Category: Italy

The entire fashion sector has around 82,000 active businesses. In the first few months of 2019 the sector recorded a trend of + 3.5%. With about 500,000 employees (+ 0.3% compared to 2016), the fashion industry is the second manufacturing sector in Italy after metallurgical activities.

The turnover is around 22 billion euros or 1.3% of Italian GDP. This turnover derives mainly from the clothing sector which amounts to 40.5%, followed by leather goods for 20.9% and eyewear for 16.2%. The turnover of the fashion industry in Italy is worth about 22 billion euros, or 1.3% of GDP in 2017. This turnover derives mainly from the clothing sector which amounts to 40.5%, followed by leather goods for the 20.9% % and eyewear for 16.2%.

EXPORT

Export is the greatest wealth of the fashion industry. Italian products are very popular especially in France, Germany and Asia. The change in exports from 2013-2019 is + 29.6%, according to data reported by Mediobanca's February 13, 2019 survey, for every € 10 of turnover, € 6 comes from abroad.

OCCUPATION

Employment in the sector is also growing, having about 60 thousand more jobs than in 2013. In 2018, each company produced average daily profits of around 63 thousand euros compared to 38 thousand in 2013

SMALLER COMPANIES GROW

Mediobanca's R&D report on the main fashion groups has examined the dynamics of the 163 Italian Fashion Companies with a turnover exceeding 100 million in 2018, in addition to the main European groups in the sector. The gap between the top 15 and the "pursuers" has been observed to be narrowing in a context that is generally more homogeneous.

Overall, the Italian fashion companies have seen their annual sales grow by an average of 6.6% in 2013-2018. Overall, the companies have seen their annual sales grow by an average of 6.6% in 2013-2018.

SUSTAINABILITY

One of the strengths of the Made in Italy Fashion sector is increasingly focused on sustainability. A decisive theme for the future of fashion in general, which is the second most polluting industry in the world. The Italian supply chain has had the merit of the last few years to demonstrate a commitment to reducing the environmental impact and introducing new, less polluting processing methods even upstream of the supply chain.

What is the purpose of keeping a precise and organized accounting in your company?

Accounting plays a key role in managing your business as it allows you to constantly control your economic and financial situation.

To make a general picture that respects itself has the right and obligation keep a proper accounting. The reasons are relatively simple:

• it is a right because through accounting records a company is always in control of revenue and expenditure trends and it has a final report at the end of each year;
• it is an obligation because it is imposed by the law. Every company indeed should show its activities and performance to third parties.

HOW DOES ACCOUNTING WORK IN ITALY?

The mandatory accounting records which every entrepreneur should keep in Italy are:

- The general journal – collection of all the operations carried out during the course of the business organized according to the chronological record of transactions;

- The inventory book – collection of all the assets and liabilities of the company with also the profits and losses;

- VAT registers;

- The register of depreciable assets – it contains information on the company's assets including immovable properties (land, sheds, equipment, etc. ) or (trademarks, patents, etc.) and the movable proprieties defined in the public registers of the same company;

- The general ledger – of all the operations carried out during the course of the business organized according to the double-entry criterion: recorded per account using a  chronological order.

The entrepreneur should also keep all the other required records respecting the specific economic-sector and the business-size, such as for example:

- the cashbook – it is not a mandatory register but is a tool used by companies to facilitate their accounting;

- the warehouse book – collection of all the in-coming and out-coming goods – it is required only for large enterprises;

-  the register of receipts – it is required only for professional activities.

In addition to the above listed accounting requirements, the limited companies should also keep the following registers:

- the company books, the shareholders' book, the book of meetings and resolutions of the managing board. Moreover, on the basis of their organization, it can be required the book of obligations, of the board of directors and of the board of statutory auditors.

These accounting requirements and records, defined by the Italian Civil Code art.2220, should be kept for at least 10 years from the date of the last recording, even if meanwhile the company has ceased to work and exist. Once this period has passed, nobody can dispute the absence of these accounting documents to the entrepreneur.

Companies that work in Italy are obliged to comply with the accounting requirements contained in the Italian Civil Code (https://www.brocardi.it/codice-civile/) and the accounting standards issued by OIC (Italian Organism of Accounting),(https://www.fondazioneoic.eu/?lang=en) which integrate those contained in the Civil Code.

OIC is an Organization founded in 2001 and composed by various bodies. It has the role of issuing the national accounting standards for the preparation of financial statements of all the Italian companies. OIC cooperates with many international bodies such as AISB (https://www.iasplus.com/en/resources/ifrsf/iasb-ifrs-ic/iasb) or IFRS (https://www.ifrs.org/), providing in this way support to Italian companies to comply also to international standards too.

Now we will shortly describe the 2 main types of accounting-standards actually in force within the Italian fiscal legislation. Here below the specific subjects included in the Ordinary or Simplified accounting type.

ORDINARY ACCOUNTING (art. 13 of D.P.R. 600/73):

It is required by the law for all the companies with revenues above €400,000 for service-activities and €700,000 for products/goods.

What are the companies included within this type of Ordinary accounting standard?

- Corporation (srl, spa, sapa) ;

- Cooperative societies

- Mutual insurance societies;

- Consortiums / insurance companies or unrecognized organizations;

- Public and private bodies operating for commercial purposes with residency in Italy.

SIMPLIFIED ACCOUNTING (art. 18 of DPR n.600/73):

It is required by the law for all the companies with revenues above €400,000 for services-activities and €700,000 for products/goods.

What are the companies included within this type of Simplified accounting standard?

- Individual companies;

- Partnership (ss, sas, snc).

The German Research Center CEP - Center for European Policy of Freiburg (www.cep.eu) - has recently published an interesting analysis on the 20 years of euro history entitled “20 Years of the Euro: Winners and Losers”.

Since we have adopted the new European currency, Italians has lost 73,605 euro, while Germans has won 23,116 euro. Thus, Germany gain the gold medal, while Italy got the last place of the race. This are the results of CEP study which has compared eight Eurozone-countries (Germany, Netherland, Greece, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Italy) to evaluate the real impact of Euro in the national European economies. Thus, the study, focusing on the per-capita GDP of each country, has analyzed the trend of this index without the euro, under the assumption that the countries could have kept the control on their economic policy.

In 2017, for instance, German GDP rose by 280 billion euros and GDP per capita by 3.390. Italy has lost more than everyone. Without the euro, the CEP scholars calculate, the GDP of Rome would have been higher than 530 billion euros, which corresponds to 8,756 euros per capita. In France too, the euro led to significant economic losses of € 374 billion, corresponding to € 5,570 per capita.

Greece and Italy, in particular, are going through a hard difficulty because of the fact that they are not able to devalue their currency anymore. This has led that their products are not so competitive in the international market. As the study states, “in the decades prior to introduction of the euro, Italy regularly devalued its currency for this purpose. After the introduction of the euro, that was no longer possible. Instead, structu creasing losses in prosperity”. The figures below are showing the opposite negative and positive trend of Italian and Spanish per-capita GDP due to their more or less ability to renovate and change their economic policy.

Looking at the CEP study from a political perspective we can say also that this incapacity of Italy to find a way to become competitive within the Eurozone has produced and raised the skepticism on the European Union among Italians which will risk to impact irrevocably the next European Election results on May 2019.

Italy

Spain

UK is a relevant market for the Italian international trade. Indeed, in 2017 UK was the fifth trade partner of Italy - after Germany, France, USA and Spain - and the second in the surplus ranking for Italy after the USA. According to the report of the Italian Trade Agency (ICE - Istituto Commercio Estero), in 2017 the trade between UK and Italy was 34,5 billion euro compared to 33,7 in 2016 (+2.4%). In particular, the Italian exports amounted to 23.1 billion of euro (+3.2%), while the imports from UK amounted to 11.4 billion euro, 1.3% more compared to 2016. The balance is positive for Italy for 11,7 billion of euro, up 4.5% compared to 2016 (see the list below related to the most relevant items of the Italian-UK trade).

The vote of the British Parliament of the 15^th of January 2019 which rejected the May’s Deal has shown a very delicate moment for the Italian and European markers. A so-called “NO DEAL” between UK and the European Union could create uncertainty and fear among the markets bringing a potential domino-effect where companies could decide instinctively to leave the British market (and vice versa). Indeed, a “NO DEAL” could negatively impact both the multinational corporations - which have chosen to establish their office in London - and the SMEs - which are exporting and importing from the UK market. Thus, in case of a “NO DEAL” there is the possibility to fall back into a scenario in which, at least for a certain period and for specific categories of products, the WTO agreements will rule the trade with the British economy.

In negative terms, it should also be considered that the UK subsidiaries in Italy have a relevant weight, indeed they assure an annual turnover of about 35 billion euro (equal to 9.5% of the total turnover of multinational companies in Italy) and with 85 thousand employees.

Despite the negative effects, a “NO DEAL” scenario could bring in Italy and the EU countries also interesting opportunities. Indeed, the UK's exit from the EU could trigger at least partial reallocation of FDIs and attract multinational companies in other EU countries. The effects would be produced in the medium term and their real impact are difficult to be quantify in advance. A 2016 study estimates a decrease of FDI in the United Kingdom by 22% in ten years. This amount would correspond to € 282 billion of foreign capital that could flow into EU countries. The attraction of these foreign investments by individual countries will depend on their structural characteristics. Opportunities to attract investments could also arise for Italy. On the basis of the degree of similarity between the sectorial distributions of incoming FDI - with the important exception of financial services that have a leading role for the UK economy - it emerges that the Italian market could have a good chance, because its sectors with a greater presence of foreign capital (manufacturing, wholesale, telecommunications and IT services) are the same that occupy the first positions in the distribution of FDI in the UK economy.

In 2017 the main items of Italian exports to the UK were: machinery (2.7 billion euros); motor vehicles (€ 1.6 billion); medicines and pharmaceuticals (€ 1.3 billion); clothing (1.2 billion euros); drinks (1 billion euros); components for cars (902 million euro); furniture (€ 902 million); footwear (605 million euros).

On the side of imports from Great Britain, the most relevant items were: motor vehicles (1.9 billion euros); medicines and pharmaceuticals (€ 1.1 billion); machinery (836 million euros); chemical products (501 million euros).

Data source: Elaboration on Istat data (ICE London)