Le gestioni patrimoniali individuali degli investimenti in titoli: profili di salvaguardia del patrimonio, di bilancio e di contabilità

When companies have an excess of financial resources with respect to their short-term needs ("savings”), may decide to acquire financial investments as a part of their assets, often by having them managed by an authorised intermediary (investment bank, asset management company, etc.). Third sector organizations, commercial and financial companies, and public entities use financial investment activity for different purposes. For each of these different types of company, regardless of the mode of management (intermediated or direct), the continuous accounting monitoring of investments assumes a strategic importance, of acquiring useful information, and should, for this reason, always take place from an analytical and never synthetic point of view. This paper analyses the purposes and the most common types of investments, and then deals with the aspects of valuation and accounting and balance sheet management of financial investments. The paper highlights the importance of an analytic accounting of each financial investment, more advisable than a whole-fund single account recording. The principles outlined in this contribution are applicable to any type of company, regardless of the accounting principles (GAAP, IFRS) and valuation method adopted time by time (fair value or historical cost).