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The paper offers a survey of major Italian accounting scholars and their work for the period from 1900 to 1950. Apart from the late works of Rossi and Besta, the main focus is on the contributions by Zappa, who undoubtedly dominated the scene. In this period, as well as later, most Italian accountants and “aziendalisti” adopted the so‐called “income system”. Although its premises originated with Fabio Besta, master of the so‐called “patrimonial or proprietorship system”, the Italian School under Zappa gave this system a new theoretical basis that differed fundamentally from that of Besta. Zappa also developed the dynamic aspect of accounting and business economics that still prevails in Italy. The paper also devotes attention to other Italian scholars, less well‐known abroad. In the area of cost accounting it concentrates on the views of De Minico and his disciple Amodeo, but also mentions other contributors. The final Section deals with Italian contributions to accounting history during this period

The purpose of this paper is to offer a concise survey and comparison of Italian accounting research and academic publications during the second half of the 20th century.

The paper discusses the special relation between economia aziendale (business and public economics) and ragioneria (accounting) in Italy. The subsequent discussion on “financial accounting” includes a sub‐section on income‐orientation (vs capital‐orientation), especially important in Italy during this period, and the present crisis of economia aziendale as affecting ragioneria, contributions by major Italian accountants of the period (above all, Onida and Amaduzzi) are discussed. After a section on “cost and managerial accounting” (of less significance in Italy than financial accounting), and a look at “novel accounting trends”, the paper closes with a discussion of some representative historical studies of the period.

The paper reveals the changing international position of Italian accounting research.

The paper is limited by selecting the most prominent and relevant contributions among a host of pertinent publications.

In contrast to previous research, the paper offers an integrated survey of major Italian accounting publications of the entire second half of the 20th century.

In the process of harmonizing International Accounting Standards (IAS/IFRS), scholars and standard setters still need to overcome unresolved issues related to both goodwill duration and accounting recognition. This paper aims to compare the academic background on goodwill with current IAS. Specifically, the goal is to criticize existing practices and advance a revision of accounting for goodwill.

The paper is based on a review of the relevant literature on notions, theories and accounting approaches on goodwill and on an investigation of IAS/IFRS on accounting for goodwill. By critically integrating literature and practices, the authors provide implications for a revision of IAS.

The findings show the two main internally coherent theoretical approaches and the incoherence in current goodwill accounting standards. The paper contributes to the debate on accounting for goodwill by suggesting new conceptual arguments in relation to the controversies related to its accounting treatment.

The findings offer insights and guidelines that can help standard setters revise current accounting standards. Inter alia, standards setters should revisit issues related to goodwill evaluation and record limitations in future debates to find better solutions.

This study shows the incoherence of current accounting standards. Furthermore, the findings contradict the general opinion that, in current IAS, goodwill can be recognized only if acquired in business combinations and not if internally generated. Thereby, the authors suggest to shift the international accounting standards board focus from the preference between amortization and impairment to the coherence of goodwill accounting approaches.