Effects of the IFRS On Financial Communication in Italy: impact on the consolidated financial statement

Abstract

A fundamental step for European companies towards accounting harmonisation was the issue of Regulation no.1606 dated 19th July 2002 in which the European Union obliges listed companies to draw up their consolidatedfinancial statements as from 2005 according to the principles of the International Accounting Standards Board(IASB).For Italian companies in particular, introduction of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) willinvolve important changes as it will impose modifications on the accounting culture with consequences not only atoperating but also at organisational level: efforts in terms of time and resources employed will therefore beconsiderable.The topic is therefore of great relevance today and can be tackled from different aspects.One of the areas considered most critical is understanding of the effects and changes (deriving from introduction ofthe IFRS) in terms of financial communication and assessment of financial performances for companies subject tothe process of harmonisation.As the main aim of the study, we have therefore chosen to analyse and focus attention on the above effects withspecific reference to construction of the consolidated financial statements of listed Italian parent companies at thehead of non-financial groups in particular.