Giovanni Liberatore

Insights on CFOs’ Perceptions about Impairment Testing Under IAS 36

Abstract We survey CFOs of Italian listed companies and examine their views on the complexities involved in implementing IAS 36 requirements and the perceived usefulness of national guidelines aiming at assisting preparers in this respect. We find that IAS 36 is perceived as an atypical standard among IFRS, it demands subjective interpretation, its requirements can be made adaptable to managerial needs and do not limit creative accounting. Further, respondents do not see a strong link between IAS 36 disclosure requirements and market variables, except for stock returns. Moreover, the impairment testing process became more difficult during the recent financial crisis and guidelines issued by the Italian authorities do not appear to assist in implementing the recoverable amount estimation process or compliance with mandatory disclosure. The respondents explicitly call for a revision in IAS 36 and/or issuance of separate guidance. These findings inter alia respond directly to the IASB’s current quest on financial statements preparers’ concerns about the application of the IAS 36 requirements.

Brand transaction announcements and stock price volatility

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the potential relationship between the stock market announcement of a brands buy and sell agreement, and the stock price trend.Design/methodology/approach – The research question was approached using a GARCH‐based statistical analysis on a sample of companies listed on the Mibtel (Italian stock exchange) that have a brand among their assets and have undertaken a purchase/sale from 2006 to 2008.Findings – Although the brand is believed to be an important value driver, the mere occurrence of a purchase/sale operation for this asset only occasionally leads to a reaction in the market; at any rate, the stocks volatility quite rarely depends solely on such an occurrence.Research limitations/implications – The statistical relevance of the analysis is limited by the observational data that it was possible to analyse. In particular, to give a positive conclusion about the influence of the brands buy and sell agreements on a stocks return, it is necessary to have a time...

Complexity Science for Sustainable Smart Water Grids

While the effects of climate change unfold and become more visible, infrastructures – especially those related to the distribution of water and energy – are the most exposed to the deep changes expected in the next years. Water is fundamental for people, and for infrastructures like energy, waste, and food production. Water sustainability is therefore a fundamental aspect to be addressed by an efficient use of the resources and by mainteining high quality standards. Hence, water industry and water infrastructure need a deep transformation; in this paper we present a framework based on complex systems and management science as a possible pathway to reshape and optimize the performance of the water infrastructure to cope with the complexity of todays’ challenges. To this aim, we propose the framework Acque 2.0 (Water 2.0), where we point out how the increase of the infrastructural resilience and of the overall quality of service can be attained by integrating models, algorithms and numerical methods like network simulations and big data analytics for the predictive maintenance of water networks. We discuss how Complexity Science is the natural glue allowing technical, management and social issues to be integrated in the holistic vision of the “water system” needed play to provide measures for an integrated sustainability reporting that involves utilities, regulators, policy makers, and citizens.

Rilevanza ed affidabilità del valore contabile dell’avviamento e dei beni immateriali sul mercato italiano

Il presente lavoro si propone di indagare quale sia la rilevanza e l’affidabilita percepita dal mercato finanziario sul valore espresso nel bilancio d’esercizio sui beni immateriali e l’avviamento delle societa quotate. Lo studio ha analizzato le aziende quotate al FTSE Italia All-share, nel periodo fra il 2002 ed il 2008. Attraverso un modello di regressione a piu variabili si e verificato che: a) il valore contabile dei beni immateriali e dell’avviamento sono correlati positivamente al valore di mercato del capitale, b) la transizione agli IAS/IFRS non ha comportato un incremento della rilevanza ed affidabilita percepita dal mercato dei beni immateriali e avviamento.

Tourism Destination Competitiveness and Firm Performance through a Financial Crisis

We acknowledge the helpful comments of all the participants of the Consumer Behavior in Tourism Symposium 2013 (CBTS, 2013) held in Bruneck (South Tyrol), Italy, and of the second EIASM Conference on Tourism Management and Tourism Related Issues, held in Nice, France. This chapter is the result of a research project discussed and shared by the authors as organic work. Only to highlight the contribution, this is referred as follows: section 1 to Marco Fazzini, section 2 to Giovanni Liberatore, sections 3 and 4 to Lorenzo Dal Maso, while section 5 is a common part.

Informativa sul tasso di attualizzazione nella stima dell'avviamento secondo lo IAS36 : un confronto fra Italia e Paesi nordici

Il presente lavoro si focalizza sulla qualita dell’informativa obbligatoria sul tasso di attualizzazione nella stima a valore d’uso dell’avviamento. L’analisi compara un campione di societa italiane con uno del Nord Europa, al fine di verificare se la qualita informativa risulti migliore in paesi che pongono maggiore attenzione sul capitale immateriale. Inoltre, si e inteso verificare se l’informativa aumenti in presenza di svalutazione dell’avviamento, evento piu frequente nei periodi di crisi economica. I risultati ottenuti tramite la costruzione di un disclosure index e l’analisi di regressione supportano le ipotesi, mostrando che l’informativa aumenta se l’azienda appartiene ad un paese nordeuropeo; lo stesso effetto si ottiene in caso di rilevazione di impairment loss.