Claudio Teodori

Accounting Reform in Italy and Perceptions on the Local Government Consolidated Report

ABSTRACT The article aims to explore the perception of local government (LG) financial officers on the users, the uses, and the utility of the consolidated financial report in Italy, since it was one of the first countries to expressly provide for compulsory adoption. A questionnaire was sent to a statistical stratified sample of LG, collecting 133 responses (response rate 17%). The results, tested through the structural equation model we observe that social legitimization pressure rather than accountability patterns or performance analysis drive more the adoption process. The evidence indicates that the report is perceived as a potential tool for pursuing performance assessment strategies in a group context. However, this potentiality depends on the coordination effort made by the LG. The article finds out the rise of the topic of the public governance and the role of coordinating the local public group.

A follow-up study on students attending a university counselling service in Northern Italy

ABSTRACT The aims of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of a university counselling service in Northern Italy, to assess the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of students who used counselling service, and to assess the psychological conditions of the students who ended the counselling after a 4 month follow-up period. The study involved 100 students, who filled out the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Brief COPE Inventory, and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). The results showed that who received counselling were positively affected by this experience. The areas of benefit were psychological well-being, coping behaviours, ability to positively reframe problems and less sense of guilt. Additional studies are needed to identify which factors influence the outcomes of university counselling services in Italy. These studies would be important to evaluate the services rendered, upgrade the skills of counsellors and visualise priority areas of need.

Impairment Test and Disclosure: An International Comparison

Introduction of the IAS/IFRS entails important changes for European companies, characterised by different accounting systems, including assessment and accounting of the impairment test which is one of the most fundamental issues. Our attention focuses on companies listed in the main European Stock Exchange Indexes (S&P/Mib, CAC 40 and FTSE 100) in which the impairment test is one of the most critical elements of company management. After a brief presentation of the main characteristics of the IAS 36, the aim of this paper is to study the effects of IAS 36 application on financial disclosure via an empirical analysis. The level of disclosure regarding the impairment test is compared among the three indexes and is studied in greater depth (69 items). In the paper the focus is on disclosure since, as the scholars also agree, financial communication does not represent a neutral process but affects the behaviour of the recipients, and consequently that of the prepares. Consolidated financial reports of 2006 and 2007 have been analysed: empirical results confirm that there are a lot of differences in disclosure level among the three countries and between companies with and without an impairment loss.