L’armonizzazione contabile si pone l’obiettivo di rendere i bilanci pubblici omogenei e confrontabili. Ciò, però, presuppone l’individuazione di principi e regole contabili uniformi. Superato tale scoglio, diversi sono i vantaggi derivanti da un’armonizzazione contabile: la possibilità di confrontare più agevolmente i dati finanziari delle differenti amministrazioni pubbliche; la maggiore trasparenza e disponibilità di dati finanziari; il più semplice processo di raccordo dei bilanci di tutti gli enti. A ben vedere, però, dietro l’espressione di “armonizzazione contabile” si cela uno sforzo di trasparenza e di facilitazione delle procedure di contabilità nazionale, grazie alla quale ottenere quelle “informazioni confrontabili e tempestive” richieste dall’Unione Europea ai fini della verifica del raggiungimento degli obiettivi di finanza pubblica. In poche parole, il processo concepisce la contabilità pubblica, umiliandola, come funzionale al processo di coordinamento della finanza pubblica.
The purpose of accounting harmonization is to make financial statements consistent and comparable. This requires the identification of uniform accounting principles and rules. Once this requirement is satisfied, accounting harmonization yields several benefits: the ability to compare governments’ financial data more easily; an increased transparency and availability of financial data; an increased ability to prepare consolidated reports. On closer inspection, however, the “accounting harmonization” currently under way in the Italian public sector is mainly intended to simplify and improve the preparation of national accounts, in order to produce the “comparable and timely information” requested by the European Union to monitor the achievement of fiscal targets. This is rather humiliating for public-sector accounting, which is viewed only as a tool for the coordination of government finance statistics and policies.
The purpose of accounting harmonization is to make financial statements consistent and comparable. This requires the identification of uniform accounting principles and rules. Once this requirement is satisfied, accounting harmonization yields several benefits: the ability to compare governments’ financial data more easily; an increased transparency and availability of financial data; an increased ability to prepare consolidated reports. On closer inspection, however, the “accounting harmonization” currently under way in the Italian public sector is mainly intended to simplify and improve the preparation of national accounts, in order to produce the “comparable and timely information” requested by the European Union to monitor the achievement of fiscal targets. This is rather humiliating for public-sector accounting, which is viewed only as a tool for the coordination of government finance statistics and policies.
