Disclosures in Share-based Payment Transactions: a Study of Italian companies in the FTSE Consumer Goods Macro-sector

The aim of this research is to analyse the level and nature of mandatory corporate disclosures according to the requirements of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 2 ―Share-based Payment‖. In addition, it examines the application of IFRS 2 (in regards to disclosures) to the consolidated financial statements (2010) of companies listed in the FTSE consumer goods macrosector of the Italian Stock Exchange, with the purpose to quantify the extent of these disclosures.The research was conducted under multiple profiles: the theoretical, which aims to analyse the existing literature on share-based payment transactions, with particular reference to the disclosures required by IFRS 2; the empirical, which aims to verify the presence of the disclosures in the financial statements of the companies in the sample; and the communicative, which aims to quantify the extent of these disclosures. The approach shared in this study takes inspiration from the basic principles of grounded theory.The minimal informational content required by IFRS 2 is quite analytic and complete, with regard to both the characteristics of share-based payment transactions as well as their influence on the company‘s financial situation. The application of appropriate disclosure indices permits the summing up of the extent of the disclosures present in the sample financial statements. The implications of the present study can have both theoretic and practical value.