ABSTRACT: (ITALIAN POLITICAL PARTIES SELF-FINANCING CAPABILITIES: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCES). This paper analyses one of the conceivable impacts of the law n. 13/2014, recently approved by the Italian parliament, abolishing any form of public funding to political parties by the end of 2017. This law is causing deep anxieties among politicians because the public funding is the main source of income for parties (1.632.420.646 Euros over the period 2006-2012, around 74% of their resources). In this context, the paper aims to underline, at the light of this evolving scenario, the self-financing capabilities of parties and their possibilities to survive covering their operating expenses only by fund-raising activities (for instance membership fees and voluntary donations). In doing that, the present work highlights that parties act as proper enterprises, considering that their activities in the last decades are comparable to those of firms since their possibilities to manage financial resources for their political activities. The paper depicts initially the structure and the content of financial statements of political parties according to the law n. 2/1997 and highlights in particular the contents of the operating area of the income statement because directly linked to the party’s regular operations. Later on, analyzing the financial statements published yearly on the Gazzetta Ufficiale, the paper delves into the analysis of the self-financing income of the six largest Italian political parties (measured by their total revenues) – Alleanza Nazionale, Democratici di Sinistra, Forza Italia, Lega Nord, Partito Democratico, Popolo della Libertà– comparing their sources of funding to their operating expenses aiming to estimate their ability to cover operating costs by the income provided by their fundraising capabilities. Results show that political parties are strongly dependent to the resources dispensed by the State, besides their self-financing capabilities cover on average less that 20% of their operating expenses, showing their inability to support by themselves the economic and financial needs of their structures. Concluding, this paper represents, to my knowledge, the first attempt to analyze the Italian political parties under an accounting perspective, considering these entities as proper enterprises. The study can provide useful suggestions for future policies in the context of political parties financing activities.
KEYWORDS: financial statements, political parties, self-financing.
