Overheads as a Performance Indicator in the Local Public Sector Organizations

If we consider business forms from the point of view of satisfying needs, public companies are consumer companies that satisfy collective needs with the aim of redistributing income. They differ from production companies in that they do not have direct access to the market, so that the sources of financing derive from the taxes imposed by law, while the uses concern management costs, capital investments and debt repayments. Maintaining this interpretation, another category belonging to consumer companies is that of non-profit companies, which can be equated partially to public companies precisely because of the absence of a real market of reference and the finding of sources of funding for the performance of the activity mainly from external contributions without consideration. The only difference is inherent in the fact that such contributions cannot be imposed by law and are aimed at assisting and providing services and benefits to the community of reference, in the absence of profit and capital distribution. Therefore, if in the public sector performance is mainly and historically linked to the management of financial resources and public debt, in the field of nonprofit there is a different literature focused more on the control of economic aspects (and in particular the costs of the activity) as performance indicators of the company's activity. At the international level, and in particular in the United States, the use of the incidence of overheads is an element of examination to assess the performance of the non-profit sector. In this article, the subject of analysis is the possibility of using the overhead level to assess the performance of a public body. The analysis is carried out by comparing the incidence of overheads on the revenues of Italian municipalities in the years 2015-2017 with the performance indicators given by the deficit parameters established by current administrative legislation. From this analysis, it is possible to identify the presence of a correlation between the performance indicators and the incidence of overheads, in which the likelihood of the presence of \u201cgood\u201d, \u201cexcellent\u201d or \u201cexcellent\u201d indicators is given by levels of overhead in the region of 10% of the total revenue assessed, with a margin of tolerance of 3% in positive for smaller entities (up to 5,000 inhabitants), and 3% in negative for larger entities

Accounting for equity investments under IFRS 13: Are market multiple evaluations accurate?

In capital markets, the investment decision-making process is vastly influenced by accounting information. This paper addresses equity investment valuation through market multiples and its consequences in investors' financial statements under fair value accounting principles. After replicating the valuation process through the most used market multiples (price-to-forecasted earnings; market-to-book; enterprise-value-to-performance indicators), the authors analyze the distribution of the estimated-to-actual fair value ratio under the IFRS 13 perspective and the effects of a randomly selected portfolio on the balance sheet and income statement of the investor. The study's primary findings are that the market multiples tend to produce consistent results in 7 (at least) to 20 (at best) out of 100 cases, and over or underestimate the fair value in all the remaining cases without any apparent or predictable reason. The results of the paper confirm what previous literature underlined by studies conducted on older data and with a different geographical scope (Kim & Ritter, 1999; Lie & Lie, 2002; Palea & Maino, 2013). The results and the literature suggest being particularly cautious in applying the market multiples valuation method for estimating the fair value of an equity investment, given the preference that accounting principles accord to the Level 2 market-comparable methods, which also seem to be the most used ones in practic

Modelling sustainable human development in a capability perspective

In this paper we model sustainable human development as intended in Sen's capability approach in a system dynamic framework. Our purpose is to verify the variations over time of some achieved functionings, due to structural dynamics and to variations of the institutional setting and instrumental freedoms (IF Vortex). The model is composed of two sections. The 'Left Side' one points out the 'demand' for functionings in an ideal world situation. The real world one, on the 'Right Side' indicates the 'supply' of functionings that the socio-economic system is able to provide individuals with. The general model, specifically tailored for Italy, can be simulated over desired time horizons: for each time period, we carry out a comparison between ideal world and real world functionings. On the basis of their distances, the model simulates some responses of decision makers. These responses, in turn influenced by institutions and instrumental freedoms, ultimately affect the dynamics of real world functionings, i.e. of sustainable human development.Functionings, Capabilities, Institutions, Instrumental Freedoms, Sustainable Human Development

A novel approach to water softening based on graphene oxide-activated open cell foams

This work focuses on exploring a new configuration for the reduction of water hardness based on the surface modification of polyurethane (PU) open cell foams by the deposition of thin graphene oxide (GO) washcoat layers. GO was deposited by the dip–squeeze coating procedure and consolidated by thermal treatment. The final washcoat load was controlled by performing consecutive depositions, after three of which, a GO inventory up to 27 wt% was obtained onto PU foams of 60 pores per inch (PPI). The GO-coated PU foams were assembled into a filter, and the performance of the system was tested by continuously feeding water with hardness in the 190–270 mgCa2+,eq·L−1 range. Remarkable results were demonstrated in terms of total adsorbing capacity, which was evaluated by measuring the outlet total hardness by titration and exhibited values up to 63 mgCa2+,eq·gGO−1 at a specific filtered water volume of 650 mLH2O·gGO−1, outperforming the actual state-of-the-art adsorbing capacity of similar GO-based materials

Preparation and characterization of graphene oxide based membranes as possible Gas Diffusion Layers for PEM fuel cells with enhanced surface homogeneity

The aim of this work is to define and optimize a process to produce a membrane made of reduced graphene oxide, r-GO, aiming to use it as Gas Diffusion Layer, GDL, in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell, PEMFC. Some works have reported that r-GO could reach conductivity values of about 104S/m; by using the "self-assembling" properties of GO, it would be possible to obtain a GDL with enhanced homogeneity, which maintains a good electronic conductivity. A reduction process of GO in aqueous solution was developed in order to get the desired conductivity value of the final product. The membrane was characterized through several techniques to assess key parameters and to understand its properties. In this work it was possible to obtain a membrane which has a maximum contact angle of 86° and a conductivity of about 421 S/m

Operationalising Senian capability approach by modelling human development

Abstract: In this paper we model sustainable human development as intended in Sen’s capability approach in a system dynamic framework. Our purpose is to verify the variations over time of some achieved functionings, due to structural dynamics and to variations of the institutional setting and instrumental freedoms (IF Vortex). The model is composed of two sections. The ‘Left Side’ one points out the ‘demand’ for functionings in an ideal world situation. The real world one, on the ‘Right Side’ indicates the ‘supply’ of functionings that the socio-economic system is able to provide individuals with. The general model, specifically tailored for Italy, can be simulated over desired time horizons: for each time period, we carry out a comparison between ideal world and real world functionings. On the basis of their distances, the model simulates some responses of decision makers. These responses, in turn influenced by institutions and instrumental freedoms, ultimately affect the dynamics of real world functionings, i.e. of sustainable human development.Capabilities; Instrumental Freedoms; Sustainable Human Development