Dopo un primo periodo di adozione entusiastica di logiche e strumenti ispirati alle tecniche manageriali e a principi di quasi-mercato, si sta ora assistendo ad un dibattito, a livello nazionale ed internazionale, sull’efficacia e sugli effetti prodotti da tali processi di cambiamento. In Italia, l’ordinamento contabile degli enti locali è stato significativamente rinnovato dal d.lgs. 77 del 1995, che, fra l’altro, ha introdotto l’obbligo di redazione del conto economico e del conto del patrimonio. A 10 anni dalla riforma, tale previsione non sembra avere prodotto gli effetti sperati. L’articolo presenta i risultati di un’indagine condotta sugli enti locali con popolazione superiore a 40.000 abitanti al fine di accertare l’effettivo stato di implementazione della riforma del sistema contabile. La contabilità economico-patrimoniale non ha “attecchito” negli enti locali italiani. La contabilità finanziaria riveste tutt’oggi un ruolo predominante, mentre l’utilizzo della contabilità economica è ancora marginale e la contabilità analitica è prevalentemente a base finanziaria. Gli operatori del settore non percepiscono l’utilità della contabilità economico-patrimoniale così come introdotta nell’attuale ordinamento e la coesistenza delle due basi contabili non è vista soluzione soddisfacente.
Innovations in financial and accounting techniques represent a fundamental aspect of the reforms undergone by public administrations over the last decades. After a period of enthusiastic adoption of managerial and market-based principles and techniques by public organizations in Western countries, an international debate about their effectiveness has arisen among academics and practitioner. Attempts at studying the consequences of reforms show that they often produce unintended results. The paper presents the results of a survey, conducted on the Local Governments with a population of at least 40,000, aimed at assessing the actual implementation of the accounting reform in the Italian public sector. The analysis shows that a significant gap exists between the expected and the actual effects of the accounting reforms. The importance of cash- and obligation- based accounting in the overall systems is overwhelming, whereas the marginality of accrual- based accounting is evident. In the opinions of preparers, accruals accounting is not seen as a useful tool and the coexistence of the two bases of accounting does not seem to be a satisfactory solution.
Innovations in financial and accounting techniques represent a fundamental aspect of the reforms undergone by public administrations over the last decades. After a period of enthusiastic adoption of managerial and market-based principles and techniques by public organizations in Western countries, an international debate about their effectiveness has arisen among academics and practitioner. Attempts at studying the consequences of reforms show that they often produce unintended results. The paper presents the results of a survey, conducted on the Local Governments with a population of at least 40,000, aimed at assessing the actual implementation of the accounting reform in the Italian public sector. The analysis shows that a significant gap exists between the expected and the actual effects of the accounting reforms. The importance of cash- and obligation- based accounting in the overall systems is overwhelming, whereas the marginality of accrual- based accounting is evident. In the opinions of preparers, accruals accounting is not seen as a useful tool and the coexistence of the two bases of accounting does not seem to be a satisfactory solution.
