The birth of Economia Aziendale and the debate on "Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria" This paper wants to analyse, in a critical way, the scientific debate about the relationships between Economia Aziendale (Business Economics) and Ragioneria (Accounting), happened in the Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria in 1939-1940. The discussion began with Francesco Della Penna’s article "La parola è agli economisti" "The word to economists". The leaders of this debated included four professors of Accounting (Della Penna, Ceccherelli, Masi and D’Alvise), a professor of Economic Science (Mariani) and a Professor of Public Finance (Zorli). In the heated debate the authors affirmed the scientific superiority of Accounting on Business Economics and the impossibility of developing Economia Aziendale as an unique science and the debate, in some cases become more personal rather than scientific without finding specific solutions as in the case of Della Penna and Ceccherelli. It emerges that the above debate didn’t help the development and improvement of Business Economic, leaving open issues without clear answer. This is also due to the missing contribution of professors strictly belonging to the school of thought of Zappa.
Keywords: Debate; 1939-1940, economia aziendale, ragioneria, Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria, Della Penna and Ceccherelli.