The History and Tradition of Accounting in Italy

Italian accounting has a long and honourable tradition of theoretical and applied analysis of the accounting and reporting function, perceived and defined much more broadly than in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The high point of this perhaps, is the creation of what is known as Economia Aziendale (EA). The antecedents, genesis and later developments are presented here in detail by highly knowledgeable specialists in the field.EA takes as a prerequisite the necessity of the business (entity/azienda) to ensure its own long-run survival. This requires that the necessary resources are retained and preserved, so operating capital maintenance, by definition future-oriented, is essential. It requires a focus on the particular business organization, entity-specific and consistent with today's notion of the business model. Entity-specific information relevant to current and future cash flows is a necessary pre-requisite for ensuring long-run survival, which historical cost accounting, or fair value (being market-specific not entity-specific) satisfactorily achieve. Flexibility of valuation and of reporting, always relevant to the specific asset at the specific time in the specific place, is a necessary condition for effective management. This is exactly the focus of EA and its analysis and tradition. Scholars and advanced students of international regulation and accounting, as well as accounting history, will find this an invaluable guide to a vibrant, scholarly tradition of great practical relevance today.

IntroductionStefano Adamo, David Alexander, Roberto Di Pietra and Roberta Fasiello1 The contribution of Maffeo Pantaleoni in the field of financial valuationLuciano D’Amico and Riccardo Palumbo2 Fabio Besta: financial valuations at the beginning of the twentieth century in Italy Antonella Paolini and Michela Soverchia3 Financial valuations in the Italian patrimonialist traditionStefano Coronella4 Income measurement and asset valuation under Zappa’s theoryDavid Alexander, Roberta Fasiello and Francesco Giaccari5 The "functional value" (valore funzionale) in the Tuscan School of "Economia Aziendale": the contribution of Alberto Ceccherelli and Egidio Giannessi to financial valuation theoryEnrico Gonnella6 The financial statements in Aldo Amaduzzi’s thoughtAntonio Costa and Alessandra Tafuro7 The contribution of Lino Azzini to Financial Accounting and Group Accounting in ItalyStefano Azzali and Luca Fornaciari8 The contributions of Carlo Masini to accounting theoriesPaolo Andrei and Silvano Corbella9 Financial valuations in Domenico Amodeo’s thoughtSara Saggese, Adele Caldarelli and Riccardo Viganò10 Paolo Emilio Cassandro and the rational valuationsStefano Adamo, Pierluca Di Cagno and Francesca Imperiale11 Insights into the notion of goodwill from the Italian theoretical contributionRoberto Di Pietra12 "Consumable income" according to Edoardo Ardemani’s thoughtAlessandro Lai

David Alexander is Emeritus Professor of Accounting, Department of Accounting, Business School, University of Birmingham, England, and author of many articles, and several textbooks, in the field of international accounting and its theories and regulation.Stefano Adamo is Full Professor of Accounting, Business Administration and Business Management, Department of Economics, Management, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Salento, Italy, andauthor of many articles and textbooks in the field of financial accounting and regulation.Roberto Di Pietra is Full Professor of Accounting, Business Administration and Business Management, Department of Business and Law, University of Siena, Italy, pro tempore President of the Italian Society of Accounting History (Società Italiana di Storia della Ragioneria, SISR) andauthor of many articles and textbooks in the field of financial accounting and accounting history.Roberta Fasiello is Associate Professor of Accounting, Business Administration and Business Management, Department of Economics, Management, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Salento, Italy, and an emerging expert in theoretical and international aspects of financial accounting and reporting.