The Italian Accounting Organization (OIC) will complete by the end of June the publication for consultation of all the national accounting standards necessary for the preparation of the financial statements, updated to the new regulatory framework defined by the European accounting directive (n.34 of 2013) and by the implementing legislative decree (n.139 of 2015). He said it Paul Gnes, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the OIC, during the presentation of the annual report held today in Rome.
The Foundation plays the role of standard setter for national accounting standards and was therefore called upon to modify the same standards to bring them into line with the new regulatory framework defined by the directive on statutory and consolidated financial statements for European corporations that do not adopt international standards IAS/IFRS. So far, more than half of the standards being reviewed have already been submitted for consultation.
"The work of updating the national accounting standards is proving to be particularly demanding - Gnes underlined - as the inclusion of new institutes such as the fair value on derivatives, the amortized cost for receivables and payables and the elimination of income and extraordinary charges, involves a work of revision and adaptation of the whole set of principles in order to ensure homogeneity and consistency also to the parts not directly affected by the regulatory changes". The new EU regulation aims to bring the international accounting principles closer to the local ones.
"However, from a fiscal point of view - observed Gnes - while IFRS subjects can benefit from a principle of enhanced derivation according to which the criteria of qualification, temporal allocation and classification in the financial statements envisaged by international standards apply for the purposes of determining taxable income , subjects who apply the civil code may be required to apply the so-called double track. It would seem appropriate for the updating of the civil code to be accompanied by an adjustment of the fiscal regulatory framework, to avoid increasingly similar accounting regulations being governed by different tax regimes”.
Gian Paolo Ruggero (MEF- Treasury Department), Antonio Renzi (Bank of Italy), Silvana Anchino (Consob), Corrado Bandinelli (Ivass) also attended the presentation of the annual report. The following round table was attended by Angelo Casò (Chairman of the Management Board of OIC), Stephen Cooper (IASB), Annibale Dodero (Revenue Agency), Alberto Giussani (ASAF), Liesel Knorr (IFASS), Cristiano Santarelli (Ferrero) and Ambrogio Virgil (EFRAG TEG).
During the debate, the main issues which, in accounting matters, are engaging the activity of OIC were addressed. In particular, the endorsement procedure of IFRS 9 (on financial instruments) is still underway to allow its implementation in the European Union. EFRAG, the consultancy body of the European Commission in accounting matters whose Board also includes OIC, has already expressed its opinion for some time recommending the adoption of the new international standard. But, at the same time he proposed the exemption of the insurance sector until the international accounting standard on insurance contracts, which has been under discussion for some time, is also in force.
EFRAG's next engagement will concern the opinion on another international accounting standard, IFRS 16 (on leasing). Its adoption is destined to have important consequences on companies' financial statements. In 2014, the staff of the IASB (the standard setter of the IFRS principles) estimated that, on a global level, the new standard would have concerned lease commitments currently not recognized in the financial statements amounting to approximately 4300 trillion dollars, of which 47% attributable to listed companies in Europe.
