Francesco De Luca - Böcker

The aim of the EU Directive 2014/95/EU, requiring the mandatory disclosure of non-financial information (NFI) by large undertakings and groups, is to rebuild trust with stakeholders. This book aims to summarize the relevant literature about company information with particular reference to the voluntary vis a vis mandatory NFI, addressing the main research question: how mandated NFI affects companies’ key performance indicators and how markets use NFI in assessing the company’s value? To this end, the book provides an empirical analysis of Italian listed joint-stock companies subjected to the new law requirements. Findings provide evidence of a negative relationship between new mandatory NFI and the key performance indicators and the market value of the company. However, there is a positive correlation between the size and structure of governance and NFI, and a negative correlation between the non-manufacturing companies and NFI. These results could help managers and investors to follow the best practices in adopting an approach that could be able to face the trade-off between being transparent or secretive. As depicting the first-year adoption of the new rules, results are also relevant for policymakers aiming to improve the convergence between European policies and the global approach to NFI.

The increasingly crucial role of companies’ non-financial disclosure (NFD) and integrated reporting (IR) has led to a lively debate among academics, practitioners, and regulators on the approaches, framework, contents, principles, and standards that should oversee these forms of reporting.

The increasingly crucial role of companies’ non-financial disclosure (NFD) and integrated reporting (IR) has led to a lively debate among academics, practitioners, and regulators on the approaches, framework, contents, principles, and standards that should oversee these forms of reporting.

In this context, this book reviews research studies on the comparability of financial reporting at a global level as well as highlights empiricalanalyses that demonstrate the extent to which global comparability has been achieved, and how it enhances value relevance of earnings across countries.

The globalization of financial markets worldwide has progressively pushed toward simultaneous globalization of accounting information. Thus, during the last 50 years, categories of preparers, users, and regulators have devoted their efforts to support the global comparability of financial reporting aiming at favoring the comparison of corporates’ financial performances at a cross-country level. In the same vein, IASB, national standard setters, and jurisdictions have participated in and given momentum to this process. At the same time, academic research has followed this process and tried to build a theoretical framework to address the related issues, to assess the impact on preparers, users, and regulators, while defining hindrances and obstacles to the comparability of financial reporting especially in an IFRS environment. In this context, this book reviews research studies on the comparability of financial reporting at a global level as well as highlights empiricalanalyses that demonstrate the extent to which global comparability has been achieved, and how it enhances value relevance of earnings across countries. It also looks at the cross-country investors’ perspectives by shaping the empirical analysis to provide further insights on the role of the "Big Four" auditing services in enhancing the comparability of earnings. The book provides an original contribution to the current debate about the comparability of financial reporting under IFRS and will be useful for researchers in the field.

This edited volume covers Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) topics and their impact on companies' financial performance. The book discusses corporate governance, management accounting and control systems, performance measurement, auditing and risk management, and their roles in business strategy and corporate finance.