In this dissertation, Essay 1 draws upon agency theory and corporate governance to classify control enhancing corporate governance provisions and to examine the use of these provisions within the context of publicly traded family firms. I argue that publicly traded family firms will differ from publicly traded nonfamily firms in terms of the frequency of the use of different types of control enhancing governance provisions. Specifically, I argue that family ownership will influence the frequency of the use of provisions and family management will moderate the relationships between family ownership and the frequency of the use of governance provisions. I develop and test the hypotheses on a sample of 386 of S&P500 firms. Findings do not support the hypothesized relationships. A rationale for the non-significant relationships is also provided. In Essay 2, drawing upon agency theory and the extant family governance literature, I examine the link between family involvement, the use of governance provisions, and firm performance. I suggest that the frequency of the use of different types of control enhancing governance provisions differentially influence the relationship between family involvement (i.e. family ownership and family management) in the business and firm performance. I develop and test the hypotheses on 386 of the S&P500 firms. Findings support the hypotheses suggesting the moderation effects of (a) the frequency of the use of provisions protecting controlling owners in terms of their sustainability of controlling status on the inverted u-shaped relationship between family ownership and firm performance, (b) the frequency of the use of provisions protecting management legally on the inverted u-shaped relationship between family ownership and firm performance, (c) the frequency of the use of provisions protecting controlling owners in terms of their voting rights on the inverted u-shaped relationship between family management and firm performance, (d) the frequency of the use of provisions protecting noncontrolling owners on the inverted u-shaped relationship between family management and firm performance, and (e) the frequency of the use of provisions protecting management monetarily on the inverted u-shaped relationship between family management and firm performance. Finally, results, future research directions, and implications for practice are discussed.

<p>Purpose: To investigate whether or not the credit granters believe the quality in audits will deteriorate after the abolishment of statutory audit and, if that is the case, how the abolishment will strike the purpose and goal of accounting.</p><p>Approach: To answer our purpose we carried out a literature study to later implement interviews with four granters of credits specialised in business accounts.</p><p>Findings: The process of credit granting will not change after the abolishment of statutory audit for companies still using audit reports. Though, for other companies the process will change dramatically since the lean time of the process will increase. Higher demands will be put on these companies since the reliability in the economic information will decrease when it is no longer being reviewed in the same sense. Though, the credit granters believe that some form of substitute for audit will be demanded in order for the companies to be granted credits from the bank.</p>

Purpose: To investigate whether or not the credit granters believe the quality in audits will deteriorate after the abolishment of statutory audit and, if that is the case, how the abolishment will strike the purpose and goal of accounting. Approach: To answer our purpose we carried out a literature study to later implement interviews with four granters of credits specialised in business accounts. Findings: The process of credit granting will not change after the abolishment of statutory audit for companies still using audit reports. Though, for other companies the process will change dramatically since the lean time of the process will increase. Higher demands will be put on these companies since the reliability in the economic information will decrease when it is no longer being reviewed in the same sense. Though, the credit granters believe that some form of substitute for audit will be demanded in order for the companies to be granted credits from the bank.

I denna studie undersöker vi om det förekommer earnings management i resultathöjande syfte bland svenska börsnoterade företag vid tiden av en nyemission. Studier om earnings management vid nyemissioner har gjorts förut av exempelvis av (Shivakumar, 2000). Han kommer fram till att earnings management förekommer tiden precis innan en nyemission. Vi hittar dock ingen studie utförd på svenska företag, vilket vi vill undersöka närmare. Syftet med resultatet av studien är att visa intressenter till företagen att de kan bli vilseledda när de ska investera sitt kapital när earnings management förekommer. / In this study, we examine whether there occurs earnings management in order to increase earnings in Swedish listed companies at the time of an equity offering. Studies on earnings management at the time of an equity offering has been done before, for example by (Shivakumar, 2000). He concludes that earnings management occurs the time just before an equity offering. We find, however, no study conducted in Swedish companies, which we want to investigate further. The purpose of the outcome of the study is to show stakeholders to the companies that they can be misled when to invest their capital when earnings management occurs.

Family-owned enterprise is a typical governance structure around the world. In addressing the governance issues in family business, the founding family usually utilizes the direct or indirect ownership structure and also the management design to mitigate the typical agency-principal problem among founding family and the professional managers in family businesses. However, scholars indicate that the majority shareholders, such as the founding family in a family business, will induce the principal-principal agency concern, and also have the possibility to exploit the minority shareholder¡¦s interests in publicly traded family businesses. Thus, the corporate governance today will not only focus on mitigating the typical agency-principal problem, but also the principal-principal agency problem in family businesses. This study tries to examine the role of the internal audit¡¦s independence in addressing the performance issues in publicly traded family businesses in Taiwan. From the agency theory viewpoint, this study try to utilize the questionnaires method to estimate the degree of the internal audit¡¦s independence, and future examine its performance impact in family businesses in Taiwan. This study suggests that the internal audit power, and the internal audit independent execution, can be two kinds of independence indexes in estimating the degree of internal audit¡¦s independence. The results indicate that the internal audit¡¦s independence will generate direct and moderated impact on publicly trade family business¡¦s performance in Taiwan. Specifically, the more independent board of directors a family business has, the better performance that this focal firm behaves. Moreover, the internal audit¡¦s independence will generate positively direct impact on firm performance in a family business. Additionally, the degree of internal audit¡¦s independent execution will moderate the positive impact from independent board of directors and family leadership on firm performance in publicly trade family businesses in Taiwan. This study provides referable values in estimating the internal audit¡¦s independence in publicly trade businesses. And it also provides theoretical and practical implications in addressing governance issues in family businesses in Asia.

Project management involves many different actors. Rather than solely looking at those actors as individuals, the interaction between them should not be forgotten either. This thesis tries to provide a better understanding of one specific type of interaction: the project owner-manager relationship. This relationship is approached as the dyadic interaction between one project manager and one project owner. Previous studies indicate that project owners and project managers depend on one another, but that they can have diverging perspectives as well. The goal of this study is to get a deeper understanding of how these different perspectives can influence the success of the project-owner relationship. In order to achieve this understanding, a multiple case study involving 8 project owner-manager relationships was employed. Both project owners and project managers were interviewed, in order to get closer to a multi-actor perspective. The results show that there are both similarities and differences between the perspectives of these actors. However, a lack of understanding between these perspectives can cause the project owner-manager relationship fail. In the end, the potential effects of this relationship cannot and should not be ignored, as this study shows that it can be the difference between project success and project failure. Therefore, in a world that is ever more dominated by projects, this thesis has multiple practical and scientific implications.

Kovenanter ett amerikanskt fenomen som successivt har spridit sig över världen. I Sverige börjades olika typ av kovenanter användas under 1960-talet som kreditvillkor vid företagsfinansiering. Men även om kovenanter blivit ett vanligt verktyg inom den svenska kreditverksamheten sedan 1960-talet, finns det fortfarande bristande kunskaper om dess praktiska användande.  Denna studies syfte är att utforska hur bankers användning av kovenanter i låneavtal påverkas av företagsspecifika, relationsspecifika, lånespecifika och andra faktorer. Studien är inriktad till att studera svenska bankernas användning av kovenanter vid företagskreditgivning och kommer därför inte att behandla privat och offentlig sektor.   Studiens ansats är abduktiv, som möjliggör en växling mellan teori och empiri. För att öka förståelsen kring kovenanters användning har semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts. Urvalet är begränsat till sex stycken av Sveriges största banker. Insamlad empiri har därefter tolkats utifrån agency theory of covenants, som härstammar från agent och principal teori. Därefter avslutas studien med en presentation av slutsatser, samhällsmässigt kunskapsbidrag, etiska bidrag, egna reflektioner och begränsningar samt förslag på vidare forskning.   Studiens resultat påvisar att kovenanter har en viktig funktion som kontroll och riskhanterings mekanism i låneavtal, men det ersätter inte behovet av realsäkerheter. Dessutom tyder resultatet på att användningen av kovenanter främst påverkas av låntagarens storlek, förmåga att lämna säkerheter, lånelöptid och storlek, samt lånets användningsändamål. / Covenants are an Americans phenomenon that has been successfully spread around the world. Different types of covenants are regularly used in Sweden and has been used in corporate loan contracts since 1960. Despite that covenants has been a commonly used tool in the Swedish loan contracts since the 1960s there is still a lack of knowledge about covenants practical use. The purpose of this study is to research the use of covenants in loan agreements from banks point of view, and explain how different factors such as borrower characteristic, loans characteristic, bank-borrower relationships and other factors can affect banks’ practice of using of covenants. The research question in this study is how different factors such as borrower characteristic, loans characteristic, bank-borrower relationships and other factors can affect Swedish banks’ practice in using of covenants. The study is aimed to research the Swedish banks' use of covenants in corporate debt, therefore the private and public sectors financiering are not considered. The survey has an abductive approach that provides ability to move back and forth from theory to empirical data. In order to explore the phenomena of covenants closely the semi-structured interviews are used for collecting data. Participants from the six largest banks in Sweden were selected to participate in the research. Collected data has been interpreted based on agency theory of covenants, which originates from the agent-principal theory. Finally the conclusion of the study is presented as well as socially knowledge contribution and suggestions for the further research. The results collected from the survey shows that the covenants have an important function as control and risk management mechanism in the loan agreement, but it does not replace the need for real security. The survey also shows that the use of covenants is mainly affected by the borrower's size, ability to provide collateral, loan duration and size, and the loan's purpose.

This study examines how temporary agency workers experience the working climate in client firms, i.e. how their psychological climate is affected. The study has a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with temporary agency workers. The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge about the triangular relationship between the temporary worker, the temporary employment agency and the client firm. Another purpose is to describe how the temporary workers experience the working climate and how this experience is influenced by a number of circumstances. The research question this study aims to answer is How do temporary agency workers experience the working climate in client organisations? And What factors influence this experience? The conclusion of this study shows that the volun- tariness of the psychological contract positively influence the psychological climate, and also whether the temporary workers’ expectations correspond to those of the client firm or not. The treatment of the temporary worker in the client firm as well as positive social relations with other employees, also have an impact on the psychological climate. Finally, a temporary employment agency that has a prominent role in the triangular relationship might intensify the role stress of the temporary agency worker, particularly if the psychological contracts between the temp and the two firms lack in congruence. / Bemanningsbranschen har sedan 1993, då det blev lagligt att hyra in arbetskraft, expanderat kraftigt, något som kommit att bli ett kontroversiellt ämne. Vissa menar att företag utnyttjar bemanningsanställda för att undvika lagen om anställningsskydd och att det innebär en otrygg tillvaro på arbetsmarknaden för bemanningsanställda. Andra menar att bemanningsbranschen behövs för att företag ska klara marknadens krav på flexibilitet.  Något som komplicerar saken är den triangulära relationen mellan bemanningsföretag, bemanningsanställd och kundföretag, då den bemanningsanställde har två chefer. En fråga som uppstår är hur den bemanningsanställde förhåller sig till denna triangulära relation, samt rollen som tillfällig resurs hos kundföretagen. Med bakgrund av detta avser uppsatsen besvara följande frågeställningar:  • Hur upplever bemanningsanställda arbetsklimatet hos kundföretag?  • Vilka faktorer påverkar denna upplevelse?  Syftet med uppsatsen är bidra till en större förståelse av den triangulära relationen mellan kundföretag, bemanningsföretag och bemanningsanställd som uppstår då en organisation hyr in personal. Uppsatsen syftar även till att bidra med kunskap om hur arbetsklimatet påverkas, utifrån den bemanningsanställdas perspektiv, samt vad som påverkar deras upplevelse. För att kunna svara på frågeställningen har kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts med tre personer som arbetar som bemanningsanställda.  Som teoretisk referensram har dels Eisenhardts (1989) agentteori använts för att förklara den triangulära relationen, där den bemanningsanställde är agent till två principaler; kundföretaget samt bemanningsföretaget. Fokus i uppsatsen är på relationen mellan bemanningsanställd och kundföretag, och det psykologiska kontrakt som gäller mellan parterna. Det psykologiska kontraktet handlar om den subjektiva tolkningen av ömsesidiga löften och åtaganden, och dess utformning har betydelse för den anställdes attityder och beteende (Isaksson &amp; Bellaagh 2005). Arbetsklimatet har analyserats utifrån ett individperspektiv, och definieras då som psykologiskt klimat (Baltes et al. 2009). Locke (1976) menar att det finns fyra underliggande faktorer som påverkar det psykologiska klimatet, nämligen önskan om (1) klarhet, harmoni och rättvisa, (2) utmaning, självständighet och ansvar, (3) stöd, erkännande och underlättande i arbetet samt (4) varma och vänskapliga sociala relationer.  I studien framkommer det att ett psykologiskt kontrakt präglat av frivillighet ha en positiv inverkan på det psykologiska klimatet. Även hur väl en bemanningsanställds förväntningar i det psykologiska kontraktet överensstämmer med kundföretagets, är av betydelse. Ett positivt bemötande från ordinarie personal och chefer på kundföretaget samt goda sociala relationer till övrig personal, påverkar det psykologiska klimatet positivt. Slutligen kan det vara av betydelse huruvida bemanningsföretaget har en framträdande roll eller inte, dvs engagerar sig i den bemanningsanställdes situation, då detta kan leda till rollstress ifall den bemanningsanställdes psykologiska kontrakt till de två principalerna inte är kongruenta.

Background/Discussion: Among investors, annual reports are used as a decision-making document to value a company. Many companies therefore use voluntary disclosure as a complement to statutory information in annual reports. Previous studies have examined what the underlying factors for voluntary disclosure are. These have among other things, resulted in factors such as size, country of origin and owner concentration, which has a significant impact on the amount of voluntary disclosure. Therefore, it is interesting to examine if there is a significant difference between the amount of voluntary disclosure in companies with controlled ownership versus management ownership. The selection is based on companies listed on the Swedish stock market Nasdaq Strockholm, Large Cap and Small Cap. Purpose: This comparative study is aiming to investigate differences in the amount of voluntary disclosure between companies with controlled ownership and management ownership. The purpose is to create a deeper understanding and increase awareness of the ownership structure's impact on voluntary information. Method: A quantitative method has been used for the study and empirical data has been collected through observations of annual reports. The collected data has then been assessed according to a valuation index designed for the study. The index has been adapted to both swedish and international regulations. The study has then used scatterplots and a t-test to measure whether or not there is a significant difference in the amount of voluntary disclosure between the two owner concentrations. Result: Based on the study's sample, there is no significant difference in the amount of voluntary disclosure between control-owned and management-controlled companies. Control-owned companies tend to report more information about accidents than managementcontrolled companies. The management-controlled companies in the study tend to report more information on marketing than control-owned companies

Project finance is a financing arrangement for projects, and it is characterised by the creation of a legally independent project company financed with non- or limited recourse loans. It is observed that the popularity of project finance is increasing in the recent decades, despite of the impact of Asian financial crisis. Especially in emerging markets, project finance is very common among the public-private partnership projects. It is possible that project finance yields some benefits in project management that other forms of funding are not able to provide. This research aims to explore the impacts of project finance on the risk management of projects, as well as the mechanisms of the effects of various factors on project risk management. The research starts with a quantitative analysis which consists of project data from 32 projects in recent years. The regression analysis on these quantitative data reveals that factors such as the separation of legal entity and existence of third-party guarantees can effectively reduce the borrowing rates of the projects. The borrowing rates, expressed in terms of credit spreads over LIBOR, are regarded as a proxy for the overall risk level of the projects. The qualitative section which involves five structured interviews further explores the relationships of the attributes of project finance on project risk management. The interviewees largely agrees on the effects of the separation of legal entity, non- or limited recourse loans, and the existence of third-party guarantees in managing political and country risks, business risks, and principal-agency risks. The involvement of a larger number of stakeholders in the projects enable the project to enhance its risk management ability by gaining external expertise and knowledge, influences on government policies, and more importantly, closer supervisions on project activities. Apart from revealing the important features of project finance, and the potential benefits it may yield on project risk management, the effectiveness of these features are also discussed. The study also examines the relationships between these features and the common risk factors which may affect all projects. Some recommendations to enhance the benefits of project finance and reduce the associated transaction costs are made based on this study.