A comparative analysis of the impact of accounting differences on profits and return on equity

The purpose of this paper is to make a quantitative comparative analysis of differences between Swedish accounting practice and US GAAP. The empirical data consisted of eighty-four US GAAP reconciliations of income statements and shareholders' equity, disclosed in Swedish annual reports during 1981-90. Prior qualitative research has suggested that Swedish accounting practice is conservative compared with that in the USA. However, the empirical analysis of profits and return on equity provided little support for this hypothesis. Instead, there were indications of a less conservative accounting treatment in the Swedish accounts compared with US GAAP. The most material differences between Swedish profits and those calculated using US GAAP were caused by differences in treatment of foreign currency translation, income taxes, sale and leaseback transactions and business combinations.

Swedish Capital Income Taxation (1862–2013)

This paper describes the evolution of capital income taxation in Sweden between1862 and 2013, including the taxation of corporate profits, dividends, capital gains, interestincome, and wealth taxation. To illustrate this evolution, we present annual time-series dataregarding the marginal effective tax rates on capital income (METR) for a marginalinvestment financed with new share issues, retained earnings or debt. The METR is low andstable and does not exceed five percent until World War I, when it begins to drift somewhatupward and vary depending on the source of finance. The outbreak of World War II begins aperiod during which the magnitude and variation of the METR sharply increase. The METRpeaks during the 1970s and 1980s and often exceeds 100 percent. The 1990–1991 tax reformand lower rates of inflation reduce the magnitude and variation of the METR, which variesbetween 15 and 35 percent at the end of the period examined

Regulated and unregulated insider trading around earnings announcements

Insider trading, Earnings announcements, Legislation, D82, G32, M40, K42,