Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Alberto Quagli Title: Greetings from the editor: Ten years of personal engagement in Financial Reporting Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:5-6 Volume: 2018/2 Year: 2018 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=62568&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:Frfrfr:v:html10.3280/FR2018-002001 Number: 1 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Alessandro Mechelli Author-Name: Vincenzo Sforza Author-Name: Alessandra Stefanoni Author-Name: Riccardo Cimini Title: The value relevance of the fair value hierarchy. Empirical evidence from the European Union Abstract: This paper investigates the value relevance of the fair value hierarchy disclosed for financial instruments through a sample of 97 financial entities listed over the period 2011-2016 in the stock markets of 23 European countries. Its main objectives are threefold. First, by analysing the European setting, the paper means to study the value relevance of the fair value hierarchy to judge the choice of the International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) to extend the disclosure of the hierarchy to all the assets and liabilities. Second, the paper aims to evaluate the choice of abandoning management intent as a criterion for the classification and measurement of financial instruments investigating the effect that such an intent has on the value relevance of the fair value hierarchy. Finally, by studying the effect that exposure to risks has on the value relevance of the fair value hierarchical levels, the paper plans to investigate the implications that the disclosure of the hierarchy could have on the rules of Basel 3 capital adequacy. Formulating three different research hypotheses, the findings validate them providing evidence that the value relevance of fair value measurement depends on the source of inputs used to estimate fair value and that both management intent and the risk intensity of the asset book only affect the value relevance of the less reliable fair value estimates. These results are useful for standard setters and regulators. Actually, for the investors decisions, they suggest the importance of disclosing the fair value hierarchy for all the assets and liabilities as required by IFRS 13, as well as the advantage of replacing in IFRS 9 the management intent criterion with the business model test and the characteristics of the instruments for the classification and measurement of financial assets. For the future, the findings suggest the opportunity to introduce filters within the common equity tier 1 for the less reliable fair value estimates. This paper?s current and future implications for standard setters and regulators are to avoid earnings management and capital management behaviour possibly affecting the quality of financial reporting. Classification-JEL: M41 Keywords: Note: Pages:7-35 Volume: 2018/2 Year: 2018 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=62569&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:Frfrfr:v:html10.3280/FR2018-002002 Number: 2 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=62569 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Simona Alfiero Author-Name: Massimo Cane Author-Name: Ruggiero Doronzo Author-Name: Alfredo Esposito Title: Determining characteristics of boards adopting Integrated Reporting Abstract: Nowadays, companies and markets are increasingly international and growing numbers of stakeholders are affected by the economic, social and environmental aspects of business, resulting in significant changes in how corporate information is both perceived and published. Over the last few years, this new scenario has led to many company boards voluntarily adopting an accounting and company performance communication tool, known as Integrated Reporting, (IR) which is a single disclosure document that satisfies stakeholders? increasing need for communication. This study?s objective is to contribute to existing literature on the relationship between financial reporting and corporate governance, investigating into whether certain characteristics of the board - including numbers, gender, nationality, average age - influence decisions to adopt IR or not. The analysis was carried out on a sample of 120 Italian companies in different sectors for the year 2014. These results showed a positive relationship between the decision to use IR and the size of the board and the presence of female boardmembers, whereas the presence of foreign and older boardmembers had a negative effect on adopting IR. Classification-JEL: G34, L14, M14, M41. Keywords: Note: Pages:37-71 Volume: 2018/2 Year: 2018 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=62570&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:Frfrfr:v:html10.3280/FR2018-002003 Number: 3 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=62570 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Elena Beccalli Author-Name: Saverio Bozzolan Author-Name: Enrico Laghi Author-Name: Marco Mattei Title: Do letters to shareholders inform or mislead? Insights from insider trading Abstract: Empirical studies consistently provide evidence that investors perceive qualitative disclosures as useful because they have significant effects on analysts? forecast revisions and a firm?s share price. But these results leave unanswered the question of whether managers write qualitative disclosures to inform or mislead investors. Based on the signaling theory, we consider two actions by the same manager: one (insider trading) is a costly signal whilst the other (qualitative disclosure) is the cheap signal. We then verify whether they are coherent. We investigate the content and the verbal tone of the Letter of Shareholders and the insider trading from its author before and after the letter?s date of release and find that the costly signal (the insider trading) is not coherent with the cheap signal (the disclosure). This finding indicates that managers do not use qualitative disclosures to offer incremental information but that they might use them to mislead investors. Classification-JEL: G11, G14, G30, M41 Keywords: Note: Pages:73-109 Volume: 2018/2 Year: 2018 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=62571&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:Frfrfr:v:html10.3280/FR2018-002004 Number: 4 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=62571 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Roberto Aprile Author-Name: Laura Bini Title: The role of institutions in the process of global convergence to IFRS Abstract: This paper uses some major contributions from accounting institutional theory to discuss the process of convergence toward IFRS. Our analysis identifies the most influential institutions and the complex networks of relationships among institutions, offering a valuable contribution to a better understanding of the current state of diffusion of IFRS around the world and the current progress of the convergence process. We identify the different roles of some main institutions, grouping them into three categories and highlighting their main interactions in different contexts. We place global and international institutions such as IOSCO, EU and other international agencies such as the World Bank into the first category, since they have fostered the initial phase of the convergence process. Secondly, we find that the presence of institutions such as local government and standard setters, which play an intermediary role, mediates between the need to guarantee the implementation of the standards and the need to preserve pre-existing equilibria. Finally, we discuss the role played by the end-users of the standards. Our analysis shows that these institutions are the most critical forces. In fact, in the absence of a structured, led program that orients these forces toward IFRS, the convergence process could result in the proliferation of local systems of standards, increasing the risk that harmonisation is achieved only in name. Classification-JEL: M48, M41, M10 Keywords: Note: Pages:111-134 Volume: 2018/2 Year: 2018 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=62572&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:Frfrfr:v:html10.3280/FR2018-002005 Number: 5 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=62572 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Paola Rossi Title: Book Review Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:135-140 Volume: 2018/2 Year: 2018 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=62573&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:Frfrfr:v:html10.3280/FR2018-002006 Number: 6