Principi contabili e reporting per il cittadino negli enti locali: opposti agli antipodi o strumenti compatibili?

The accounting transparency and the role of the citizen are the two elements from which this work starts. The aim is to verify whether the public sector accounting standards include openings to the drafting of an accountability tool (citizens’ report) that has prevailing accounting content and specifically addressed to the citizen. To this end the criteria underlying accounting standards for Italian and Northamerican local governments are analyzed. The conclusion is that accounting principles technicality does not preclude to envisage an instrument drawn up for non-technical users (citizens), but, rather, it would be desirable a deepening on accounting transparency towards the citizens. This aspect needs a particular attention by the Italian standard setters involved in issuing the public sector accounting standards.