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The purpose of this paper is to focus on alternative accounting treatments over time to assess their impact on the level of conservatism in a comparison between Italian local accounting standards and USA generally accepted accounting principles.

A case study approach is adopted to investigate the accounting adjustments applied to net income and shareholders’ equity as included in the Form 20-F reconciliations reported by all Italian firms that were listed on a US market over the period 1999-2008. The methodology first introduced by Gray (1980) and frequently applied over 30 years to several international accounting comparisons is adapted to recognise a multi-period dimension of the accounting choice. In particular, the paper focuses on the temporal dimension of such adjustments in order to capture their attitude to reverse or become permanent over time.

The results show that the level of conservatism is visible in the measurement of net assets and is shaped by the prevailing directional effect of accounting adjustments that become permanent as their cumulative reversal is persistently delayed. Such a phenomenon arises and intensifies when the accounting differences relate to recurring operations and/or to long-term assets and liabilities. Amongst them those violating the clean surplus relation are the most controversial as they not only generate a permanent effect in the measurement of net assets, but also an opposite permanent effect in the measurement of earnings.

Future empirical research confirming the finding in different contexts might overcome the limitations of a relatively poor number of observations in the case study.

Identifying the duration of alternative accounting treatments is relevant to assess their potential influence on stakeholders decision-making process as this may steadily influence the future of a firm.

The propositions express a sequence of the timing effects of alternative accounting treatments that highlight the primary role of permanent differences in persistently shaping the value of net assets and help to provide a less erratic interpretation of the level of conservatism.

This paper delves into evaluating the effectiveness of warning messages as a deterrent against excessive fat consumption. It examines how consumers perceive the fat content of food products when presented with two distinct label types: (1) a textual warning, providing succinct information about the fat content, and (2) a pictorial warning, offering a visual representation that immediately signifies the fat content.

Two quantitative studies were carried out. Study 1 employed a questionnaire to evaluate the efficacy of textual and pictorial warning messages on high- and low-fat food products. Similarly, Study 2 replicated this comparison while incorporating a neuromarketing instrument to gauge participants’ cerebral reactions.

Results indicate that pictorial warnings on high-fat foods significantly deter consumers’ purchasing intentions. Notably, these pictorial warnings stimulate the left prefrontal area of the cerebral cortex, inducing negative emotions in consumers and driving them away from high-fat food items.

While the influence of images over text in shaping consumer decisions is well understood in marketing, this study accentuates the underlying mechanism of such an impact through the elicitation of negative emotions. By understanding this emotional pathway, the paper presents fresh academic and managerial perspectives, underscoring the potency of pictorial warnings in guiding consumers towards healthier food choices.

1. Textual warnings do not seem to discourage high-fat product consumption.

2. A pictorial warning represents the fat content of an equivalent product.

3. Pictorial warnings decrease the intention to purchase a high-fat product.

4. Pictorial warnings determine an increase in negative emotions.

Textual warnings do not seem to discourage high-fat product consumption.

A pictorial warning represents the fat content of an equivalent product.

Pictorial warnings decrease the intention to purchase a high-fat product.

Pictorial warnings determine an increase in negative emotions.

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the effectiveness of pictorial warning labels that leverage the risk of obesity as a deterrent against alcohol abuse. It evaluates the impact of three different kinds of warning labels that can potentially discourage alcoholic drinking: (1) a claim, in text format, that cautions consumers about the product (i.e. a responsibility warning statement); (2) a textual warning label, text-format information on the content of the product or the consequences of excessive consumption (i.e. a synthetic nutritional table); (3) a pictorial warning label, an image depicting a food product with a caloric content equivalent to that of an alcoholic beverage.

In Study 1, a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design is used to evaluate the intention to buy different alcoholic cocktails. The stimuli comprised two cocktails that are similar in alcoholic volume, but different in their caloric content. The images of the products were presented across eight warning label conditions and shown to 480 randomly selected Italian respondents who quantified their intention to buy the product. In Study 2, a different sample of 34 Italian respondents was solicited with the same stimuli considered in Study 1, and neuropsychological measurements through Electroencephalography (EEG) were registered. A post hoc least significance difference (LSD) test is used to analyse data.

The results show that only the presence of an image representing an alcoholic beverage's caloric content causes a significant reduction in consumers' purchase intentions. This effect is due to the increase in negative emotions caused by pictorial warning labels.

The findings provide interesting insights on pictorial warning labels, which can influence the intention to purchase alcoholic beverages. They confirmed that the use of images in the warning labels has a greater impact than text, and that the risk of obesity is an effective deterrent in encouraging consumers to make healthier choices.