. Slutsatser: Redovisningen i stora ideella föreningar har inte påverkats i stor utsträckning av den nya lagstiftningen. Exempelvis har hanteringen av materiella anläggningstillgångar inte förändrats. Begreppet nettoomsättning är inte relevant för ideella föreningar och donationer behandlas som gåvor vilket medför risk för sammanblandning. Ovanstående visar på att bokföringsnämnden bör göra ett uttalande/ ge en rekommendation om hur ideella föreningar ska förhålla sig till den nya bokföringslagen samt årsredovisningslagen.

Background: It is today common for companies to provide some sort of incentive for CEO's and senior management positions to motivate, retain and benefit employees within a company. This is in order to drive the goals of the CEO and management in the direction that is desired by the owner. Currently, the Swedish centre-right government has forbidden the use of such variable pay within state-owned companies. There are two different attitudes to variable pay, one that is in favour and one that rejects it. However most people agree on the fact that a well-functioning incentive scheme can be of great strategic importance for a company. Approach: has variable pay to CEO's had any effect on the company's profitability. Aim: the aim of the study is to compare companies who use variable pay to CEO's with companies that do not in relation to their profitability in terms of profit margins, yearly performance, returns on total capital and returns on equity. Method: the study uses a quantitative approach. The statistical methods that are used to answer the research question are linear and logistic regression analyses of 51 publicly owned companies in Sweden. The statistical analyses utilises an existing database (Affärsdata) which has information based on the companies’ annual report. Due to the fact that the database lacked information concerning incentive schemes, this information was retrieved manually from the company websites (annual financial reports). The research approach is deductive as we have used a range of theories which we thereafter test through our empirical analysis. Results: The results for the linear regressions show that variable pay to CEO has little or no connection to the degree of the company’s profitability. The logistic regressions show a positive significant relationship between variable pay and the company’s odds of being profitable or not. Conclusion: The study shows that variable pay to the CEO is unlikely to have a big impact on the degree of profit or loss for a company. It does however show that variable pay to the CEO is of importance in terms of whether the company makes a profit or not. / Bakgrund: Det är idag vanligt att företag använder sig av någon typ av incitament till VD och ledande befattningshavare. Syftet är att motivera, behålla och gynna anställda inom ett företag.  Detta för att kunna styra VD och ledningens mål i den riktning ägaren önskar. I dagsläget har den borgerliga regeringen i Sverige beslutat om att bruket av rörlig ersättning inom statligt ägda företag är förbjudet. Uppfattningar kring företags tillämpande av rörlig ersättning skiljer sig från de som helt förkastar användandet till de som fullt ut förespråkar dem. Däremot är de flesta överens om att ett fungerande incitamentsprogram kan vara av stor strategisk betydelse för ett företag. Problemformulering: Har rörlig ersättning till VD någon effekt på företagets lönsamhet? Syfte: Syftet med studien är att jämföra företag som använder sig av rörlig ersättning till VD med företag som inte gör det med avseende på deras lönsamhet i form av vinstmarginal, årets resultat, avkastning på totalt kapital och avkastning på eget kapital. Metod: Studien har en kvantitativ ansats. De statistiska metoder som används för att besvara forskningsfrågan är linjär och logistisk regressionsanalys av 51 publika aktiebolag i Sverige. De statistiska analyserna grundar sig på en existerande databas (Affärsdata) som tillhandahåller information om företagens årsredovisningar. Då databasen saknade information kring incitamentsprogram hämtades denna information in manuellt via de studerade företagens hemsidor (årsredovisningar). Ansatsen är deduktiv då vi valt att utgå från en uppsättning teorier som vi därefter prövar med hjälp av våra empiriska analyser. Resultat: Resultaten för de linjära regressionerna visar att rörlig ersättning till VD har en obetydlig koppling till företagets grad av lönsamhet eller förlust. De logistiska regressionsanalyserna visade emellertid att rörlig ersättning till VD har betydelse för huruvida företaget går i vinst eller förlust. Slutsats: Studien visar att rörlig ersättning till VD troligtvis inte har en så stor betydelse för graden av vinst eller förlust för ett företag, men däremot för huruvida företaget går med vinst eller inte.

<p>Background: Charity and other non-profit organizations have traditionally not been subject to any particular regulation enforced by Swedish law. Recently though, accounting standards have been altered which, through the new "Bokföringslagen" as of first of January 2001, have affected accounting standards for non- profit organizations. One of the implications which the new"bokföringslagen"has for non-profit organizations in Sweden is the link which it establishes with other accounting regulations enforced by the "Årsredovisningslagen". This link will, in turn, determine which rules that apply for any particular organization. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how accounting regulations are handled by Swedish non-profit organizations. Further, our aim is to disentangle how the new "Bokföringslagen" has affected the use of accounting in non-profit organizations. In addition to this we also attempt to establish clarity between relevant concepts and terms as we conduct a brief survey of how accounting standards are applied in non-profit organizations. Finally we suggest options and alternatives for sections of the accounting standards where change is needed. </p><p>Delimitation: Only those non-profit organizations, which according to current legislation should set up a year closure or annual report (that is"large"non- profit organizations), will be studied in this essay. Further has a geographical delimitation of the selection been done, to the Swedish county of Östergötland. Realization: The collected information has been obtained through interviews with 15 large non-profit organizations. </p><p>Conclusion: Accounting in large non-profit organizations in Sweden has not been affected to any larger extent by the new legislation. The handling of tangible assets has not changed. The conception net income is not relevant for non-profit organizations and donations are treated as gifts, which causes risk of confusion. The above shows that the advisory organization of "Bokföringsnämnden" ought to make a statement on how non-profit organizations ought to respond to the new "Bokföringslagen".</p> / <p>Bakgrund: Hjälporganisationer och andra ideella föreningar hör till en grupp juridiska personer i samhället som inte omfattas av någon särskild lagreglering. Nyligen har dock redovisningen i ideella föreningar kommit att omfattas av den nya bokföringslagen, vilken trädde i kraft den 1 januari 2001. Detta innebär att kraven har specificerats, vad gäller redovisning för ideella föreningar. Förändringar som den nya bokföringslagen för med sig innebär bland annat en koppling till årsredovisningslagen och att en mängd gränsbelopp och regler måste beaktas för att bestämma vilken redovisningsplikt som föreligger. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur vissa delar av redovisningen i ideella föreningar hanteras samt utreda hur den nya bokföringslagen har påverkat redovisningen. Vidare ämnar vi att göra en begreppsutredning samt undersöka i vilken utsträckning den nya bokföringslagen tillämpas och om det finns behov av förändrad reglering på området. </p><p>Avgränsningar: Endast de ideella föreningar som enligt aktuell lagstiftning ska upprätta årsbokslut eller årsredovisning, det vill säga stora ideella föreningar, undersöks i denna studie. Vidare har en geografisk avgränsning av urvalet gjorts till Östergötland. </p><p>Slutsatser: Redovisningen i stora ideella föreningar har inte påverkats i stor utsträckning av den nya lagstiftningen. Exempelvis har hanteringen av materiella anläggningstillgångar inte förändrats. Begreppet nettoomsättning är inte relevant för ideella föreningar och donationer behandlas som gåvor vilket medför risk för sammanblandning. Ovanstående visar på att bokföringsnämnden bör göra ett uttalande/ ge en rekommendation om hur ideella föreningar ska förhålla sig till den nya bokföringslagen samt årsredovisningslagen.</p>

This thesis examines companies offering their services for free to Internet users, byemploying digital free business models. As a framework Chris Anderson’s classificationsof “free” business models are used. A sample of eleven companies that provide “free”services was selected and divided into four groups. These were search engine, socialnetworking/community, content based and others. Their profitability was then measuredin relation to their valuation with the help of P/E ratios within and among the groups. Aregression analysis was also conducted to compare profitability of either one of two“free” business models used by the researched companies.Findings were that search engine and social networking/community companies appear tohave profits for the period researched. No strong trend for overvaluation could be foundin either of these groups, except for individual companies with high P/E ratios. Neithercompany within the content based group showed any profits. Their marginal costs weretoo high but this may change with technological progress. Regression analysis could notshow any significant results employing either the “Freemium” or the advertising “free”business model to be more profitable than the other. Significant results could be shownbeing a content based company and being unprofitable. Comparison between specificcompanies gave mixed results but network effects appear to create dominant playerswithin each group. Employing more than only the advertising “free” business modelseems to be efficient in raising revenue per user for social networking/communitycompanies.