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So far Financial Reporting has created 115 blog entries.

Dialogue with standard setters

By | 2020-02-11T12:22:11+01:00 February 11th, 2020|

edited by Raffaele Fiume and Tiziano Onesti / Financial Reporting / 2-2019

IFRS 16 Leases
Stefano Bianchi

The new accounting standard IFRS 16 Leases is the result of a long process of review of the criteria for recognizing and evaluating the lease on the financial statements. The need to promote a revision of the accounting criteria on leasing has been felt by many players of the financial system. IASB, FASB, EFRAG, financial institutions, auditors and preparers have supported a debate on leasing over the years, which has underlined the importance of representing and assessing the operating leases in the financial statements with criteria similar to the criteria utilised for the financial leasing in order to improve the quality and comparability of the financial information. The new standard IFRS 16 Leases will be effective for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019 and it will bring significant changes in accounting requirements for lease accounting, primarily for lessees, replacing the existing suite of standards and interpretations on leases as follows:

  • IAS 17 Leases (IAS 17)
  • IFIRIC 4 Determining whether an Arrangement contains a Lease (IFRIC 4)
  • SIC 15 Operating Leases – Incentives (SIC 15)
  • SIC 27 Evaluating the Substance of Transactions Involving the Legal Form of a Lease (SIC27).

The purpose of the following review is to analyse some of the main issues arising from the adoption of IFRS 16 Leases supported by the results of a recent effect analysis.

leases, right-of-use asset, lease term, discount rate, effect analysis

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Putting integrated reporting where it was not: The case of the not-for-profit sector

By | 2020-02-11T12:14:34+01:00 February 11th, 2020|

Girella Laura, Dameri Paola / Financial Reporting / 2-2019

Nowadays we are facing a new phase of capitalism. Information that is beyond financial capital and able to provide a more comprehensive picture of the path towards better transparency and accountability is increasingly needed and requested. A remarkable body of evidence already exist on how large, listed companies are facing this change, but very little is known about the non-for-profit sector. This work aims to analyse if and how new forms of reporting, such as integrated reporting, can be adopted by not-for-profit organisations to illustrate their efforts towards an improvement in their accountability processes. To this end, through an interventionist approach, the case of an Italian not-for-profit organization operating in the collection and redistribution of food is examined. It emerges that, integrated reporting can represent a valuable device that can be adopted also by the not-for-profit sector to improve its accountability. However, in order to be successfully implemented, some modifications have to be made in order to better encounter the  specificities of these organisational settings.

accountability, integrated reporting, not-for-profit

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Systematic literature network analysis in accounting: A first application on integrated reporting research

By | 2020-02-11T12:09:52+01:00 February 11th, 2020|

Comerio Niccolò, Tettamanzi Patrizia / Financial Reporting / 2-2019

Over the past decade, we have been witnessing an exponential growth in the number of publications on Integrated Reporting, with the aim of exploring challenges, opportunities and implications of its adoption. Given the abundance of studies, which are often characterized by conflicting evidences, it can be complex to pinpoint all the seminal works already published: it raises the need to develop methodologies which can help to screen the existing literature and to detect the articles which contribute the most to the scientific research. However, little is known about structured approaches in accounting studies: thus, in order to extract the backbones of the research tradition on Integrated Reporting, in this paper we apply the dynamic literature review method called “Systematic Literature Network Analysis”, which combines systematic literature review and bibliographic network analysis. Furthermore, our findings confirm how this methodology may be exploited as a research tool to support dynamic analyses for drawing agendas for future research in the accounting fields of study.

integrated report, literature review, systematic literature network analysis

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Beyond Financial Reporting. Integrated Reporting and its determinants: Evidence from the context of European state-owned enterprises

By | 2020-02-11T12:04:04+01:00 February 11th, 2020|

Nicolò Giuseppe, Zanellato Gianluca, Manes-Rossi Francesca, Tiron-Tudor Adriana / Financial Reporting / 2-2019

Integrated reporting (IR), which aims to overcome the limitations of both traditional financial and stand-alone non-financial reports, has gained momentum as a single comprehensive tool merging financial and non-financial information. Initially conceived for private sector entities, IR is also establishing itself in the public sector context as a vehicle for transparency and accountability. This research offers empirical investigation of IR practices in the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) context. More specifically, the paper investigates the levels of disclosure provided through IR by a sample of 34 European SOEs and explores the effects of potential explanatory factors. The results indicate a fair level of IR disclosure and a trend of reporting information already requested under international accounting standards. The findings also highlight that industry (basic materials and financials) and size positively influence the level of IR disclosure in a particularly strong way, while governance features (board size and board gender diversity) and the provision of external assurance do not exert any impact.

integrated reporting, state-owned enterprises, non-financial disclosure, accountability

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Informativeness Assessment of Risk and Risk-Management Disclosure In Corporate Reporting: An Empirical Analysis of Italian Large Listed Firms

By | 2020-02-11T11:55:56+01:00 February 11th, 2020|

De Luca Francesco, Phan Ho-Tan-Phat / Financial Reporting / 2-2019

Risk-related information is prevalently used in the decision-making process by various enterprises. Therefore, this study investigates how companies conduct their risk-disclosure practice after the new Italian Legislative Decree No. 254 of December 30, 2016. In particular, we draw attention to three aspects: (1) the interaction relationship among risk or risk management (RRM), industry, type of risk, and level of specific disclosure; (2) the variation of specific level of disclosing risk-related information across the industries and types of risk; and (3) the different behavior between risk and risk-management disclosure in the aftermath of the regulation’s issuance. The study is based on a sample of large undertakings and groups that are subject to the Legislative Decree. Two phases of content analysis were executed to analyze the risk and risk-management disclosure. The research questions were investigated with the row effects log-linear model. Our result shows that there are interaction relationships among RRM, type of risk, industry, and level of specific disclosure. Companies provide risk-related information at different levels of specificity depending on whether the information is risk description or risk management, the firms are operating in manufacturing or non-manufacturing and the type of risk that the firms disclosed in the reports.

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Audit e professioni contabili. Profili evolutivi della regolamentazione dell’attività di revisione

By | 2017-12-27T18:02:20+01:00 December 27th, 2017|

Boella Mario/ Financial Reporting, Riviste / Fascicolo: 1-2011

Nell’anno 2010, due sono state le importanti novità in materia di revisione legale. La prima, in ordine temporale, è stata l’approvazione del Decreto Legislativo 39 del 27 gennaio 2010, pubblicato in G.U. del 23 marzo 2010 (di seguito, anche “Decreto”), che ha recepito nell’ordinamento Italiano, la c.d. nuova VIII Direttiva (direttiva 2006/43/CE). Come auspicato, il Decreto contribuisce senz’altro, sotto taluni profili, a un miglioramento e a una razionalizzazione della disciplina della revisione legale italiana, delineando la struttura portante della disciplina della revisione dei conti annuali e consolidati e delegando molti aspetti operativi a Regolamenti di futura pubblicazione. La seconda, sempre in ordine temporale, è stata la pubblicazione del Green Paper “La politica in materia di revisione contabile: gli insegnamenti della crisi” da parte della Commissione Europea il 13 ottobre 2010. Esaminando dapprima il testo del Decreto, entrato in vigore il 7 aprile 2010, sono evidenti alcune rilevanti novità: – Il Capo II “Abilitazione e Formazione Continua”, in particolare l’art.5, rubricato “Formazione continua”, impone agli iscritti l’obbligo di partecipare a “programmi di aggiornamento professionale, finalizzati al perfezionamento e al mantenimento delle conoscenze teoriche e delle capacità professionali ”. Si tratta di una novità rispetto al passato: il legislatore ha recepito la necessità di aggiornamento specifico per i soggetti che svolgono questa attività; – l’art. 8 “Revisori inattivi”, inserito nel Capo III che regola il “Registro”, introduce una disciplina specifica per i revisori che, pur essendo iscritti al registro, non svolgono l’attività, istituendo una sezione ad hoc nel registro stesso; – l’intero complesso regolato dal Capo IV “Svolgimento della revisione legale” costituisce in parte una novità ed in parte un aggiornamento di quanto già presente nel nostro ordinamento. In questo Capo, che riveste primaria rilevanza, è disciplinata con chiarezza la definizione delle modalità professionali secondo le quali deve essere svolta la revisione; positivo è infatti l’obbligo sancito dal Decreto di svolgere la revisione secondo i principi di revisione internazionali adottati dalla Commissione Europea, a prescindere dalle caratteristiche del soggetto incaricato e dal tipo di società il cui bilancio è sottoposto a revisione. […]

 

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Il trattamento contabile degli oneri di urbanizzazione nelle realtà comunali. Il “punto di vista” dei Responsabili dei servizi finanziari (The accounting treatment of urbanization proceeds in the municipalities. The “point of view” of the financial service menagers)

By | 2017-12-27T18:01:44+01:00 December 27th, 2017|

Marino Roberto/ Financial Reporting, Riviste / Fascicolo: 1-2011

Nel corso degli ultimi anni, un ampio dibattito è sorto con riferimento alla natura degli oneri di urbanizzazione e alla loro destinazione nel bilancio di previsione annuale. Le diverse interpretazioni che, nel corso dell’ultimo decennio, si sono susseguite a tal riguardo possono essere ascritte al comportamento ondivago del Legislatore che, di volta in volta, ha inserito o soppresso vincoli all’impiego degli oneri di urbanizzazione per il finanziamento della spesa. È appena il caso di notare che il trattamento contabile degli oneri di urbanizzazione può incidere in maniera significativa sul rispetto degli equilibri finanziari del bilancio di previsione annuale dei comuni. Gli oneri di urbanizzazione costituiscono, infatti, entrate non ripetitive, che presentano un gettito estremamente variabile nel corso del tempo. Nel presente lavoro, si illustrano gli esiti di un’indagine empirica che ha coinvolto 106 Responsabili dei servizi finanziari operanti in Regione Puglia al fine di: 1) illustrare le “percezioni” e i comportamenti più diffusi in materia di trattamento contabile degli oneri di urbanizzazione; 2) analizzare l’impatto che le differenti scelte contabili adottate con riferimento ai proventi in parola sono in grado di generare sulla salvaguardia degli equilibri finanziari del bilancio di previsione annuale.

During the last years, a great debate about accounting treatment of urbanization proceeds has arisen. The various interpretations that, in the course of the last decade, have been proposed on this matter can be ascribed to the behaviour of the Italian Legislator that, from time to time, has inserted or deleted constraints to the use of urbanization proceeds. Moreover, it is known that the accounting treatment of urbanization proceeds may have a great impact on the financial equilibriums of the annual budget of municipalities. The urbanization proceeds are, in fact, not repetitive and highly variable revenues. In this paper, after having briefly analysed the main steps of the normative evolution about accounting treatment of urbanization proceeds, the “point of view” of 106 financial services managers is investigated in order to 1) describe the most common behaviours with reference to some relevant issues that relate the accounting treatment of urbanization proceeds; 2) determine the effects that the accounting treatment of urbanization proceeds may have on financial stability of municipalities (in particular, on the financial equilibriums of the annual budget). Findings and implications are discussed.

Keywords: urbanization proceeds, municipalities, annual budget, financial equilibriums

 

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Country effects on European mandatory disclosure of financial key performance indicators (Gli effetti dell’ambiente sulla disclosure obbligatoria di indicatori di prestazione economico-finanziaria)

By | 2017-12-29T17:23:43+01:00 December 27th, 2017|

Bini Laura, Dainelli Francesco, Giunta Francesco/ Financial Reporting, Riviste / Fascicolo: 1-2011

European Union Directive 51/2003 requires the publication of Financial Key Performance Indicators (FKPIs) in order to standardize this practice. We aim to test whether and to what extent the directive realizes the standardization of FKPIs. Because country factors are obstacles that the international standardization process intends to remove, we study their influence on disclosure practices in two very different countries in terms of cultural, economic, and regulation environments: Italy and the United Kingdom. Disclosure practices involve two dimensions: the quantity of indicators published and their quality. Quality is measured in terms of compliance with qualitative characteristics advocated by the IASB’s Framework. We select a representative sample of listed companies in both countries. The FKPI quantity and quality are hand collected from their 2008 annual reports. After controlling for leverage, industry, size, and profitability, we find that the number of indicators published in an annual report does not vary by country. The Directive may have helped this process. On the other hand, country factors drive the quality of FKPI communication. Thus, this finding suggests that standard setters and regulators should shift their attention to the quality aspects of FKPIs.

Keywords: financial ratios, mandatory information, management commentary, information quality

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IAS-IFRS e rendicontazione socio-ambientale: una verifica della estendibilità dei principi generali del Framework alla valutazione della qualità dei documenti volontari (IAS-IFRS and social and environmental accounting reporting: a review of the extensibility of the Framework’s general principles to assess the quality of volunteer disclosures)

By | 2017-12-27T17:58:31+01:00 December 27th, 2017|

Cardillo Eleonora, Molina Silvia/ Financial Reporting, Riviste / Fascicolo: 1-2011

Obiettivo del presente lavoro è investigare sull’osservanza delle caratteristiche qualitative individuate dal Framework IASB nella predisposizione dei bilanci sociali e di sostenibilità, evidenziando al contempo la necessità di introdurre l’obbligatorietà del rispetto dei medesimi, in quanto elementi ritenuti imprescindibili per la produzione di documenti socio-ambientali attendibili. Nello specifico, lo studio empirico è fondato sull’analisi dei report pubblicati da un campione di imprese quotate nel periodo 2004-2008, con l’intento di verificare, attraverso un’indagine quali-quantitativa l’”utilità” dei bilanci socio-ambientali, la quale dipende dalla comprensibilità, significatività, attendibilità e comparabilità delle informazioni in essi contenute. I dati rilevati, statisticamente elaborati, rappresentano l’atteggiamento qualitativo di risposta delle società alle caratteristiche individuate dal Framework, quale scelta consapevole o inconsapevole di allineamento ad esse.

The aim of this work is to investigate the compliance with the qualitative characteristics identified by the IASB Framework in preparing social and sustainability reports, while highlighting the need to introduce the mandatory respect for themselves as elements considered essential for the production of reliable social and environmental disclosures. In particular, the empirical study is based on the analysis of published reports from a sample of Italian listed companies in the period 2004-2008, with the intent to verify, through a qualitative and quantitative investigation, the effectiveness of socio-environmental reports, which depends on the understandability, relevance, reliability and comparability of the information contained therein. The data collected, processed statistically represent the attitude of companies to answer qualitative characteristics identified by the Framework, as conscious or unconscious choice of alignment with them.

Keywords: social and environmental reports, Framework IASB, accountability, qualitative characteristics, listed companies, standards

 

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La disclosure sulla corporate governance nei gruppi, strumento di tutela di interessi diffusi. Un’analisi critica nel contesto italiano (Corporate governance, information and control in business groups. A study in the italian context)

By | 2017-12-27T17:57:24+01:00 December 27th, 2017|

Fellegara Anna Maria, Tibiletti Veronica, Marchini Pier Luigi/ Financial Reporting, Riviste / Fascicolo: 1-2011

Nella normativa nazionale, il concetto di gruppo aziendale non è precisamente definito. Di conseguenza, il riconoscimento dei confini di gruppo non è sempre immediato, il che può implicare difficoltà nell’individuazione delle responsabilità delle scelte economiche assunte al suo interno. Tale circostanza può danneggiare gli interessi dei soci di minoranza. Con riferimento a questi temi, in Italia sono state introdotte regole volte a rendere maggiormente trasparenti gli assetti proprietari nei gruppi aziendali. Gli autori si propongono di analizzare qualità ed efficacia della comunicazione in tema di Corporate governance dei gruppi aziendali, con particolare riferimento agli effetti prodotti dalla normativa in materia di direzione e coordinamento di società.

In the Italian legal system, the concept of “business group” is not defined. As a consequence, it could be difficult to define boundaries of the business groups; this absence may cause serious complications in the definition of the responsibilities linked to the economic choices realized by the enterprises of the group. Minority shareholders who would be mostly likely to be damaged by this. In this respect, also in Italy specific rules were introduced to manage the corporate governance of the enterprises. The aim of the present paper is in particular to analyze the quality of disclosure regarding corporate governance in a sample of Italian listed companies and in particular the improvement in disclosure regarding the structure of economic groups brought about the rules regarding “management and control activity”.

Keywords: corporate governance, shareholder’s structure, disclosure, business groups, consolidated financial statement, institutional interests

 

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