Principles of Accounting

The course of Economics and Management is characterized by the class in Financial Statement Analysis, which provides students with practical tools for interpreting the quantitative and qualitative dimensions related to economic performance and the financial and asset situation of companies. These skills are crucial in understanding how the economic variables, learned and analysed in other classes of course, are formed within different companies and how they are influenced by internal decision-making policies.
The objective of the class is to provide students with the theoretical bases, practical skills and best practices for the study and analysis of the financial statements of companies. The focus of the class is on OIC Italian GAAP (generally-accepted accounting principles) financial statements, with insights to the IAS/IFRS (international accounting standards/international financial reporting standards) financial statements. The aim of the class is to render students capable of understanding the trend and evaluate policies and decisions, both historically and prospectively, necessary for the growth and welfare of the company to achieve the general objectives and mission of the same.
This ultimate goal is pursued through the study and exercise of the students on the understanding of the purpose of the Financial Statements, the logic of its values, on the preparation of the financial statements documents according to the principles and current regulations and, eventually, on the analysis of the size of the financial statements through the calculation and interpretation of its indexes and margins.

At the end of the class the students will be able to:
Knowledge and understanding: Understand the mechanics and the fundamental relationships between the financial statement variables;
Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
- Drawing up a financial statement in accordance with OIC Italian GAAP
- Identify the salient features and peculiarities of a financial statement prepared in accordance with international accounting standards
- Identify the appropriate financial statement indexes to describe specific types of economic performance and financial and asset situation of the company
Making judgements: Use financial statement indexes to analyze the health status of the company under review
Communication skills: Comment on the performance and evolution of the health status of the company
Learning skills: Identify potential corrective policies and improvement of the company itself based on the indexes.