1,721,510 research outputs found
L’informativa economico-finanziaria delle PMI italiane. Concetti e determinanti di earnings quality
No full textIl volume analizza la qualità dell’informativa economico-finanziaria e delle sue determinanti nelle piccole e medie imprese italiane, in sintonia sia con la recente diffusione degli studi sulla qualità degli earnings nel Financial Accounting di matrice nordamericana sia con la crescente attenzione a tale informativa, sollecitata dall’emanazione dei principi contabili internazionali riservati a questa categoria di imprese.
La ricerca condotta, oltre ad offrire un contributo teorico alla definizione del concetto di qualità dell'informativa - coerente con il contesto analizzato e con la natura degli stakeholder di tali imprese - propone un'estesa analisi empirica (che ha considerato circa 62.000 imprese italiane) dalla quale emerge che l'esposizione finanziaria delle imprese e il regime fiscale rappresentano fattori cruciali nel condizionare la qualità dell'informazione economico-finanziaria in queste realtà
La predisposizione del DUP nelle Unioni di Comuni: fasi ed elementi propedeutici.
No full textIl Documento unico di programmazione (DUP) dovrebbe essere lo strumento capace
di orientare il cammino del Presidente dell’Unione e della relativa Giunta lungo il
processo decisionale che l’amministrazione intenderà intraprendere nel tempo. Tuttavia,
la sua costruzione e approvazione, in un contesto di rete di cooperazione intercomunale,
è il risultato di una fase di delicata contrattazione tra enti con diverso grado di
peso specifico che potrebbe portare a percepire lo strumento come mero adempimento
formale, qualora non si attui un’azione preventiva di costruzione di una cornice condivisa
lungo la quale poi sviluppare le specifiche politiche. L’obiettivo del presente contributo
è quello di avviare una prima serie di riflessioni sul complessivo sistema di pianificazione
e programmazione della performance nelle Unioni di Comuni
Social responsibility in practice: an Italian case from the early 20th century
No full text
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the ideals informing the social strategy of Marzotto, an Italian family business in the textile industry, during the rise and fall of the fascist regime and to compare it with the main concepts of social responsibility theory that developed from the 1950s onwards. Because Italy at that time was a family-based economy, subject to a dictatorial government, it offers an interesting context of investigation that is similar to various contemporary emerging countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a company’s public social report and various published histories, the historical case study of this Italian family business and its pioneering social strategy is reconstructed. Through the identification of the social practices and the ideals underlying the strategy, the analysis finds similarities and differences with the traditional concepts from social responsibility literature.
Findings
The study finds that Marzotto’s social strategy traces some dimensions of social responsibility theory for it was a voluntary and discretional act by the business owner; it was based on the necessary balance between economic and social aims; and it was focusing only on social issues. Instead, the “social” spectrum is found to have a different meaning in the Marzotto strategy with respect to the “social” in the traditional theory because it was limited to a local level and limited groups of stakeholders.
Practical implications
By showing the relevant role of business-owners in social responsibility awareness, this study has implications for contemporary practice. It suggests that the educating business-owners about social responsibility and the development of bottom-up rather than top-down social initiatives will be crucial in contemporary similar contexts. The results also open to new research opportunities on corporate social responsibility in the past to explain contemporary differences among its implementation in different countries.
Originality/value
The research brings awareness to social responsibility in the past in a context other than traditional Western countries and to its differences and similarities with the established social responsibility framework. It is the first study on past social practices that makes use of primary sources to support the analysis.
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Book review: Accounting and Food: Some Italian Experiences
No full textFood plays a fundamental role in human life. Food is a necessity, it is the lifeblood of human existence. Humans cannot survive without it. From prehistoric times, the development of the human race, as well as the majority of human activity, has been strongly intertwined with food, its search, its lack or its abundance.
Being so strongly related to human life, food is also an expression of the popular culture because it develops within a particular context and becomes part of the traditions and histories pertaining to a specific territory. More recently, food culture has gained increasing attention from the media, with the proliferation of food TV channels and programmes, as well as the publication of thousands of cooking books and restaurant guides.
Food is also a global issue because not everyone has access to food, and this puts their survival at risk. Indeed, while in developed countries food is over-celebrated and abundant – sometimes even wasted – in less developed parts of the world, food is lacking and people are dying of hunger. As a consequence, global organisations such as Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are constantly collaborating with governments worldwide in developing policies for food sustainability and security.
The book Accounting and Food, edited by Luciano D’Amico, Roberto Di Pietra and Massimo Sargiacomo, is focused on the crossroad of this complex and multifaceted topic. The book explores some of the ways accounting practices have been linked to food and suggests new paths of research in the accounting and accounting history field
The contribution of the Italian literature to the international Accounting History literature
No full textItalian and Anglo-Saxon accounting scholarships are rather different in their philosophical foundations and conceptual categories. Such difference has implications for Italian scholars aiming at contributing to the international accounting history (AH) literature. This work aims to qualify the contribution of Italian scholars to the (AH) literature. By means of a review of the AH publication patterns of Italian scholars both in Italian and English language, from 2010 to 2016, the analysis compares Italian and international outlets. Furthermore, the comparison considers the entrenched bi-lingual and cultural aspects, by highlighting the textual similarities and differences of specific contributions. With its results, the study adds to prior literature on the publishing patterns in AH, by shedding light on how Italian accounting historiography has developed in an international context. Moreover, this work highlights the challenges for Italian scholars willing to disseminate AH research outside their national context and promotes cross-country collaborations to expand the pathways, time and foci of international AH
Time dependent behaviour of continuous composite beams: comparison among different prestressing techniques
No full textArtificial Intelligence and the Public Sector: The Case of Accounting
No full textThe implementation ofAI-enhanced systems in the business context offers
many benefits. However, in accounting studies, AI is still configured as an almost
unexplored frontier. This gap is even more clear for public sector accounting, given
the relatively small number of scientific contributions dedicated to the topic. In light of
these considerations, the work aims to highlight the limiting factors and the enabling
drivers for AI the public sector accounting. To this end, a qualitative approach was
applied to study the answers provided by a sample of 45managers, placed at the head
of the accounting office of some Italian municipalities. The questions were prepared
in the form of semi-structured interviews, developed by enucleating and adapting
the key concepts related to the five attributes that, according to the Innovation Diffusion
Theory, characterize every innovation process: relative advantage; compatibility;
complexity; trialability; and observability. The findings suggest that Italian
public sector accounting is experiencing a transition, placing itself halfway between
the "early adopter" and the "early majority", that is, in a phase in which current
technologies begin to be perceived as outdated and not worthy of further investment,
whilst the process of spreading new AI-based technologies appears interesting but still immature
Holocene sea level rìse research using archaeological site [Siti archeologici sommersi e loro utilizzazione quali indicatori per lo studio delle variazioni recenti del livello del mare]
No full textIn this paper the main problems in acquiring, computing and evaluating past sea level data from archaeological indicators are discussed in order to recognize recent eustatic variations. Many prehistoric peoples and historic civilisation developed during the Holocene along the Mediterranean coasts and were influenced by the natural sea level rise; those peoples could occupy coastal sites during sea level stands but the following rise, at a rate greater than one meter per century, compelled them to leave coastal planes and sea caves. Several information about the former coastal landscape could be drawn from ancient historical and geographical texts (Poems, Histories, Geography, Itineraries, portolanos and maps) and then comparing them with present conditions and with archaeological traces. In order to obtain reliable and reproducible data from geoarchaeological indicators it is necessary to fix some qualifications. First of all the archaeological remains must be datable with enough accuracy in a radiometric, AMS or archaeological way; then the altitude must be referred in one only reliable reference system (for instance the International Terrestrial Reference System); at last the isostatic, tectonic and sedimentary dynamic patterns must be known very well to understand the way that eustatic and terrestrial components affected sea level variations. The meaning of an archaeological indicator depends on its primary elevation on sea level. In fact each remain could only have been placed above or below sea level, so it could represent only a one-sided datum: for instance an emerged object could only indicate that the former sea level must be lower than the same object's present altitude increased of the amount of the great high tide. Hence an emerged indicator means an "upper allowable limit" of the former sea level as well as a submerged indicator means a "lower allowable limit". All remains of on land human activity which are placed in the lower part of the archaeological site and are also lower than present high-tide level could be reliable geoarchaeological indicators of sea level rise. In prehistoric coastal sites most common objects are tombs, hearths, paintings, stone tools, middens, walking surfaces, paths and way of access to sea caves; in marine settlement, such as Greek and Roman towns, the most useful remains are those of ancient structures as quarries, building foundations, paving, mosaic floorings, thermae, aqueducts, water tanks and sewer's canalization. In ports and fishing tanks {piscinae) there are often both emerged and submerged indicators functionally related to sea level, so that comparing their one-sided data (upper and lower limits) the ancient sea level must be included in an interval of a few centimeters; most common remains of this kinds are quays, slipways, piers, breakwaters, channels and tunnels, bottom planes of sluice-gates and platforms. In the Thyrrhenian Sea the great tides (occurring just after the sygyzy, twice a month) are within +20 and -20 cm on MSL and it could mean that marine structures have been planned according to that tide amplitude, to preserve their function even during great tides. It is more difficult to think that the structures could operate during the extreme tides, that exceed ±50 cm on MSL; however extreme tides (occurring about once a year) are less frequent than sea-storms so they couldn't represent a greater hazard. Geomorphologic and paleoclimatic studies about archaeological sites in Thyrrhenian's sea caves, accompanied with radiometric and AMS dating, point out some data concerning the Holocene sea level rise: during Mesolithic time (about 10 kyr BP) the sea level was about 45-50 meters lower than today's, between Mesolithic and Neolithic time (about 8.5 kyr BP) the sea risen to -15 meters and finally reached -10 meters during early Neolithic time (about 7 kyr BP). Geoarchaeological studies about Etruscan and Roman remains along the Latium coast (central Thyrrhenian Sea) point out some more eustatic data for historic time: in IV century b.C. (about 2.3 kyr BP) sea level was 1.70 meters lower than today, then in AD (1.95 kyr BP) sea level risen to -0.35 meters and reached -0.10 meters in the II century AD (about 1.75 kyr BP). In the last centuries the sea level probably continued oscillating within a few decimeters around present level, according to minor climatic variations, as tide gauge's data pointed out. The correct interpretation of geoarchaeological data is very useful in paleoclimatic researches based on eustatic curve reconstruction; however it is necessary to give the best attention in collecting, referring and evaluating these kind of data. At last it is necessary to study the details of the dynamic geology in order to separate terrestrial and eustatic components of sea level variations
Standard setting in times of technological change: accounting for cryptocurrency holdings
No full textPurpose: This paper explores how the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has dealt with the emerging issue of accounting for cryptocurrencies by investigating its constituents' expectations and the motivations underlying its regulatory response. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical lens of regulatory space is used to analyse the four-year debate around cryptocurrency holdings and informs the extensive thematic analysis of public documents, meetings recordings and comment letters on the topic. Findings: Facing national standard setters' initiatives to regulate accounting for cryptocurrency, the IASB defended its position in the regulatory space through an agenda decision based on ewct 2xisting standards, which was finalised by the International Financial Reporting Standards Interpretation Committee (IFRS IC) despite criticism from constituents and Board members. Research limitations/implications: The paper provides insights into the IASB approach to a regulatory vacuum regarding a new class of items, which derive from a new and rapidly-evolving technology. Disruptive technology impacts the contested arena of accounting regulation, in which the constituents ask for new solutions and the IASB tries to resist such pressures, while defending its position. Practical implications: The paper sheds light on the growing importance of agenda decisions in the IFRS environment and on the limits of the IASB long regulatory process in the circumstance of emerging accounting issues deriving from rapidly-evolving technology. Originality/value: This investigation is timely and relevant as it considers the regulatory issues arising from disruptive technological innovations (i.e. cryptocurrency), shedding light on the limits of regulatory processes in times of technological change
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