The decision of the Italian legislator to subordinate the access to debt restructuring procedure to the analysis of the financial and economic position, as resulting from their financial statements, will increase the role of the economic and cash flows analysis in the day-to-day practice. Against this background, the paper investigates the relations existing between the data reported in the accounts and the financial and economic perspectives of an entity and it highlights the consequences that typical accounting conventions, such as the recognition criteria, might have on the possibility to use the financial statement as a proper basis to predict future cash flows. The paper tackles also the relations existing between the financial and the economic position of an entity and it describes the reasons that, more commonly, might cause them to depart one-another so to allow to explain when and under what circumstances a negative financial position and/or a negative economic position has chances to be improved through a debt restructuring. By doing that, the paper warns on the risks connected to conducting the analysis of accounting data without having the proper accounting skills and recalls the urgency of a more active participation of the Italian accounting academia to the resolution of practical problems that often arise in the application of the regulations that use accounting concepts and measures.
Keywords: Solvency, going concern, debt restructuring, financial statements, financial position, accounting literature
