Emilio Passetti

Analyzing intellectual capital information in sustainability reports: some empirical evidence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the content, frequency and quality of intellectual capital voluntary disclosure (ICVD) and the changes that took place over two years (2005 and 2006) in a sample of 37 sustainability reports published by Italian listed companies.Design/methodology/approach – The intellectual capital framework consists of three levels: “IC categories”, “IC items” and “IC indicators”, while content analysis was performed using a quality multidimensional scheme composed of three disclosure profiles, namely, time orientation, nature of information and type of information.Findings – The findings evidence a high and increasing incidence over time of ICVD, with strong emphasis on human capital disclosure, which represents the most reported category, followed by relational and organisational capital. ICVD is mainly expressed in non‐financial, quantitative and non‐time‐specific terms with a low level of forward‐looking information.Research limitations/implications – This study ...

Accidents at Work and Costs Analysis: A Field Study in a Large Italian Company

Accidents at work are still a heavy burden in social and economic terms, and action to improve health and safety standards at work offers great potential gains not only to employers, but also to individuals and society as a whole. However, companies often are not interested to measure the costs of accidents even if cost information may facilitate preventive occupational health and safety management initiatives. The field study, carried out in a large Italian company, illustrates technical and organisational aspects associated with the implementation of an accident costs analysis tool. The results indicate that the implementation (and the use) of the tool requires a considerable commitment by the company, that accident costs analysis should serve to reinforce the importance of health and safety prevention and that the economic dimension of accidents is substantial. The study also suggests practical ways to facilitate the implementation and the moral acceptance of the accounting technology.

A comparative analysis of human capital disclosure in annual reports and sustainability reports

In the past 20 years, accounting literature has been increasingly attentive toward company practices regarding voluntary intellectual capital disclosure (Guthrie, Ricceri, & Dumay, 2012; Wyatt, 2005). Among the three categories comprising intellectual capital, the most fully reported is relational capital, followed by organizational capital and human capital. Human capital is usually the last category reported, although it has been recognized as an important factor in reducing investment risks (Wyatt & Frick, 2010) as well as developing and maintaining good relationship between companies and employees (Beattie & Thomson, 2010). Companies typically use a combination of public and private channels to disclose intellectual capital information, such as annual reports, Initial Public Offering (IPO) prospectuses, company websites, interim accounts, company announcements, and presentations to financial analysts (McInnes, Beattie, & Pierpoint, 2007).

Gestione e misurazione della salute e sicurezza: un quadro di analisi

Il lavoro analizza la sicurezza sul lavoro compiendo una disamina di alcuni dei principali aspetti collegati alla gestione e alla valutazione del tema. La prima parte del saggio pone l’attenzione sugli effetti della gestione della sicurezza in termini di efficacia e di ricadute sugli aspetti competitivi ed economico-finanziari. Nella seconda parte si focalizza l’attenzione sul tema della misurazione e in particolare sulla questione dei costi associati agli infortuni fornendo una analisi introduttiva di alcune delle principali metodologie disponibili in letteratura