Business Combinations Under Common Control (BCUCC): the Italian Experience

Abstract

Business combinations under common
control (BCUCC): the Italian Experience. The aim of
this paper was to analyze the phenomenon of
business combinations under common control
(BCUCC) with emphasis on the Italian experience,
focusing on information deduced from a sample of
Italian financial statements and comparing them
with each other and with the same number of
European listed companies. We started from a
theoretical analysis of the phenomenon,
contextualizing it within the IAS/IFRS framework,
and discussing the different visions and possible
solutions that have been suggested by other
important national and international organizations
(US GAAP, Assirevi, China GAAP), and then
proceeded to analyze the financial statements of the
most important Italian companies in detail. We
subsequently considered the two different
methodologies for accounting, delineating the
analogies and differences between them, in an
attempt to investigate the reasons why one of them
could be preferable to the other and the different
effects of each on consolidated financial statements.
Finally we analyzed the different informational
needs of users of the financial statement compared
with cases of “normal” business combinations. The
samples chosen for our research comprised a
certain number of companies randomly chosen
from Italian stock exchange quotations as well as
from the other major Italian stock index FTSE
MIB.