Heritage Assets in Governmental Financial Reporting: looking for a benchmark

The paper considers the recognition, measurement and disclosure criteria of heritage assets in governmental financial reporting, examining in depth the different solutions proposed by accounting literature and some authoritative standard setters. Given the absence of specific rules in the Italian context on the topic, using a qualitative methodology tool consisting in the use of multiple case studies, two case studies concerning American and British local governments have been analyzed with the purpose of identifying a virtuous behavior viable to be considered a valid benchmark for the Italian context. The analysis of case studies showed that the presence of a specific standard for heritage assets does not automatically lead to solve accounting issues connected with heritage assets; it should moreover be pointed out that the behavior analyzed in the British municipality could represent a virtuous approach also reproducible by local Italian ones.