Comprehensive Income （CI） Statement＇s Compliance With International Accounting Standard （IAS） 1 （Revised 2007 and 2011）： Evidence From Italian Listed Corporate Groups

The move towards international harmonization of accounting standards has dominated the work program of International Accounting Standards Board （IASB） in the past years. This paper aims to verify the compliance of the comprehensive income （CI） statement format with International Accounting Standard （IAS） 1-presentation of financial statements, which was revised in 2007. The changes introduced by the 2011 revision are also taken into account. For this purpose, this study analyzes the final annual financial statements approved in 2011 by the Italian companies whose shares belonged to the Italia Star segment of Financial Times and Stock Exchange （FTSE）. Given that IAS 1 provides little specific guidance about the presentation of line items and permits many alternative types of format, this paper focuses on information organization in the statement of CI in order to analyze the degree of heterogeneity of financial information. For achieving this goal, this study considers the following issues： （1） presentation of all items of income and expense in an overall statement or in two separate statements; （2） a detailed level of the content in terms of number of items between revenue and net income （NI）; （3） classification of expenses either by nature or by function; （4） number and type of intermediate margins; and （5） presentation of items of other comprehensive income （OCI） either before tax or net of tax. The results show some clear evidences. On the one hand, there is a high diversity in accounting practices, which makes it difficult for users to compare financial information across entities, highlighting the need to complete the joint project of the standards setters （IASB and Financial Accounting Standards Board （FASB）） on financial statement presentation. On the other hand, some alternative types of presentation （e.g., the tendency to split the CI statement into two statements rather than using an integrated solution, the prevalence to disaggregate the expenses by nature, etc.） are used by most of the entities of the sample possibly because of the influence of Italian accounting culture.

Comprehensive Income in Italy： Reporting Preferences and Its Effects on Performance Indicators

This paper reports on the choice made by listed Italian companies in their 2009 financial statements with respect to the option in International Accounting Standards （IAS） 1.81 concerning presentation of the statement of comprehensive income. It is reported that most companies have chosen to use the two-statement option, and that there is some evidence that this choice is related to the size and sign of total Other Comprehensive Income （OCI）. On this latter point, the paper emphatically aims to contribute to the literature on accounting policy choice with respect to a similar option in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards [SFAS] 130. In addition, pro forma calculations on Return on Equity （ROE） and Earnings per Share （EPS） are presented that illustrate, in effect, the variation across companies in size and sign of OCI.

The Role of Comprehensive Income as Financial Performance Predictor： Panel Evidence From Italy

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the comprehensive income （CI） and its individual components are useful in assessing the future cash flows for Italian listed companies. In addition, we verify whether the recent requirement of International Accounting Standard （IAS） 1 （r2011） of providing the other comprehensive income （OCI） separates in two sub-totals （recycling and non-recycling items groups） is useful to explain the expected cash flows. We consider a sample of 121 Italian non-financial companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange for the testing period of 2008-2011, employing a fixed-effect regression model, and we test the relationship between the changes in the variables considered and not the relative absolute value reducing, in this way, the risk of not grasping a report if the independent variable and the response variable do not have the same sign. Our results stress that CI and the two new sub-aggregates are not relevant to explain future cash flows, while net income （NI） and OC1 as a whole seem to be more relevant to make explicit the future financial position. The study contributes, as a sort of post-implementation review, to the current debate on the ability of Cl to predict the future cash flows and on the real usefulness of the CI and the sub-aggregate identified by the IAS 1 revised as well.

The Value Relevance of Foreign Currency Translation Adjustments （FCTAs） in the Italian Stock Exchange

The main aim of this paper is to test whether the foreign currency translation adjustments （FCTAs）, the largest components of other comprehensive income （OCI） for most firms, are incrementally value-relevant for investors with respect to the net income （NI）. Previous archival research on the value relevance of FCTAs has documented a weak or non-existent link between FCTAs and firm valuation （Pinto, 2005）. The hypothesized reasons could reside in the econometric method employed, in the use of as-if numbers, and in the missing consideration of the differential effect that exchange rate changes have on firms of varying levels of capital intensiveness. This study adds to the existing literature by empirically testing the value relevance of as-reported FCTAs numbers in the earnings and book value model the Ohlson-like interacted model through panel data techniques. The main finding of this study is that as-reported FCTAs are significantly and incrementally value-relevant, when their parameter estimates are allowed to vary in the cross-section.

How to Recognize and Measure Compound Financial Instruments?

Basing on the Xiaomi case,this paper discusses the most appropriate accounting treatment of compound financial instruments under the framework of International Financial Reporting Standards(IFRS)and how other comprehensive income(OCI)plays important role in it.Overall,this paper provides some references for policymaker to standardize financial instruments standard.