Marco Tutino

Intangible Assets: Current Requirements, Social Statements, Integrated Reporting, and New Models

The concept of intangibles is fundamental in current economies. Their evaluation and the knowledge of their importance by third parties are linked to the issues of recognition and measurement of these assets. Despite the growing importance of intangibles to reach and maintain a competitive advantage in a complex environment, current financial statements do not provide adequate disclosure of some intangibles, especially for those that are not characterized by “identifiability” or “control.” Nakamura (2001) shows that the estimates of the corporate sector’s investment in intangible assets in the US market, calculated in three different ways, converge around 1 trillion dollars a year. Moreover, an important part of them are not recognized because they do not reflect current recognition requirements defined in US GAAP.

Key Factors in Delisting Process in Italy: Empirical Evidence

We investigated the characteristics and motives of Italian voluntary delisting observing a period of eleven years, 2001 to 2011. The final sample is made up of 53 industrial companies, compared with a control sample of 106 companies still listed in the period. Main goal is to assess if any signals can predict a delisting operation for listed companies in Italy and if Italian market shows differences with previous investigation in Continental Europe and US. Practical implications of results achieved can help to highlight on Public to Private phenomenon in Italy, still not enough observed considering the high number of delisted companies in the last decade relating to a relative small number of listed companies

Corporate governance and profitability. Value relevance of compliance to corporate governance best practice in Italian listed SMEs

The debate on the relation between corporate governance quality, firm value and performance is on the top since last years. Literature research shows segmented evidence on the topic depending on the market observed, the sample considered, the statistical model adopted and specific characteristics considered. So that, the question is still open. The paper analyses the relation between corporate governance characteristics as noted in Italian code for listed firms and profitability focusing on industrial listed small-medium entities (SMEs) in Italy in the fiscal year 2011. Results identify negative association between ‘good’ corporate governance and profitability, both for ROS and EBITDA/sales ratio.

Effect of private equity minority stake deals on financial network of SMEs. Evidence from Italy

The Paper presents the results of an empirical and qualitative research carried out to study the effect of deals involving private equity funds on the financial network of Small Medium Entities (SMEs). Through direct interviews and questionnaires, a sample of 17 Italian deals during the period 2005-2006 has been selected primarily to know about (i) the effect a deal with a private equity fund produces on financial network of SMEs (ii) the innovative value indicators these funds have introduced for monitoring the activities to boost the network of financial partners of SMEs while operating and managing their business.

Going Dark in Italy: Empirical Evidence on Last Decade

The purpose of the paper is to examine the characteristics and motives of Italian voluntary Public to Private transactions (PTPs) between 2001 and 2011 observing a final sample of more than 53 industrial companies, compared with a control sample of 106 companies still listed in the period. Main goal is to assess if any signals can predict a going private operation for listed companies in Italy and, if positive, Italian market shows differences with previous investigation in Continental Europe and US. Most of going private research is based on US samples, starting from 1980s, and on UK sample, both characterize by distinctive features related to governance (i.e., degree of openness of share capital, ability to control shareholder capital with low percentage). On the contrary, Italian market is closely characterized by presence of large shareholder, as family owner or historical owner, as observed for a large number of listed companies in Continental Europe (Faccio and Lang, 2002). After having briefly reviewed main contribution from most recent literature, this work provides test of different hypotheses trying to explain the delisting phenomenon In Italy considering a wide range of motivations. Practical implications of results achieved can help to highlight on Public to Private phenomenon in Italy, still not enough observed considering the high number of delisted companies in the last decade relating to a relative small number of listed companies.