Non-Financial Disclosure Assurance: Critical Insights from the Italian Financial Services Sector

Directive 2014/95/EU was released with the aim of improving the transparency, comparability and harmonization of non-financial reporting among European undertakings. However, the Directive is vague regarding both non-financial disclosure contents and the transposition of its provisions into national European laws, making it somewhat ambiguous. This issue has been underlined by scholars, who have found the comparison of non-financial disclosures challenging and have not seen a considerable improvement in the level of transparency. This is also mirrored in the assurance process, which remains underexplored. The present exploratory study analyses non-financial disclosure assurance in the Italian financial services sector. Content analysis of the level and features of assurance of non-financial disclosures published in 2020 was conducted. The results show that the ambiguity of the Directive also has consequences for assurance outcomes, which remain limited and strictly adhere to provisions provided by national practitioner associations

The juridification of social accounting and the transposition process of the non-financial reporting directive 2014/95/EU

Purpose – This paper aims to critically analyse the transposition implications of Union Directive 2014/95. This Directive identified the need to raise the transparency of the social and environmental information provided by the undertakings to a similarly high level across all Member States. Design/methodology/approach – The paper considers how the European Member States of the European Union (EU) have transposed Directive 2014/95 into their regulations. The focus is on the juridification of social accounting in the pursuit of creating an overlapping consensus through Habermas’s concept of internal colonisation. The paper uses qualitative content analysis to scrutinise the national laws that transpose Directive 2014/95, discussing both what has been accomplished and what can be achieved by the release of future legislative provisions. Findings – Despite the aim of Directive 2014/95 to create a common language for disclosing non-financial information, this study shows an implementation gap among and between Member States and an inconsistent picture of the employment of this Directive. Its implementation in the 28 European countries was considered a process of colonisation in implementing Union directives among European undertakings. However, the implementation process, which exemplifies Habermas’s juridification, has failed due to the lack of balance between moral discourse and actions. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the ongoing debates concerning the implementation of mandatory disclosure of environmental and social information in the EU Member States, promoting new directions for the EU’s democratic laws on social accounting. In addition, it offers an example of how internal colonisation only catalyses effects when moral laws are legitimised through the provision of procedures

The rise of sustainability in Italian wineries: key dimensions and practices

Previous studies on sustainability support the idea that the introduction of specific projects and certifications on sustainability increase the quality of wine production while specific requirements enhance environmental biodiversity and efficiency considering several aspects, such as water consumption and fertilizer use. These studies are mainly based on case studies and focus in particular on the new world and the USA. Despite this increasing attention, little is still known on Italian wineries considering the country context. The present study sheds the light on the emerging attention on sustainability paid by the Italian wineries presenting their novel dimensions and practices. Empirical evidences are collected through an explorative field study carried out through 21 interviews. The results show a recent rise of sustainable practices in Italian wineries in which the main focus is on environmental issues. The study also presents a comprehensive picture of the sustainability\u2010related peculiarities in the context as the Italian culture on wine

Late diagnosis of celiac disease in an asymptomatic infant with growth failure

The clinical spectrum for celiac disease (CD) is broad and includes cases with either typical (intestinal) or atypical (extraintestinal) features, often making the diagnosis of CD very difficult. We describe the case of a girl presenting with stunted growth and malnourishment. She was evaluated at 14 months for decreased growth rate without any signs of gastrointestinal, renal or endocrine disorders. She was evaluated for CD, but resulted negative for anti-tTG antibodies. At the age of 4.1 years, she exhibited basal dental enamel hypoplasia, iron deficiency anaemia despite repeated iron supplementation, with persistent reduced height (-2.79 SDS), BMI (-0.76 SDS), growth velocity (-1.79 SDS) and delayed bone age (1.5 year). The CD screening was repeated and very high anti-tTG-IgA (128 IU/ml, normal values 40 IELs/100 epithelial cells) confirming the diagnosis of CD. A gluten-free diet was started and after only four months, her growth velocity increased from 4.83 cm/year (-1.79 SDS) to 6.53 cm/year (-0.15 SDS). In conclusion, we report the development of a positive serology for CD in an asymptomatic child with growth retardation, who previously was investigated for CD and resulted negative. Therefore, when faced with retarded growth in young patients, after excluding other malabsorption conditions and even when CD serological markers are negative, the paediatric endocrinologist should request HLA genotyping, before the intestinal biopsy, in order to check for the presence of risk alleles

Heterozygous GHR gene mutation in a child with idiopathic short stature

Several monogenic defects have been reported to be associated with idiopathic short stature. Focusing on growth hormone receptor (GHR)-gene alterations, the heterozygosity of the same gene defect may be associated with a range of growth deficits. We found a heterozygous mutation (V144I) within exon 6 of the GHR gene in a patient with a low level of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), normal level of GH, and severe short stature. Despite the lack of statistical difference, an overall tendency for reduced wt-GH-induction of GHR activation and Jak/Stat signalling in cells transiently expressing GHR-V144I alone or co-expressing wt-GHR compared to cells expressing only wt-GHR was found when GH doses were increased. Our results suggest that, although GHR sequence variants are responsible for some functional alterations commonly observed in children with idiopathic short stature, these changes may not explain all the height deficits observed in these subject

Changes in growth hormone receptor gene expression during therapy in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Background: High levels of cytokines in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) can alter target cell sensitivity to growth hormone (GH) leading to short stature in adulthood. We hypothesized that the down-regulation of GH receptor (GHR) gene expression could be involved in growth failure of children with JIA. Methods: In 18 (12 F and 6 M) prepubertal JIA patients and 13 age- and sex-matched healthy children, we evaluated serum growth-promoting factors and inflammatory indexes. We also measured GHR gene expression, by real-time PCR, in lymphocytes of patients and controls. All parameters were evaluated in patients before and after treatment of JIA. Results: The most interesting (p = 0.007) result was the increase in GHR mRNA expression in all JIA patients. Moreover, we observed a significant (p = 0.0156) decrease in IL-6 levels in JIA patients after 2 years of therapy (19.37 +/- 41.01) with respect to basal values (90.84 +/- 124.71). On the contrary, IGF-I significantly (p = 0.0005) increased to a mean SDS value of 0 (range -1.69 to +1.70 SDS) with respect to values at disease onset (-0.64 SDS). Conclusions: Our preliminary data suggest that the restoration of both GHR gene expression and IGF-I secretion correlate with inactive disease in JIA children

Las problemáticas conceptuales para el diseño de la vivienda contemporánea

Las transformaciones generadas en los últimos años, producto de la globalización económica, los cambios socioculturales, el desarrollo informático y comunicacional, sumado a la aceleración y magnitud de los avances tecnológicos, junto a la generalización de la conciencia y la necesidad de tender hacia la sostenibilidad ambiental han incidido en las distintas variables que condicionan el abordaje de la vivienda contemporánea en sus distintas escalas: Sociedad-Modos de habitar, Tecnología-Materialidad, Ciudad-Densidad y Recursos-Sustentabilidad. En este contexto, el artículo plantea los conceptos o nociones centrales acerca de la problemática que condiciona el diseño de la vivienda urbana en la actualidad

Las problemáticas conceptuales para el diseño de la vivienda contemporánea

Las transformaciones generadas en los últimos años, producto de la globalización económica, los cambios socioculturales, el desarrollo informático y comunicacional, sumado a la aceleración y magnitud de los avances tecnológicos, junto a la generalización de la conciencia y la necesidad de tender hacia la sostenibilidad ambiental han incidido en las distintas variables que condicionan el abordaje de la vivienda contemporánea en sus distintas escalas: Sociedad-Modos de habitar, Tecnología-Materialidad, Ciudad-Densidad y Recursos-Sustentabilidad. En este contexto, el artículo plantea los conceptos o nociones centrales acerca de la problemática que condiciona el diseño de la vivienda urbana en la actualidad

Las problemáticas conceptuales para el diseño de la vivienda contemporánea

Las transformaciones generadas en los últimos años, producto de la globalización económica, los cambios socioculturales, el desarrollo informático y comunicacional, sumado a la aceleración y magnitud de los avances tecnológicos, junto a la generalización de la conciencia y la necesidad de tender hacia la sostenibilidad ambiental han incidido en las distintas variables que condicionan el abordaje de la vivienda contemporánea en sus distintas escalas: Sociedad-Modos de habitar, Tecnología-Materialidad, Ciudad-Densidad y Recursos-Sustentabilidad. En este contexto, el artículo plantea los conceptos o nociones centrales acerca de la problemática que condiciona el diseño de la vivienda urbana en la actualidad.The transformations in recent years, as a result of economic globalization, socio-cultural changes, software development and communications, coupled with the acceleration and magnitude of technological advances, along with the widespread awareness and the need to move towards environmental sustainability, have affected the different variables that infl uence the contemporary approach to housing at various scales: Society-Life styles, Technology-Material, City-Density and Resource-Sustainability. In this context, the article discusses the central ideas about the conditions that determine urban housing design today.Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanism