Accounting for goodwill: the pioneering thought of Gino Zappa (1910)

Abstract

The accounting treatment of goodwill is still debated in the academic and professional accounting environment in order to find the best approach applicable in a general ac-cepted accounting standard for this particular item. From an examination of the ac-counting research on the goodwill it is possible to observe a strong historical analysis on the topic with different lines of research. Following the framework of Ding et al (2008) that analyze the different phases of the accounting treatment for goodwill in a period running from 1880 to the new century, this paper aims to highlight how the is-sue of the accounting treatment of goodwill had already been widely discussed in the first scientific work by Gino Zappa (1910), who is considered the father of the modern Italian “Economia Aziendale”. Gino Zappa in his volume “Assessment of Financial Statements” presented concepts of the accounting treatment for goodwill basically in accordance with modern IAS 38, thus demonstrating the high level of progress of the first XX century Italian theoretical studies. This analysis shows the pioneeristic thoughts of the Author that influenced the Italian accounting up to today and how the social and economic environment have an impact on the lack of their application