Franco Carlo Papa (Chairman of PGS Consulenti) and Luca Sala (Partner of PGS Consulenti) explain the role independent experts play in relations between the banks and creditors, where they are used by entrepreneurs and creditors for fair conduct of the negotiation process, prior to issuing their reports. The authors believe that such experts, although appointed to act autonomously, must take part in this process aimed at the social good of saving the company. On the other hand, independent experts cannot limit their function to auditing present and future accounting data, but must also carry out company-level valuation. Finally the authors ask whether the role could be expanded to cover monitoring of the plan, leading to greater involvement of the expert in assessment of actual implementation.