Search results for "ACCOUNTING"
showing 10 items of 1961 documents
Intellectual capital disclosure in sustainability reports
2013
The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the level and the quality of voluntary disclosures of Intellectual Capital (IC) in the sustainability reports on a sample of Italian listed companies. The authors conducted an analysis of twelve sustainability reports for two years (2009-2010). These are related to six firms selected among the most capitalized 37 Italian listed companies. To investigate the “level of disclosure,” the authors identified the presence of IC information, while to evaluate the “IC quality,” they constructed a voluntary disclosure index based on content analysis. IC information disclosure is more likely present in sustainability reports of firms with a higher levels of ap…
STUDY REGARDING THE EVOLUTION OF THE FINANCIAL BALANCE IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
2015
Abstract This article aims at analysing the financial balance within the global pharmaceutical industry, starting from the assumption that „In the pharmaceutical industry there is sufficient liquidity to cover payment obligations”. The analysed companies are part of the exclusive group comprising the top 20 global companies, e.g. GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Sanofi-Aventis and Bayer. The research conducted is based on an analysis over time of the relationship between floating assets, floating assets requirement and net cash from 2006 to 2013, and highlights the main developments of the indicators before the onset of the financial and economic crisis and after its outbreak.
Political Interference in Financial Reporting in the Financial Industry: Evidence from Spain
2018
This paper provides a theoretical background, based on legal and political fields, which we adapt to explain political interference in accounting in the “public interest”, at a critical moment —the last financial crisis. This framework goes beyond the positive accounting theory, and in particular the political cost hypothesis, to explain politicians’ influence on financial reporting. We examine the behavior of the newly elected Spanish government, which issued accounting impairment rules for banks in spite of IFRS being in place. The paper considers a highly politically connected financial entity —Bankia— as a case under study, where the political interference might have impacted the accoun…
How Does the Romanian State Support the Increase of Energy Efficiency of Buildings by Using Public Funds?
2020
Abstract The issue of improving the energy efficiency of buildings in Romania is one of interest, both for the state authorities and for the population. The general purpose is to encourage the production of thermal energy and domestic hot water through the use of renewable energy sources. This is part of the EU's long-term objective of decarbonising the existing and inefficient European real estate park. In order to start renovating the existing buildings on the national territory, considerable financial resources are needed which the owners should have. The Romanian state, through the Agency for Environmental Protection, comes to the support the interested persons by granting financial sup…
Financial Behaviour Under Economic Strain in Different Age Groups: Predictors and Change Across 20 Years
2021
AbstractThe present study examined the multiple micro- and macro-level factors that affect individuals’ financial behaviour under economic strain. The following sociodemographic and economic factors that predict financial behaviour were analysed: age group, year of data gathering, and attitudes towards consumption (economical, deprived, and hedonistic). Subjective financial situations and demographic characteristics were controlled for. Finnish time series data that consisted of five cross-sectional nationally representative surveys were used (n = 10 043). The analyses revealed four types of financial behaviour: cutting expenses, borrowing, increasing income, and gambling. Young adults aged…
WHY MOST FIRMS CHOOSE LINEAR HEDGING STRATEGIES
2009
I investigate the efficiency of alternative hedging strategies of nonfinancial firms facing hedgeable price risk, unhedgeable quantity risk, and financial contracting costs in low-profit events. The analysis suggests that variance-minimizing hedging strategies are very close in economic terms to optimal, value-maximizing hedging strategies for most firms. Furthermore, the marginal gains from shifting to nonlinear hedging strategies are often small enough to be neglected. These results illuminate some puzzling findings in survey studies of firms’ hedging practices and suggest an alternative view on firms’ selective hedging practices termed “cautious selective hedging.”
Economic valuation of knowledge-based capital: an International comparison
2020
Abstract This chapter uses an alternative approach to measuring the knowledge intensity of economies to those commonly uses that are based on the aggregation of industries according to selected indicators such as R&D expenditure or labor force skills. We follow an economic approach rooted in growth accounting methodology, determining the contribution of each individual factor (capital and labor) according to the prices of the services it provides. This methodology is applied to six American countries (the United States, Canada, and four Latin-American countries, namely Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico) and five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom). T…
Property prices index numbers and derived indices
2014
Purpose – A useful instrument to understand and examine the inner workings of the property trade is devising index numbers of property prices based on historical sequences of market prices. The present work aims at the definition of index numbers of property prices, proposing an innovative methodology compared with what usually recurs in literature. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis proposed, based on the mechanisms of formation of stock indices, investigates the analogies between stock and property information, according to the peculiarities of the property trade, leading to a methodology approach, derived from Simple Price In…
Conservatism and Accounting Earnings
2015
The article refers to accounting conservatism and its relation with accounting earnings. After providing the conceptual background of the prudence concept, which is the basis of accounting conservatism, the paper introduces some more empirically testable concepts, known as conditional and unconditional conservatism. It also explains the economics behind this accounting practice, mainly associated to contracting due to the asymmetric information between managers and external stakeholders, but also linked to litigation risks, taxation, political and regulatory processes. After providing a brief explanation of the empirical measures of conservatism, it gives a summary of the vast empirical res…
Spanish Stock Returns: Where is the Weather Effect?
2003
Psychological studies support the existence of an influence of weather on mood. Saunders (1993) and Hirshleifer and Shumway (2001) argue that the weather could affect the behaviour of market traders and, therefore, it should be reflected in the stock returns. This paper investigates the possible relation between weather and market index returns in the context of the Spanish market. In 1989, this market changed its open outcry trading system into a computerised and decentralised trading system. Therefore, it is possible to check the influence of weather variables (sunshine hours and humidity levels) on index returns in an open outcry trading system, and to compare it with a screen traded env…