A century after the death of Fabio Besta, considered the father of the Italian modern accounting, with this work we aim to investigate the measurement criteria of assets and liabilities that the Maestro deemed most appropriate both from a theoretical and a practical point of view and assess how much the current national and international accounting standards owe his thoughts. Our analysis was carried out keeping in mind the legal and scientific context of the time (late nineteenth century), i.e. when the Master’s thought was formed, and mainly concerned two primary sources consisting of the first and second volumes of the work La Ragioneria. The analysis then regarded a series of secondary
sources that dealt with the theme of the valuation of financial statement items in Besta’s thinking. Compared to the other contributions, the present work is characterized by two features. First, there is a systematic research of the legacy of the Maestro’s thought in the current legislation and accounting standards. Second, this paper presents an articulated and in-depth examination of the specific evaluation criteria of the various patrimonial items, as they were been identified in the classification adopted by Besta.
Besta was the first Italian accountant to have systematically and in-depth investigated the methods of valuing the assets and liabilities of an entity. From the analysis of Besta’s work, a common element emerges in his way of exposing the arguments. In fact, first deal with the criteria in his opinion more conceptually correct, subsequently he also deals with the procedures used in practice, which are often easier to apply. Therefore, his thought is characterized by great pragmatism. With regard to the measurement criteria of financial statement items that the Maestro deems most appropriate, our analysis has underlined how Besta considers the exchange value, at least on a theoretical-conceptual level, as the most suitable criterion. These are reasons of a practical nature which suggest the use of the cost criterion instead of the exchange value, but only where the latter cannot be reliably determined. Finally, our analysis has highlighted how several solutions proposed by Besta have anticipated by about a century what is foreseen by the current national and international accounting discipline.
Keywords: Fabio Besta, Accounting Theory, Financial Measurements
