ACCOUNTING STANDARDS FOR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - 2

The course contributes to the educational objectives of the Master's Degree Programme in Accounting and Finance, which aims to make students expert in addressing the accounting issues related to the accounting representation and reporting of business activities in compliance with national and international accounting standards. For this purpose, main goals of the course are:
- deepen the financial information of a group of entities;
- address the issues related to the definition of group and control, as well as the preparation of consolidated financial statements, in a national and international perspective;
- examine the national law (D. Lgs 127/91 e OIC 17) and international financial reporting standards (IFRS) with reference to the accounting representation and reporting of the activities of business groups.
The first part of the course (Accounting standards for financial statements -1) presents the accounting issues arising from the recognition and measurement of the main items in financial statements.

1 KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
As students of the Master's Degree Programme in Accounting and Finance have to acquire knowledge and understanding in business administration with particular reference to the accounting representation, the financial statements and the other tools to support decisions, through this course the students can complete their previous training in the area of financial statements of one single entity. Notably, at the end of this course it is expected that students know and are able to understand:
- the concept of group of entities;
- the alternative theories of consolidation that underpinning the national and international rules;
- the definition of consolidation area;
- the composition and format of consolidated financial statements;
- the accounting adjustments due for the preparation of consolidated financial statements.

2 APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Since students of the Master's Degree Programme in Accounting and Finance must be able to get expert in addressing issues related to accounting for business combinations, at the end of this course the student will be able to:
- carry out accounting adjustments in order to consolidate the interests in other entities and recognise consolidation differences;
- carry out accounting adjustments of intra-group transactions;
- prepare consolidated financial statements starting from financial statements of the parent company and subsidiaries.

To tackle the course, it is necessary to have already learnt the basic concepts and language of the economic analysis of business processes and the basic skills of accounting for business events and preparation of financial statements, which have been developed in the Business Administration course.
Moreover, the following topics are considered already known:
- the composition of financial statements and the structure of the balance sheet and income statement prepared in compliance with the Italian civil law and with IFRS, that have been developed in the Financial Statement Analysis course, as well as in the first part of the course;
- measurement bases of the main assets and liabilities according to the Italian civil law, national accounting standards (OIC) and international financial reporting standards (IFRS), as well as the effects in terms of deferred tax, that have been analysed in the first part of the course.

Group of entities and consolidated financial statements.
Alternative theories of consolidation and national and international requirements for the preparation of consolidated financial statements.
Definition of consolidation area in compliance with Italian civil law and IFRS.
Composition and contents of consolidated financial statements according to Italian civil law and IFRS.
Measurement of investments in consolidated financial statements complying with Italian civil law and IFRS.
Methods to estimate the value of companies under business combinations.
Preliminary phases of the consolidation process.
Consolidation adjustments:
- accounting treatment of interests in other entities and recognition of consolidation differences;
- accounting adjustment of intra-group transactions.
Proportional consolidation for investments in joint ventures.
Equity method.

U. Sostero, F. Cerbioni, C. Saccon, Bilancio consolidato: disciplina nazionale e IFRS, III ed., McGraw-Hill, 2025, excluding the following parts:
• Paragraphs from 4.4 to 4.7
• Examples 6.12; 6.13; 6.14
• Paragraphs 8.4.2 - 8.4.3
• Chapter 10
• Paragraphs 11.5
• Chapter 12

Recommended supplementary readings:
Pisoni P., Busso D. Rizzato F., Il bilancio consolidato. Principi italian GAAP e casi operativi, III ed. Giuffrè, Milano, 2017.
Pisoni P., Biancone, P.P., Busso D., Cisi, M., Il bilancio consolidato. IFRS, II ed. Giuffrè, Milano, 2015.
Prencipe A., Tettamanzi P., Mancini C., Bilancio consolidato, V ed., Egea, Milano, 2021.
Teodori C., Il bilancio consolidato. Caratteristiche, costruzione e interpretazione, III ed., Giuffrè Francis Lefebvre, Milano, 2020

The exam is unique for both parts of the course (Accounting standards for financial statements – 1 and Accounting standards for financial statements – 2) and consists of a written test and an oral test.
The written test consists of one exercise for the first part of the course and one exercise for the second part of the course.
Those who have passed the written test must take the oral exam on the whole program of study.
The oral test takes place on the following days as the written test.
The final vote depends on the grade reported in the written test and the outcome of the oral test.
Any marks (maximum of 3) obtained through voluntary participation in the Experior project are additional to those obtained in the written test.

written and oral

The grade will be assigned according to the following methods:
A. scores in the 18-22 range will be assigned in the presence of:
- sufficient knowledge and ability to apply understanding in reference to the course program;
- limited ability to apply knowledge by formulating independent judgments;
- sufficient communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language that pertains to the course program;
B. scores in the 23-26 range will be assigned in the presence of:
- fair knowledge and ability to apply understanding in reference to the course program;
- fair ability to apply knowledge by formulating independent judgments;
- fair communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language that pertains to the course program;
C. scores in the 27-30 range will be assigned in the presence of:
- good or very good knowledge and ability to apply understanding in reference to the course program;
- good or very good ability to apply knowledge by formulating independent judgments;
- fully appropriate communication skills, especially in relation to the use of specific language that pertains to the course program;
D. honors will be awarded in the presence of knowledge and understanding applied in reference to the program, judgment and communication skills, excellent.

The course includes lectures during which the theoretical aspects are presented and examples of the consolidation adjustments are carried out.

- Passing the written exam is a prerequisite for admission to the oral test.

- REGISTRATION FOR EXAM. Online registration is COMPULSORY. In case of registration problems, students are required to contact the economic campus a reasonable number of days BEFORE deadline.