In 2008, the European Commission proposed a regulation for a new European private company, called the Societas Privata Europeaea. This proposal did not get unanimous approval and was therefore withdrawn after five years of attempt to find a compromise. In 2014, the European Commission proposed a directive on single-member private limited liability companies, called the Societas Unius Personae. The aims of the new proposal have a few similarities as the European private company, as will be mentioned in the introduction. However, the proposed directive introduces a few changes, which the European Commission hopes will make this proposal successful.

The purpose with this thesis is mainly to examine whether there is a need of a new European company form on the market today. The conclusion is taken by examining who would benefit the most with this company form.

This thesis contains an explanation of the proposed directive, a comparison between this new company form and the corresponding Swedish company, as well as opinions on this directive. In the end there is a discussion regarding this subject and lastly my conclusions.

The result has shown that there are still great amount of uncertainties that are in need of further discussion in order for this proposal to eventually pass unanimous consent. My conclusions are that there is not an urgent need of a new European company form on the market right now. However, it is a work in progress, and I believe a European company form like this one is a good way towards the aim of uniting the Member States of the European Union.

Due to the fact that the Swedish tax authority had paid attention to the issues concerning tax avoidance with the use of interest deduction, the first Swedish rules on interest deduction limitations on intra-group loans were introduced for associated companies in 2009. These rules were inspired by the equivalent Dutch rules on interest deduction limitations. Since the tax avoidance continued, the scope of the Swedish interest deduction limitation rules were extended in 2013. However, it has been shown that due to the formulation and the scope of the current Swedish rules, the legislation causes both interpretation issues and continuing tax avoidance. This thesis aims at examining the outcome of introducing similar rules as the Dutch interest deduction limitation rules in Sweden, instead of the current Swedish legislation, in order to analyze which of these legislations that better fulfills the purpose of the Swedish rules on interest deduction limitations. The thesis shows that there are both similarities as well as differences, with regards to both the formulation and the scope, between the Swedish and the Dutch rules on interest deduction limitations. It appears in the thesis that the differences in every provision of the Dutch legislation do not provide a possible solution to the remaining issues with the Swedish rules on interest deduction limitations. The author of the thesis considers a mixed application, containing some current Swedish provisions and some selected provisions similar to the Dutch provisions, to better fulfill the purpose of the Swedish rules on interest deduction limitations.

Idrotten är idag inte endast en möjlighet för att förbättra folkhälsan, utan även en betydande ekonomisk sektor. Transaktioner som genomförs inom idrotten involverar stora summor pengar och en aktör som blivit ett allt vanligare inslag är idrottsagenten. Agenten är primärt en mellanhand mellan idrottens parter och erbjuder en mängd olika tjänster. Det finns dock tveksamheter kring hur ersättningen till agenten, dvs. agentarvodet, ska beskattas enligt svensk rätt. Kammarrätten har avgjort ett antal mål som rör utbetalda agentarvoden, men Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen (HFD) har ännu inte tagit ställning i frågan.  

I uppsatsen undersöks vilka beskattningskonsekvenser som kan uppkomma för respektive part, dvs. idrottsutövaren och klubben, vid utbetalning av ett agentarvode. Vidare utreds när idrottsutövaren blir förmånsbeskattad och om det finns en möjlighet för idrottsutövaren att göra avdrag för arvodet i inkomstslaget tjänst. I uppsatsen undersöks även hur utbetalning av arvodet kan påverka en klubbs möjlighet att göra avdrag för ingående moms samt dess skyldighet att betala arbetsgivaravgifter, lämna kontrolluppgift och göra skatteavdrag.

I uppsatsen utreds dessutom vad som är avgörande för vem arvodet ska tillhöra, och därmed vilka beskattningskonsekvenser som är aktuella i det enskilda fallet. Slutligen analyseras även hur de omständigheter som är karaktäristiska för idrottsagentens verksamhet kan påverka vem arvodet ska tillhöra.

This dissertation discusses the regulation of organisation in limited companies from a closely held company perspective. The overall aim of the study is to evaluate whether the goals of the Swedish Companies Act are fulfilled by the current regulation on company organisation and decision taking organs when applied to closely held owner managed companies. The study is carried out in the field of Company Law, but the analysis also includes contributions from Regulation Theory and Law and Economics.

To fulfil the overall aim, the study sets up two main research tasks. The first research task is to identify the goals of the Swedish Companies Act and what regulative tools that are available to achieve these goals. The second research task is to investigate the current regulation of organization and decision taking organs of a company. Focus is placed on how owner managed companies can be flexible in their decision taking activity, both within the company organs and in other arenas outside the firm such an owners meeting or family council. When these two main research tasks have been performed, the overall aim of this study can be fulfilled. The evaluation of the Companies Act reveals that the legislator’s prioritisation of legislative goal can be challenged. It may be argued that the goal to lower the transaction costs of the parties can be enhanced without diminishing any other goals. In accordance with this conclusion, the final research task of this study is to give recommendations de lege ferenda on how the regulation can be developed in order to achieve a higher degree of reaching the goals of the Companies Act.

The conclusions argued for in this study are related to future regulation of the organisation of companies limited by shares. Therefore, the conclusions are aimed towards policy makers. However, the analysis within the second research task is of relevance for owner managers and their advisors on the subject of how they can be flexible in their decision taking activity, both within the company organs and in other arenas such as an owner’s meeting or a family council.

July 1, 2013, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) announced a decision in a case concerning the right to set off of capital gains and losses on securities. The question that was raised in the case was whether the Swedish company had the right to set off their capital losses against capital gains arisen in the foreign part-owner taxable legal person. SAC decided to deny the company the right to set off due to lack of legal support. This decision raises questions, because companies that chooses to place securities in part-owner taxable legal persons gets less extended rights to set off, in comparison to if the securities had been placed directly in the Swedish company. By a closer examination of the possibilities to set off, it can be concluded that the right to set off of capital losses (not just capital gains) on securities in part-owner taxable legal persons are limited, in comparison to if the corresponding capital losses incurred directly in the Swedish com-pany. The limitations of capital losses on securities in part-owner taxable legal persons means that the capital losses should be subject to a quota of 70 % before set off can occur, which is not a requirement when capital losses incurred directly in the Swedish company. Furthermore, there is neither a carry forward rule nor an intra-group set off rule in Chap-ter 48. 27 § Swedish Income Tax Act (SITA), which exists if the capital losses incurred directly in the company according to Chapter 48. 26 § SITA.

The question that arises is how these limitations stand in relation to the principle of neutrality where the taxpayer's choices should be controlled as little as possible by the legal tax system. Derogations from this principle can be made in order to coun-teract undesirable tax planning.

By an overall assessment the writers consider that all limitations to set off of secu-rities owned via part-owner taxable legal persons are incompatible with the principle v

of neutrality. The reason for this opinion is that a company who chooses to place securities via part-owner taxable legal persons is affected adversely from a tax per-spective in comparison to if the securities were owned directly by the Swedish com-pany itself. According to the writers, there is no sustainable justification for these limitations. The rules should therefore be amended so that the set off possibilities on securities owned via part-owner taxable legal persons should be as extensive as if the securities were owned directly by the Swedish company. The future existence of the set-off right on securities has been discussed by the legislature and the future will tell if it will be abolished or not.

The Employment Protection Act (1982:80) provides provisions regarding priority of re-employment. A few cases where these provisions have been subject to examination, have been discussed thoroughly in SOU 2014:55. In these cases the Labour Court has identified the question whether the provisions regarding priority of re-employment can be subject to circumvention in an illegal manner. The Labour Court has stated that it would be incompatible with the sense of justice if the provisions could be circumvented to the detriment of employees entitled to priority of re-employment. However, the Labour Court stated that certain conditions have to be imposed for the assessment.

After analysis of the conditions, it is established that they are deemed to cause major difficulties for employees, why it is held that the purpose and the function of the conditions are not achieved. The purpose of the essay is therefore to investigate whether the application of the conditions imposed by the Labour Court, need to undergo modifications to meet the underlying purpose of the creation of the conditions.

By reason of the difficulty with the conditions, the essay provides three different amendments in which two of the amendments are ascertained to not contribute to such an improvement that they should actually be applied. The third amendment implies that the burden of proof to some degree is reversed from the employee to the employer, whereby the difficulties following the second condition are limited.

To preserve the balance between the interests of both parties the standard of proof is modified for the employer. Except from the fact that the underlying purpose of the provisions can be met with this modification, the amendment also ensures that the procedural premises conform to what generally is considered valid. Additionally, the rules regain their effectiveness and predictability.

The mandatory adoption of IFRS in 2005 by publicly held companies in the European Union is viewed as another step towards establishing a high quality and transparent business language for European companies. Currently many voices warn that it is meaningless to speak about high quality and transparent financial reporting unless the effective and consistent implementation of IFRS is ensured; especially in issues that involve fair value accounting. Despite the importance of disclosures in issues where fair value accounting is involved, there is little evidence about companies’ level of compliance with IFRS disclosure requirements in a mandatory environment. This study focuses on IFRS goodwill disclosures due to the fact that goodwill accounting under IFRS is heavily influenced by fair value accounting. Specifically, using a content analysis method it examines compliance with IFRS 3 and IAS 36 for companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange during the first four years of mandatory use of IFRS. Its findings show some potentially serious deficiencies in the implementation of IFRS disclosures for goodwill and mainly with those that are closely related to fair value accounting. Moreover, a particularly alarming finding of this study is that even after four years of IFRS introduction, Greek companies have not increased the volume of information that IAS 36 mandates. The findings of this study could be valuable for standard setters as well as for local enforcement mechanisms.

The accounting treatment of purchased goodwill under IFRS has been severely criticizeddue to the extensive use of fair value accounting. The purpose of this study is to enrich theongoing debate upon this issue by drawing attention to the market valuation implications ofgoodwill in a country outside the Anglo-Saxon accounting paradigm, where the applicationof fair value accounting has been seen as more problematic. The results indicate that, in thecase of purchased goodwill, fair value accounting generates relevant accounting numbersbut only in companies that comply highly with IFRS disclosure requirements.

At the start of a new business both team and risk aspects have to be considered in the choice of business form. The partnership form offers advantages in terms of team considerations while the corporate form provides limited liability which provides a way to handle the risk problems associated with owning a firm. The advantage of having a well synchronized team is important for many new firms and especially for cases where family relations are considered important. Seen from that angle the partnership form should be opted for. But risk is high up in the mind of founders. Events might unfold in an unexpected way and in the process the economy and well being of the family is at stake. The corporate form with limited liability is in this sense a very attractive choice that is commonly chosen. But with the corporate form comes transferability of ownership of shares without consent of other owners. The shareholder team might therefore change in an unexpected and unwelcome way. Therefore it is important to consider different types of transfer restrictions when a new corporate form of business is started. This aspect has not been much considered in practice and in the entrepreneurship literature. An accountant or a lawyer often has to remind an entrepreneur of the importance of stability in ownership positions.

Vid ett oplanerat generationsskifte när arvingen är omyndig är risken stor att den reella beslutande makten tillfaller en oönskad person. Anledningen till detta är den betydande förmyndarförvaltning en efterlevande förmyndare kan utöva över tillgångar den omyndige fått via legalt arv/testamente eller gåva. De möjligheter som ett borttestamenterande av förvaltningsrätten ger, kan tyvärr ge en falsk känsla av trygghet för testator. I flertalet av fallen finns möjlighet för den efterlevande förmyndaren att utnyttja laglottsmöjligheten föra att tillskansa sig beslutande makt över företaget och på så sätt motverka testators vilja. Trots att lagstiftaren på olika sätt försökt att trygga den omyndiges situation genom regler för hur förmyndare och överförmyndare skall handla anser jag dessa regler vara otillräckliga. Den utvidgning av förmyndaransvaret som omarbetningen av föräldrabalken i mitten på 90-talet innebar, gav tyvärr oärliga förmyndare större möjligheter att sko sig på den omyndige. Resterande skyddsregler rörande omyndigs aktieägande väger ej upp de brister som den frisläppta föräldraförvaltningen innebär.

People move between countries and establish connections all over the world. This results in a need to solve problems with cross-border inheritances and partitions of joint property. Today these situations are regulated by the countries’ own international private law. EU has adopted a constitution that harmonizes rules of jurisdiction and applicable law for inheritances but not the partition of joint property. The objective of this presentation is to study the consequences of the regulation in Swedish law and the effect of non-harmonization of partition.

Swedish courts have jurisdiction in cross-border inheritance disputes if the deceased had domicile or property in Sweden or Swedish citizenship. The applicable law is determined by the principle of nationality. The same jurisdictional rules apply to the partition of joint property due to the death of a spouse. Swedish courts can also have jurisdiction in case the defendant has domicile in Sweden or if he accepts that Swedish court hear the dispute, as well as if the plaintiff has domicile in Sweden and Swedish law is applicable on the partition. The applicable law regarding this is determined by the principle of domicile or an agreement between the spouses.

The regulation states jurisdiction and applicable law shall be determined by the domicile. It also states a common recognition of member states judicial decisions in this area. Sweden will be forced to abandon the principle of nationality and Swedish courts will not be required to apply foreign law with the same frequency as before. Jurisdiction for distribution of estate will have the same principle as the partition. Sweden is going to get a rather narrow jurisdiction for the inheritance. Due to this Sweden will need to recognize more foreign judicial decisions than before. Wider jurisdiction will apply to partition which may lead to continued parallel processes.

BEPS is an OECD project, initiated by G20. The purpose of the project is to prevent base erosion and profit shifting through tax structures where profits are shifted to low tax jurisdiction. More specifically this thesis addresses BEPS action 8 and its work on transfer pricing aspects of intangibles. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if the prerequisites exist to achieve the stated goals within action 8 and also to investigate problems that can affect the achievements. The goals of OECD with action 8 are ensure that transfer pricing of intangibles is not used to separate taxable income from the value creation activities.

To achieve this OECD wants to ensure that the performance of functions, the use of assets and risk-taking is compensated since this is deemed to create value. Therefore OECD sets out to ensure that companies are not compensated only because of the fact that they are the legal owner of an intangible asset. Transactions with intangible assets shall be priced with the transfer pricing method that results in the most reliable arm’s length price. In addition to the traditional transfer pricing methods OECD states that alternative methods can be used if they result in the most reliable arm’s length price.

The authors of this thesis consider that prerequisites exist to achieve the stated goals within BEPS action 8. This is primarily based on increased possibilities to ensure that profit allocations are made based on value creation. The criticism that the authors presents is based on the risk of increased burdens and an increased insecurity for MNEs since the assessments regarding what MNEs need to create value is subjective. Criticism is also based on the insecurity that arises when the alternative transfer pricing methods are used.

On all Swedish audits on fiscal years starting 1^st of January 2011 or later, the clarified ISAs should be applied. Before that, the Swedish auditing standards were called RS, which were a direct translation of the elder version of the ISAs but with considerations of Swedish law and Swedish traditions. The EC states that there will be no fundamental changes for the Swedish audits when the clarified ISAs is implemented, and IFAC states that all audits will realize significant changes when the clarified ISAs is implemented. The purpose of this study is therefore to explain how the audit process has been affected by the implementation of the clarified ISAs and what effects it has given rise to. The study also aims at explaining the relationship between audit firm size and impact on the audit process.

This study was conducted using qualitative methods for both collecting and analyzing data. The data have been collected using both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through questionnaires in order to get as many opinions as possible but interviews were conducted as well in order to get a deep insight about the subject and to make sure that the questions in the questionnaire was relevant.

What emerged in this study is that both the EC and IFAC were right about the implementation of the clarified ISAs in Sweden. The auditors that participated in this study explained that the way they are doing an audit has not changed, which means that no fundamental changes have occurred in the audits. However, the auditors have experienced some changes in the audit process, for example an increased amount of requirements on documentation and a more complicated and time consuming auditor’s report. How much the audit process has changed differs depending on the size of the audit firm. Generally, the impact on the audit process at the “big four” are less than it is on small audit firms due to the fact that many of the “big four” have worked with ISA before. Overall, the auditors have experienced that the implementation of the clarified ISAs have meant an increased cost for doing audits, in the form of updates in audit methodologies, educations and more procedures to perform. However, the auditors have not experienced that the audit quality has increased due to this. This means that the costs for an audit have increased while the quality remains the same.

Health care systems are under pressure to adopt contemporary management practices including activity based costing (ABC). This paper reports an intensive case study of the design of an ABC system in a newly organized public foundation hospital in Spain. The study covered a few years and was based on interviews, observations, and extensive review of documentation.   The analysis draws on an institutional sociology framework .  A primary finding is that there was no conflict between physicians and administration, unlike the previous wisdom that such conflict is inherent in ABC implementation. Training medical personnel in management and involving them in management, as well as educating implementers in medical issues represented major reasons for no conflict. Although no generalizable outside this specific context, it provides the basis for broader empirical research.

En valutakursförlust som uppstår till följd av att ett bolag avyttrar näringsbetingade andelar i ett utländskt dotterbolag är enligt svensk gällande rätt inte avdragsgill, vilket följer av 25 a kap. 5 § IL. Det råder oklarhet om huruvida det svenska avdragsförbudet för valutakursförluster på näringsbetingade andelar i utländska dotterbolag strider mot EU-rättens etableringsfrihet och fria rörlighet för kapital. Oklarheterna uppstår på grund av att det inte är tydligt vad som anses hindrande mot en EU-frihet och hur detta bedöms. Det har anförts att hinder anses föreligga om en medlemsstats nationella regler negativt särbehandlar en gränsöverskridande situation om denne belastas med en större skattebörda än vad motsvarande inhemska situation utsätts för. Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen har på grund av ett överklagat förhandsbesked från Skatterättsnämnden begärt förhandsavgörande från EU-domstolen i just denna fråga. Domstolen har att avgöra om den svenska regeln anses hindrande och om så är fallet, bedöma om regelns tillämpning trots detta kan motiveras genom en rättfärdigandeprövning.

I skrivande stund har förhandsavgörandet inte meddelats än varför uppsatsen ämnar till att utreda hur utfallet torde bli. Analysen i uppsatsen leder fram till att målet torde pröva den svenska regelns stridighet mot etableringsfriheten och att det, på grund av dess negativa särbehandling av utländska situationer i relation till behandlingen av motsvarande inhemska situationer, strider mot friheten. En rättfärdigandeprövning med hänvisning till upprätthållandet av skattesystemets inre sammanhang leder dock fram till att regelns tillämpning torde kunna motiveras då den avser att undanröja kedjebeskattning och upprätthålla beskattningssymmetri.

A tax penalty is an administrative penalty and is levied when the tax obligated provides false information for the guidance of their own taxation. Further can the taxpayer also be punished for tax evasion for the same false reporting. However, this is contrary to the European Convention that we should not be tried or punished twice for the same crime. The Supreme Court has through practice from 2013 ruled that the right not to be punished twice for the same offense shall include the system in force concerning tax and tax offenses. The Supreme Court has by this judgment determined that the system of penalty and tax evasion is not compatible with the dual test ban.In the light of the judgment the Government submitted in November 2014 a draft to the council regarding double test ban regarding penalty and tax evasion. The reason of the proposal was that the system of dual procedures was contrary to Article 50 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 4 of the European Convention 7th Additional Protocol. The Government propose to establish a locking control which means that prosecutor can not bring charges if the Swedish tax authority has made a decision regarding a tax on the same matter. Further means that the Swedish tax authority can not decide on tax where the prosecutor has charged or taken other measures. To strengthen legal security further the Government proposes to introduce a regulation which sanctions procedure is collected in a court, which means that the court may in a tax evasion process decide on penalties at the request of prosecutors. The authors' assessment of the proposal is that it can be considered to be deficient since a more part-output investigation should be carried out. It is questioned from a law-perspective whether the proposal should be put forward for legislation due to the uncertainty of the proposal’s effect in other areas of law.

Cross-border agreements are more common today, since it’s not unusual that a contract is entered into by parties resident in different states. A question that often occurs when a dispute arises between parties to an international contract is which law that is to be applied. In order to resolve the dispute and determine the applicable law there are various options, for example resolving the dispute before a general court where the applicable law is determined by the provisions of the Rome I Regulation, or by settling the dispute by international commercial arbitration. In both cases, the principle of party autonomy is an important cornerstone. The principle allows the parties to an international contract to determine the applicable law.

The principle, which was acknowledged already in the Rome Conventionen, was widened when the Rome Convention was replaced by the Rome I Regulation. Parties were given an additional possibility to choose non-state rules to govern the contract. This was motivated by the fact that the possibility to choose non-state rules was acknowledged in international arbitration. The question that arises is why the principle was widened, and why this was justified by a comparison of the design of the principle in international arbitration. There are notable differences between these two alternatives of resolving a dispute, where the principle of party autonomy in international arbitration is basically unrestricted, while the same principle in the Rome I Regulation is subject to restrictions that might result in another applicable law than the one chosen by the parties.

The design of the principle in the Rome I Regulation is in contrary to the purpose of the principle and the Regulation, since the restrictions makes it more difficult for the parties to predict the applicable law. The design of the principle, which was effected by the design of the principle in international arbitration, is therefore not considered as appropriate.

In 2010 the CoJ submitted a preliminary ruling in C-88/09 Graphic Procédé regarding whether certain printing products should be considered as goods or services in accordance with the VAT Directive. The implication of the ruling for Swedish legislation was that the tax rate for certain printing product was reduced from 25 to 6 percent. The consequence was that the tax office had to repay millions of Swedish crowns to printing houses because the VAT payments had been too high. The Tax Agency repaid the VAT without demanding that the printing houses issued a credit note to their customers. Due to their repayments, the Tax Agency reclaimed the incorrectly charged VAT from the printing houses’ customers. The issue came to be considered by the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court (the court). It considered that the criteria for reclaiming VAT was met and that the reclaiment is not evidently unreasonable. The court's judgment is based on the assumption that the customers have a claim on the printing houses. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the consequences of the court's judgment concerning additional tax assessment and the criterion of unreasonableness.

The court’s judgment has led to extended possibilities to make additional assessment.  The judgment fails in legal certainty due to its unspecified grounds. There is an uncertain legal position as to whether the customers has a claim against the printing house, which is why the court's assumption in this matter lacks of legal certainty. However, there is some support for the assumption that there is a claim under § 36 AvtL, the principles of condictio indebiti and unjust enrichment. Irrespective of whether the Supreme Court will clarify the legal situation regarding the claim, the court's judgment has caused economic burdens for customers that are inexcusable from a legal certainty perspective.

This thesis investigates how International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) come to act within an organizational context. In particular, the thesis explores how the requirements for goodwill accounting and leasing influence organizational calculative practices, transforming and shaping operations management. Drawing on actor-network theory, this study moves away from a priori distinctions, following the construction and mobilization of accounting numbers across institutionalized boundaries within and around the organization.

The empirical investigation took place in a large, worldwide active media group that is listed on a European stock exchange. The group is a particular interesting setting because of its diverse business structure and its German code-law accounting roots. Business combinations are a major growth factor within the industry and a high degree of decentralization in the organization placed responsibility for investment decisions at low hierarchical levels. Goodwill accounting and impairment testing were therefore highly significant calculative practices in the group.

The study finds that the constitutive role of the financial reporting standards in the organization both solves tensions and dilemmas around the number and creates new ones when crucial interests are lost in translation. These tensions and dilemmas arise between the aim of standardization and closure for the construction of a legitimate value of the future, and the aim to mobilize numbers in order to motivate and create value for a future.

Originally intended for the financial representation of organizational substance and performance, the standards become associated with operations management activities, helping to create the faithful records that sum up the organization. This interrelation helps to close concern around the representation of the future in a ‘fair’ value by distributing the calculative practices over a wide network of actors spanning inside and outside the organization. However, the relationship also forces a connection between calculations and ambitions that otherwise would have preferred to stay separate.

This thesis offers a new perspective on IFRS implementation by emphasizing organizational activities. Through a focus on integration and the link between financial and management accounting, the ‘implementation problems’ highlighted in previous literature gain a refined theorization. When taking organizational practice seriously, integration becomes a process that may find temporal stability but will never be final. In the process, conflicts might be solved but new dilemmas will arise. In turn, concepts like decision usefulness, comparability and earnings management cannot exist in a stable form but are rather constructed in networks that disregard commonly assumed boundaries inside and around the organization.

This paper examines how a particular part of IFRS, the requirements for goodwill accounting, influences organisational calculative practices, transforming and shaping operations management. Stepping away from a-priori boundaries between different accounting disciplines, this research contributes to existing financial and management accounting literature with an in depth case study on the consequences of standard setting in the organisational realm. Whilst financial accounting standards have shown to be intervening with other fields of societal activities, this study places emphasis on the organisational realm and the interrelation between financial accounting standardisation and operations management. Drawing on an actor-network lens, the study shows how the calculative practices introduced by IFRS associated with many parts of the organisation. Although different interests and ambitions in accounting remained, the standards intervened by both fostering and forcing communication between actors. The standardisation of accounting practice in the group granted procedural legitimacy to the reported numbers in a network of dispersed calculation. At the same time, however, these links required a new form of expertise, a shared expertise between parts of the firm that otherwise would have been preferred to stay independent. Dilemma and conflicts arise in a tension between standardisation and flexibility of business decisions, in the aim to define a value of the future for financial reporting that also becomes relevant in the creation of value for a future.

Theoretical as well as practical movements push the frontier of accounting research towards a more integrated view on accounting and reporting practice. The traditional boundaries we tend to draw between management accounting and financial accounting are hindering accounting research to follow these movements and in this study we propose the concept of practice networks. The analysis of practice networks is presented as one way to disregard the dualisms in which we move and to investigate the complex interplay and movements of values.The purpose of this study is to investigate how internal and external notions of value come to life together to form accounting practice. For our investigation we conducted a field study in a worldwide active group listed on a European stock exchange. The paper is part of a larger research project were we investigate different practice networks and their relation to each other. Here, we present impairment testing as one example of a practice network. We show how practice networks bind allies across organisational boundaries, linking different hierarchies and different organisational disciplines in order to produce commonly accepted values. The practice network analysis reveals how external notions of value, like impairments and fair values, travel into the organisation by means of their practice network and how internal notions travel out.Our findings suggest that through practice networks, practices become temporarily stable and their outcomes become legitimate and accepted artefacts or knowledge through their attachments.

Tar NJA 2009 s. 891 som utgångspunkt för en kritik av Högsta domstolens hantering av frågan om fordrans uppkomst och lämnar de lege ferenda förslag om ett alternativt tillvägagångssätt.

This report summarises the results of the research I have conducted during the time from the 1th of March 2010 until 28th of February 2011. The research project has been financed by granting of the application no. 164: Det reglerade fjärrvärmeavtalet – En studie i regleringsteknik med utgångspunkt i fjärrvärmebranschens rättsliga förutsättningar. The project is divided into three stages; this report concerns the first stage. The first stage has had two objectives The first objective was to investigate how the supervisory authority, by executing its supervisory function, may affect the contractual relationship between a district heating supplier and a commercial district heating customer The second objective was to identify and structure problems for thenext two stages of the project. On the question of how the supervisory function of the supervisory authority may affect the contractual relationship between the district heating supplier and commercial district heating customer, first, the legal competence of the supervisory authority was analysed and, secondly, an investigation was conducted regarding the types of contracts to which the supervisory authority may and shall direct its supervision. It was concluded that the answer to the first question is that the supervisory authority shall supervise the informational content of the district heating contract as stated in sec. 6 of the Swedish District Heating Act. Further, it was concluded that the supervisory authority may possibly have the competence to supervise also the substantive content of the district heating contract with a view to ensuring that the substantive rules of the District Heating Act are followed which embody the informational requirements sec. 6 of the District Heating Act. Regarding the second question above, it has been concluded that the supervisory authority probably is bound to direct its supervision toward so-called standard forms of contracts, but not toward individually negotiated contracts. As concerns the task of identifying and structuring problems for the next two stages of the project, work has been focused on (1) identifying and describing the legislator’s manner of problematising the district heating industry and (2) presenting alternative and complementing perspectives to the legislator’s view. The legislator’s view on the district heating industry is that it is desireable that more people choose district heating sold in a market, although the district heating suppliers are deemed to enjoy an almost monopolistic position. This view of the legislator has been contrasted to, and discussed from, five alternative perspectives. From the first perspective, the district heating industry is understood as an industry dependent of an infrastructural network. From the second perspective, district heating is understood as a primary need. The third perspective assumes a critical standpoint on the legal definition of a “consumer” in the light of the reality of the contractual relations between supplier and customer in the district heating industry. The fifth, and last, perspective examines the legal historical context of the district heating industry. As regards the communication of the research results, this has been effected by my participation in two legal academic conferences, one conference arranged by Svensk Fjärrvärme, one publication of an academic article as a chapter of a book, and through a research proposal seminar open to the public.

I den föreliggande artikeln ska jag diskutera hur förvaltningsrätt och civilrätt möts när två parter sluter avtal om fjärrvärme.[1] Mötet har sin grund i att lagstiftaren valt att ge en förvaltningsmyndighet i uppgift att kontrollera innehållet i avtalsparternas fjärrvärmeavtal.[2]

Artikeln är begränsad till att behandla avtal som sluts mellan näringsidkare; således diskuteras konsumentförhållanden endast som jämförelseobjekt. Vidare ska framhållas att rättsläget i mångt och mycket är oklart. Det finns ännu ingen praxis på området – varken domstolspraxis eller myndighetspraxis – och fjärrvärmemarknaden har så vitt jag vet inte berörts i den svenska juridiska doktrinen. Mitt syfte med den här artikeln är därför tudelat: dels att beskriva fjärrvärmemarknadens speciella karaktär ur ett juridiskt perspektiv, dels att försöka tolka och problematisera den av lagstiftaren valda regleringstekniken.

För att introducera läsaren till ämnet börjar jag med att i korthet beskriva fjärrvärmemarknadens tekniska förutsättningar och vilka problem som dessa anses orsaka. Härefter presenteras lagstiftarens åtgärder för att motverka de förmenta problemen genom att jag systematiserar de relevanta bestämmelserna. Avslutningsvis diskuteras och problematiseras reglernas närmare innebörd mot bakgrund av de ändamål som lagstiftningen på området ger uttryck för.

[1] Ett stort tack ska här framföras till Jakob Heidbrink som trots semesterledighet tagit sig tid att läsa mina utkast och ge nyttig feedback.

[2] 52 & 6 §§ fjärrvärmelag (2008:263) (fjärrvärmelagen)

Taxation of financial transactions and currency exchange has been discussed and debated by economists and politicians ever since John Keynes first called for a taxation of stock market transactions. The financial crisis 2008-2009 and the vast expansion of currency exchange markets have intensified discussion on introducing regulatory practice to the currency exchange in the EU. By imposing a currency transaction tax, even at a very low rate, large sums of money could be collected to supplement the EU budget, meet UN Millennium Goals, or create a common rescue fund for bailing out economies in financial distress. However, imposing a tax on currency exchange is not possible without taking the supranational legal body of the EU into consideration. This study takes an initial look at the legal aspects of implementing a currency transaction tax, namely: Is implementation of a currency transaction tax compatible with the free movement of capital and the ESCB’s exclusive right to set monetary policy in the Euro zone?

On 1 January 2010, the Swedish government changed the rule on taxation of prohibited loans between Swedish companies and their shareholders and extended the regulation to loans granted by foreign companies. By changing the rule to also comprise foreign companies, the government aims to eliminate tax avoidance. The inclusion of foreign corporations in national legislation has been subject to criticism by the consultative bodies in the government bill and in the legal debate. The expression of discontent is due to the fact that the extension of the statutory rules to foreign companies does not comply with the freedom of establishment. This article aims to provide a response as to whether the changes of the rule on taxation of prohibited loans are compatible with the freedom of establishment and, consequently, whether the Swedish government commits, by the extension of the statutory rules to foreign companies, a breach of the right of the freedom of establishment.

The Swedish government encourages the development of electricity produced from renewable sources using an electricity certificates system. The system is regulated in the Swedish Electricity Certificates Act (lag (2003:113) om elcertifikat). The regulation imposes a penalty fee on producers for those that have received certificates grounded on incorrect or misleading information. Once the penalty fee has been charged, the legislation does not allow any adjustments, even in the case of an unjustified penalty. This article addresses the question whether this scheme is compatible with art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). It is concluded that the penalty fee how it is regulated in the Electricity Certificates Act is not in conformity with the Convention and therefore does not comply with EU law. Regulatory changes are needed in the sense that the Electricity Certificates Act has to take into account any reasons for reducing a penalty fee.