The qualitative leaps of the accounting discipline in Italy between the nineteenth and twentieth century

Abstract

This work intends to respond to the call of Edwards and Walker in 2009, who encourage the study of accounting in diverse socio-cultural contexts, by shedding light on one of the longest accounting traditions in Europe, the Italian one. In Italy, the history of accounting is much broader than the adoption of double-entry bookkeeping, and the rise of specific philosophical concepts and scholarship has not been explored in-depth yet. This study highlights the context and innovations, which characterised the significant Italian accounting debate between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through the narrative analysis of the works of Fabio Besta and Gino Zappa, it provides an explanatory framework for double-entry bookkeeping that connects the recording method to the system of records and allows for the emergence of the accounting discipline known as economia aziendale.