Svenska aktiebolags redovisning av lojalitetsprogram och IFRS 15 inverkan på redovisningen

Sammanfattning: Background: The prevalence of loyalty programs used to attract and keep customers loyal to the company by making return purchases has increased in the marketing strategy used by more and more companies. It is in the nature of a wide variety of loyalty programs to offer consumers benefits in the future causing a liability for the offering business. According to IFRS 15 loyalty programs should be evaluated and presented in the company's financial statements to their fair value of financial commitment to its customers. Purpose: This study's purpose is to describe how and to what extent Swedish companies, that is required to use IFRS 15 in their accounting, reports on their loyalty programs in the annual report. In addition, the purpose is also to analyze and understand why Swedish companies report as they do and to analyze how the new accounting standard IFRS 15 has affected companies ́ yearly reports. Method: With detailed analysis of 14 company’s annual reports; 2 owned by the Swedishgovernment, 10 public trade companies and 2 former traded companies, and further detailed interviews with 4 out of these companies this study has obtained a wide understanding of how loyalty programs are disclosed in financial reports in a Swedish context. This study uses a qualitative method. Theoretical framework: This study bases its theoretical reference from the stakeholder theory, financial disclosure theory and Swedish regulations, this study explores IFRS 15 and loyalty programmes and the disclosure requirement in this accounting standard. Findings: The international accounting standard IFRS 15 clashes to some extent with Swedish accounting principles, which means that Swedish limited companies, for various reasons, choose not to provide more information about the loyalty program than they do. Among other things, companies have listened to auditors' guidelines on what needs to be reported, with reference to Swedish accounting principles, and also to some extent created their own practice when they choose to report equally to their competitors. From the majority of surveyed companies' financial reports, it is not possible for stakeholders to deduce how valuation took place, nor what risks the loyalty program may entail. The study has shown that the more extensive and complex loyalty program the company uses, the more assessments and assumptions in valuation that can be difficult to get accurate. By presenting a valuation model, companies could reduce the information gap between company management and the company's stakeholders, thus also reducing risks.The debt linked to the loyalty program can amount to large sums in relation to the company's results. At the same time, more and more companies are choosing to use loyalty programs and those companies that are already using loyalty programs expect them to grow. This means that the reporting of loyalty programs and the information companies choose to provide about these is becoming increasingly important.