State accounting innovations in pre-unification Italy

Abstract

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the governmental accounting systems deployed in the main Italian states between 1815 and 1861. The accounting practices of the pre-unification states are described and the main accounting innovations are discussed. The study emphasizes the relationships between the regime type, political structures and the development of state accounting systems. It is suggested that the imposition of the accounting model of the Kingdom of Sardinia throughout Italy, following unification, resulted in the loss of some important accounting innovations developed by other pre-unification states. Parallels between accounting unification in nineteenth-century Italy and the current accounting standardization process advocated by the International Public Sector Accounting Standards are made.

Keywords:

• state accounting
• pre-unification Italy
• standardization
• disclosure
• innovation

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of this contribution.

Notes

The De Stefani reform was included in the legislative decree n. 1601 of 3 December 1922 and the related implementing decrees (Royal Decree n. 2440 of 18 November 1923 and Royal Decree n. 827 of 23 May 1924). In contrast to previous legislation, these decrees did not mention a compulsory bookkeeping method for state accounting. As a result, public offices ceased to use double-entry bookkeeping and began to use the single-entry method. Due to the disappearance of the double-entry bookkeeping, the De Stefani reform can be considered as a shift in state accounting legislation in Italy.

It has also been argued that

in the second half of the twentieth century the Anglo-American accounting literature dominated our discipline to a considerable extent. Thus, it is understandable that Italian accounting research played a less influential role during this period, particularly as it continued to hold on to the dogmas of Zappa's economiaaziendale. (Mattessich 2008, 101)

From 2005 to 2012 28 contributions by Italian scholars were published in the three leading accounting history journals: Accounting History Review, Accounting History and Accounting Historians Journal. Italian authors have also presented papers at numerous international conferences. In 2005, 21 papers on accounting history written by Italian scholars were presented at the International Workshop on Accounting History in Italy, Pisa (some of which were published in a special issue of Accounting, Business & Financial History in 2007). In a previous study of Italian publications on accounting history the authors constructed a database containing 1253 units of analysis. Publications in Italian numbered 1197 and appeared between 1861 and 2010, while items appearing as international journal articles and books (mainly in English) numbered 56 and were published from 1976 to 2010 (Antonelli and D'Alessio 2011).

With the exception of the Republic of Venice (assigned to the Kingdom of Lombardy and Veneto) and the Republic of Genoa (annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia), the Vienna Settlement restored the Italian state boundaries of the late eighteenth century.

The two parts of the state budget were evaluated by an officer of the Ministry of Finance (ControlloreGenerale) in order to assess whether the expenditures were met by available resources. After this preliminary assessment, the budget would be discussed by the State Council before being approved by the King.

The Albertine Statute, which later became the Constitution of the Kingdom of Sardinia, established a Parliament composed of a Senate whose members were nominated by the King and an elected House of Deputies.

The reform project, which was defined in law n. 1483 on 23 March 1853, was known as ‘the Sardinian law’ (leggesarda).

An additional level of revenue analysis named article (articolo) was introduced to the budgets proposed by decentralized territorial offices.

The committee, which was initially known as the Camera Aulica Generale, also became responsible for coordinating the various cameralistic accounting practices used in the Austrian Empire and for verifying the provinces’ budgets and annual financial statements.

This committee replaced the previous audit organism in the Papal States, known as the congregazionedeiconti.

The budget and financial statement both contained a small section called ristrettogenerale, in which expenditure and revenue were summarized.

The new King of Italy, Victor Emanuell II, hadbeen King of Sardinia.