The SAC (symmetry adapted cluster)/SAC-CI method was used to calculate the ground and excited states of free base phthalocyanine (FBPc). This is the first accurate ab initio study of the excited states of FBPc. The calculated electronic spectrum agrees reasonably well with experimental results with regard to both energy and intensity. The relationships among the molecular structure, excitation energy, and spectral intensity are discussed, and the present results are compared with those for free base porphine (FBP) and free base tetrazaporphine (FBTAP) studied previously. Two important effects of skeletal changes are clarified; mesotetraaza substitution and tetrabenzo substitution cause a large splitting between the HOMO and next HOMO levels and lead to a breakdown of the quasi-degeneracy of the two main configurations of the Q band, resulting in strong visible absorption due to the incomplete cancellation of the individual contributions to the transition dipole moment. This explains why Pc’s are so useful as pigments. Further, a new assignment of the B (Soret) band is proposed. The broad experimental B band is composed of at least four states. The main peak of the B band is due to transitions from the orbital lower than the so-called "four orbitals", and the transitions arising from the "four orbitals" constitute the shoulder in the lower energy side of the band.