The first accounting standard for the non-profit sector, prepared by the technical panel of consiglio Nazionale dei dottori commercialisti ed Esperti contabili (CNDCEC), Agenzia per le Onlus (now Agenzia per il Terzo settore) and OIC (Organismo italiano di Contabilità), open for comment from October 2010 to January 2011, has been approved in its final version, with some changes due to comments received. It is effective for accounting periods closed after 31 December 2011, although an  early application is recommended.

This is an important document, which outlines a set of general principles for the preparation of financial statements. It is a point of reference to be considered in the preparation of the subsequent documents. The Standard is, in fact, the first in a series that the technical panel intends to develop. The next will deal with specific accounting items, such as donations and tangible and intangible assets.

Compared to the exposure draft of the document, the final version has been changed in some technical aspects, although its approach has remained unchanged. Specifically, the requirements for the smaller non-profit organizations have been carefully tailored. Furthermore, particular attention has been paid to the accrual principle. Its application – given the lack of the correlation between income and expenses, typical for profit institutions – will be considered on a case by case basis.

The technical panel, headed by Domenico Piccolo, Counsellor of CNDCEC, Adriano Propane, Director of the Agenzia per il Terzo settore  and Casò Angelo, President of OIC, is composed of Attolini Giancarlo, Marco Elephants, Elisabetta Magistretti, Roberto Museum, Francesco Maria Perrotta, Matteo Pozzoli, Adriano Propane, Luigi Puddu, Marco Venuti. The aim of the technical panel is to develop accounting standards in line with trends of existing best practice nationally and internationally, through a comparison with the realities of other countries.