Translating Financial Statements from Italian into English. Strategies, Issues and Semantic Aspects

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the issues in translating Italian Financial Statements into English. Over the last two decades, financial reporting has undergone a process of standardization and consequent harmonization of international accounting practices, principles and concepts in many national jurisdictions. The research question is: are accounting terms, principles and concepts faithfully and effectively conveyed when translated into English? The investigation is framed within the theoretical pillars of specialized translation, to focus on the strategies to translate Financial Statements afterwards. The application of such theories will yield some interesting examples on how some terms, concepts and principles are translated from Italian into English, to ensure accurate, truthful, and effective disclosure. Not surprisingly, the sought of equivalence in the translation of financial reporting is a particularly difficult task, considering the strong cultural and legal biases that characterize the genre.