In tempi recenti il concetto di cosmopolitismo riscuote una certa popolarità nel campo della ricerca sociologica. Dopo diversi anni di riflessione teoretica, gli studi sul cosmopolitismo si focalizzano oggi sulla ricerca empirica. In linea con questa tendenza, il presente lavoro intende osservare un cosmopolitismo “dal basso”, che si manifesta nelle vite delle persone come una forma di apertura globale, nonché come un processo di trasformazione del sé. In particolare, questa tesi si focalizza sul cosmopolitismo come una categoria interpretativa utile a leggere i giovani nell’ambito di un’esperienza interculturale di vita all’estero, quale il Servizio Volontario Europeo. Più nel dettaglio, la ricerca si concentra sul volontariato europeo come ambito d’indagine in cui è possibile osservare nuove forme di appartenenza e di identificazione, oltre all’emergere di nuove pratiche. Attraverso una serie di interviste biografiche realizzate con giovani volontari, infatti, si è potuto constatare come le diverse appartenenze si affianchino a diversi atteggiamenti e rappresentazioni della dimensione locale, nazionale ed europea, in vista di una più ampia apertura al mondo. La ricerca descrive queste appartenenze che formano la base di una cultura ambivalente e cosmopolita così come viene sperimentata dai giovani volontari durante l’esperienza di mobilità internazionale da essi vissuta. Il lavoro mira dunque a chiarire il concetto di cosmopolitismo e propone un percorso di ricerca attraverso cui studiare il fenomeno mettendo in luce la nascita di nuove relazioni sociali, pratiche solidali e processi di trasformazione e di comprensione del sé. / Recently the concept of cosmopolitanism raises a great popularity within the sociological research. After several years of theoretical reflections, nowadays, the cosmopolitanism studies focus on the empirical research. According to this trend, this work observes a cosmopolitanism “from below”, among ordinary people as a form of global openness as well as a process of self-transformation. In particular, this thesis focuses on cosmopolitanism as an interpretative category, useful to read young people within an intercultural experience to spend a certain period of time practicing and living abroad, such as the European Voluntary Service. More in detail, this research studies the European Voluntary Service like a field where it is possible to observe new forms of belonging and identification and new practices. By a number of biographical interviews to young volunteers it has been possible to discover that different belongings go together with different attitudes and representations of the local, the national and the European dimension, towards a global openness. The research describes these attachments, which forms the basis of an ambivalent cosmopolitanism culture as it is experienced by young volunteers during their international experiences. Finally, the work aims to clarify the concept of cosmopolitanism and suggest a way to study this fenomenous by documenting the raise of new social relations, practices, solidarities and process of self-transformation and self-understanding.

The overall purpose of this master essay is to investigate whether there is an interest among people near retirement to contribute with their knowledge and experience after they reach the defined retirement age. Furthermore, I would like to investigate if they want to continue with their old jobs, full time/part time or to do something else, which is beneficial to the society. I also want to find out how the older people view themselves to continuing to work. Also which types of social and structural barriers that might exist for them and why. The aim is also to investigate what types of knowledge and experience they believe could be used in the future community. For that purpose I have structured interview questions and conducted eight individual interviews. Below is a brief summary of the main results. The study shows that there is a general interest in working after retirement. Most people prefer to work only part-time. Participation and influence is meaningful to the individuals. It is seen as having a positive impact on individuals, groups and societal perspectives. At the individual level, the relationship between the possibility to choose both type of work and working hours and the desire to continue working, is very strong. The choice contributes to the feeling that life is meaningful. That proved to be of great motivation to participate in the working life. The study shows the importance of paying attention to flexible working hours adapted at individual level. The results also show that the elderly are often pictured as competent, knowledgeable and skilled people, which resources can be utilized in the society. It also appeared that older people are carriers of knowledge and experiences, which can be taken care of and transferred on to the younger generations instead of being lost. The study pointed out that there is manual work situations particularly risky for older people. It also revealed negative factors such as competition for the jobs between younger and older people, which can create an opinion in society against letting older people work. The results also indicate that the mixture of older and younger people creates a knowledge and experience transfer which creates new approaches to working tasks. It also emerged a number of factors that influence an individual's choice to attend to work; Important to take an individual approach, assess the participant’s interests and abilities for the particular job, his desired working hours and the need of upgrading or retraining.

Sustainability is a buzzword covering a variety of fields and subjects. For the purposes of my research sustainability is “the ability to keep going over the long haul. As a value, it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as the present” (Gilman 1). The sustainability movement refers to activists, educators and researchers who are dedicated to finding high quality ways of living in the world that are environmentally benign for all who are now living as well future generations to come (Gilman 1). This research focuses on three women who engage in voluntary simplicity— “simplicity that is voluntary-consciously chosen, deliberate, and intentional- [and] supports a higher quality of life” (Elgin 4). The complexity of the subject of sustainability is why I chose to narrow my focus to such a worldview and because much of my educational background is in Gender and Women’s Studies I specifically focus on women. Feminist ethnographic methods of participant observation are utilized as well as rhetorical analysis. I examine the attentive roles that have afforded these women the ability to form intimate social as well as ecological relations in their community. The observations are recorded in a narrative form and contribute to the growing knowledge base of sustainability as well as resilience studies. The lack of sustainable practices on a large scale in our country affects every citizen who lives here through environmental problems like climate change and peak oil. The narrative form allows the research I have collected to maintain an accessible language which is important in reaching a greater audience beyond that of academia. The narrative shows easy, manageable sustainable choices and changes that can be applied at the micro as well as macro level. These choices and changes are not exhaustive or all inclusive; rather they are suggestions for those who are interested in joining the sustainability movement.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are seen as backbone for economic growth because they are regarded as catalyst for entrepreneurial skills, innovation and employment. Since in Sweden approximately 99.89% of enterprises are SMEs, they take an important role in country’s economic development.        Most of the countries especially EU nations have abolished the statutory audit provision for (SMEs). The new Swedish legislation of statutory audit exemption came into effect on 1st November, 2010. In accordance with this new legislation, (SMEs) within two out of three following criteria; turnovers 3 million Swedish Kronor, balance sheet total 1.5 million Swedish Kronor and 3 total numbers of employees are exempted from statutory audit requirement. Despite the fact that audit exempted SMEs are voluntarily conducting financial statements audited.                       As per above matters, this study finds the expected benefits of audit exempted SMEs in Sweden when they go for voluntary audited financial statements. In order to attain our research findings, this study chooses to conduct qualitative research method by semi- structured interviews with respondents from SMEs. Besides that, bankers’ opinion on audited financial statements and voluntary audits are discussed in order to complement our main research finding.  When it comes to collect empirical data, we use convenient data sampling from Sweden, particularly in Umeå due to the cost and time limitations.            According to our empirical results, the expected benefits for audit exempted SMEs in Sweden voluntarily conducting their financial statements audit are as follow: Security with the audited financial information Right amount of tax paid to tax authorities Easy to get bank loan                 Better relation with creditors, investors and suppliers   In accordance with empirical results of bankers, we can confirm that bank will grant loan easily to clients who have their financial accounts audited. As a contribution of new knowledge we find that in Sweden, banks used credit scoring lending technique when it comes to grant bank loan. The interest rate determination is also relied on credit rating of companies. Companies who have good credit rating will be granted loan with lower interest rate. As for small companies who would like to get external financing from banks, the requirement criteria could describe as; audited financial statements, collaterals, business plan, owners’ grantee for loan repayment and good credit history.

No description available.

I denna uppsats redovisas en studie av hur svenska idrottsföreningar på landsbygden påverkas av de samhällsförändringar som intåget i det postmoderna samhället har medfört. Det studerade datamaterialet har samlats in genom kvalitativa intervjuer och därefter analyserats genom forskningsmetoden grundad teori. De informanter som deltagit i studien är alla själva verksamma inom idrottsklubbar på små orter, och denna uppsats ger en inblick i deras erfarenheter som förhoppningsvis kan bidra till en ökad kunskap om hur svenska idrottsföreningar på landsbygden kan komma att utvecklas inom de närmaste åren. Resultaten avslöjar att de studerade föreningarna upplever stora problem vid rekryteringen av såväl nya medlemmar som ideellt engagerade tränare och styrelseledamöter. Dessutom påvisar studien en pågående konflikt mellan stad och landsbygd som i synnerhet berör resursfördelning och politisk prioritering. / In this thesis, a study of how Swedish sports associations in rural areas are affected by the societal changes which the advent of the post-modern society has brought is declared. The studied data has been collected through qualitative interviews and thenceforth analyzed through the research method grounded theory. The informants who have participated in the study are all active in sports clubs in small villages themselves, and this thesis provides an insight in their experiences which hopefully can contribute to an increased knowledge about how Swedish sports associations in rural areas may develop in the next few years. The results reveal that the studied sports clubs experience severe problems in the recruitment of new members as well as voluntary trainers and members of the board. Moreover, the study proves an ongoing conflict between urban and rural areas which in particular concerns allocation of resources and political priority.

This dissertation explores the disclosure on intangibles acquired in Mergers & Acquisitos. The related empirical analyses are based on a sample of M&As that are accounted for under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US-GAAP). In three different research papers I answer three distinct research questions. In order to enable capital providers and other external stakeholders to evaluate the PPA, the International Financial Reporting Standard 3 (IFRS 3) and the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 141 (SFAS 141) require the acquirer firm’s management to disclose information about the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the notes to the financial statement. The first research paper (see chapter II) addresses the following research question: Which information about intangibles acquired in M&As does the acquirer firm’s management disclose in the notes to the financial statement? The second research paper examines the factors that affect the initial recognition of goodwill. This research question is answered in the second research paper (see chapter III): Does the acquirer firm’s management opportunistically or efficiently use its discretion to recognize goodwill initially? The corporate information environment consists not only of corporate disclosure but also of disclosure by information intermediaries. The third research paper (see chapter IV) addresses this last set of research questions: Which information about intangibles acquired in M&As is provided in voluntary or mandatory corporate disclosures and in disclosures by information intermediaries? How are the disclosure channels interrelated?

Based on analyzing the macro and micro factors in Singapore¡¦s social welfare policy, this thesis proposes the frame work of ¡§state corporatism¡¨ to explain Singapore¡¦s social welfare policy. Since 1959 Singapore be independent from Britain, Lee Kuan Yew had led the PAP government in an authoritarian style and promoted a paternal social welfare. The core ideas of Singapore¡¦s social welfare policy, voluntarism and communitarianism, strongly related to the personal ideology of Lee Kuan Yew and the confucian society in Singapore. In the macro background of nation¡¦s level, we can divide the society into the subgroups as ethnic groups, opposition parties, class groups and voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs). These four groups worked through the four phrases in Singapore¡¦s social welfare policy : pre-corporatism period, exclusive corporatism period, inclusive corporatism period and extrinsic corporatism period. The whole presentation of Singapore¡¦s social welfare policy can be observed from their negotiation, interaction and bargaining with the government. This thesis conludes that the strategy of Singapore¡¦s social welfare policy is ¡§using greater quantity and quality of voluntarianism to fill up the retreat of state¡¨. Therefore in the history of Singapore¡¦s social welfare policy, when comparing to the other social groups, the extent of VWOs corporating with the government was much greater than the others and their influential power in social welfare policy during these four periods turned from weak to moderate, and strong eventually.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Purpose: A part of this research is to explore if there are partnership firms that voluntarily get an audit of their business. The purpose is to understand and explain why these partnership firms have chosen to get an audit of their business voluntarily. Additionally, the authors research how external stakeholders, such as creditors, view and assess partnership firms that do not execute an audit of their accounts and reports.</p><p>Method: To initiate this research, the authors conducted a telephone survey as a pre-study, to assure the viability of this research. As a major part of this research study, qualitative interviews with partnership firms, banks and the Swedish Tax Agency have been conducted to obtain professional opinion in the subject of interest. Previous researches are presented to provide a broader perspective of the debate.</p><p>Frame of</p><p>Reference: The authors present an extensive background to auditing and accounting. Stakeholder model and agency theory have been applied to facilitate in understanding the relationship between a partnership firm and its stakeholders. Advantages and disadvantages of auditing, as well as the concept of voluntary auditing are presented to facilitate a discussion of the motives of voluntarily executing an audit firms.</p><p>Conclusion: After extensive research the authors have identified and determined the most probable motives of voluntary audits as well as understood how these external stakeholders view and assess these partnership firms that do not execute an audit of their accounts and reports. The authors can after a broad research conclude that partners’ central motives to voluntary auditing is to seek the value that is added through it, as the firm obtains professional assistance to raise the credibility of the firm’s financial reports. Auditing frees them from additional burden and time to manage the work related to accounting records and enables them to devote more time to the core business.</p><p>Through an audit, partners’ quest for orderliness is fulfilled. Moreover, indications have been seen that partners are open to voluntarily execute an audit to achieve a sense of security in relation to the other partners. Another essential motive to why partners voluntarily execute audits is to be assured that there are no significant inaccuracies or errors in their book-keeping. Overall, partners’ intentions of getting an audit of their accounts and reports are to gain an overview of the business as well to obtain enhanced business image externally.</p><p>Creditors are concerned about a firm’s ability to reimburse the obligation. In a newly started firm, banks require annual reports, forecasts and budgets ensure the firm’s solvency. The Swedish Tax Agency receives audit reports from auditors that guide them with hints and directions on what to assess further. Moreover, the Swedish Tax Agency performs tax audits on firms, whereby they conduct an assessment to ensure that the accounts and other documents are in accordance with what is declared to them.</p> / <p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Syfte: Avsikten med denna uppsats är att utforska om det finns handelsbolag som frivilligt upprättar revision i sin affärsverksamhet. Syftet är att få förståelse för samt förklara de bakomliggande motiven till handelsbolags val av frivillig revision. Författarna utforskar ytterligare hur externa parter, såsom kreditgivare samt skatteverket, granskar och ser på handelsbolag som inte upprättar revision på sin verksamhet.</p><p>Metod: Författarna genomförde en förstudie i form av en telefonenkät, för att försäkra sig om att denna studie är genomförbar. För att erhålla en professionell åsikt kring ämnet i fråga, har denna studie till största del bestått av kvalitativa intervjuer med respondenter från delägare av handelsbolag, banker och skatteverket. Tidigare studier är även presenterade för att tillföra debatten ett bredare perspektiv.</p><p>Referensram: Författarna ger en omfattande beskrivning av redovisning och revision. Intressentmodellen och agentteorin har tillämpats i syfte att underlätta förståelsen av relationen mellan företag och dess intressenter. Dessutom beskrivs för- och nackdelar av revision för att underlätta diskussionen kring motiven till frivillig revision i handelsbolag.</p><p>Slutsats: Författarna har efter omfattande forskning fastställt de troligaste motiven till frivillig revision samt fått en djupare förståelse för bankernas och skatteverkets ståndpunkt och granskning av handelsbolag som inte är revisionspliktiga. Sammanfattningsvis kan författarna hävda att grundmotiven till frivillig revision är värdet som den tillför, då bolagen erhåller professionell samråd som höjer redovisningens trovärdighet i bolaget. Revision underlättar för delägarna då de inte behöver ta på sig bördan av att tillägna tid och kraft på att själva utföra bokföringen. Detta tillåter delägarna i sin tur att ägna mer tid till själva kärnverksamheten. Genom revision, fullgörs delägarnas strävan efter ordning och reda i bolaget. För övrigt har man sett indikationer på att delägarna är positivt inställda på att frivilligt upprätta revision i handelsbolagen, då revisionen bidrar till att de erhåller en känsla av trygghet. Ett annat motiv, är att revisionen försäkrar dem om det inte förekommer väsentliga felaktigheter eller misstag i boksluten. Delägarnas främsta avsikt till användandet av revision kan i det stora hela summeras till att de får en översiktsbild av sina bolag, såväl som att de erhåller en kvalitetsstämpel och därmed en förhöjd bild av bolaget utåt sett. Kreditgivare är angelägna över bolagens återbetalningsförmåga. Därför kräver banken att nystartade bolag ska framföra sin årsredovisning, budget och framtida prognoser, för att försäkra sig om och fastställa deras återbetalningsförmåga. Skatteverket mottar årsredovisningar från revisorer, som med fördel förser skatteverket med råd och vägledning kring eventuell vidare granskning i bolagen. Skatteverket utför därtill skatterevision, genom att de granskar bolagen i syfte att intyga att de presenterade räkenskaperna och rapporterna överensstämmer med det som har deklarerats och kommit till skatteverkets förfogande.</p>

This thesis examines the lived experience of economic migration of young and degree level educated migrants from Poland to Britain. The main aim is to explore how the participants of economic migration within the borders of the European Union experience migrating. The special feature of this migration is the fact that they leave a postcommunist country and come to a country with a well established capitalist economy and long-standing democracy. The particular questions are: how these migrants construct their experience of migrating, are they faced with any problems while doing it, and if so - how do they resolve them? The data comes from twenty-two semi-structured interviews with migrants educated to degree level who were residents and worked in one of the regions of England at a professional level or below their qualifications (manual or simple clerical work). The research utilises the critical discourse analysis perspective; the data is approached with analysis focused on linguistic choices (lexical and grammatical) evident in the respondents’ statements. This kind of analysis enables observation and in-depth interpretation of the way experiences of migrating are constructed. The migrants’ narratives were full of discursive struggle while constructing their experience of migrating. Firstly, the interviewees made an effort to present their migration as rational. Secondly, they were trying to rationalise their financial needs to refute accusations of greed for money. Thirdly, the underemployed migrants justified their employment choices by distancing themselves from work below that which they were qualified for. Fourthly, the interviewees were making an attempt to withdraw from a multicultural community by constructing the negative Other. Exploring lived experience of living and working abroad reveals competitive discourses and ways of coping with ambivalence. Understanding these discursive practices requires knowledge of their beliefs and values that underpin the discourses available in the Polish postcommunist society. Overall, the narratives overflowed with dilemmas that showed this migration as more complicated on an individual level than the official discourse of free movement of people in the EU suggests. This thesis captures the migrants’ lived experience within one year after the EU enlargement; it reflects on the narratives being shaped when migrants were given the opportunity to introduce the new discourses on migration or re-think the old ones as a result of new macro-processes in the European Union. This research complements other studies exploring migrants’ voices in search of insight into what their experiences were and how they made sense out of them. However, with the methodology used, it focuses more on uncovering the struggle over arguments available to build their stories. It offers explanation to their discursive practices by analysing them against the discourses as being products of postcommunism. The study’s results may shed more light on recent processes within this group of migrants and also inform institutional policy and practice about problems affecting members of this group, reported in this thesis.