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This article aims to shed light on the distinguishing features of management accounting in family firms in relation to processes of professionalization and succession. The study combines insights offered by the debate on family businesses and management accounting with the empirical findings of a longitudinal case study (Monnalisa). By exploring the evolution of management accounting practices within the company and the processes of succession and professionalization, this article shows that management accounting can affect the transfer of knowledge across generations and between the owner family and the management team, thus representing and reproducing the priorities, values, and vision of the entrepreneur.

Purpose – This paper aims to explore if and how management control sysems (MCS) have a role in\ud implementing sustainable strategies. In particular, the paper aims to investigate how MCS work in\ud order to translate these strategies into action and how they should be modified when a strategic\ud change in a sustainable direction occurs.\ud Design/methodology/approach – The research relies upon a deeply conducted case study,\ud drawing evidence from documentary research and field research.\ud Findings – Relying upon the case of Procter & Gamble (P&G), the paper finds that integration with\ud the traditional planning and monitoring systems, combination of both formal and informal controls,\ud coordination across business units and decentralized structures are key-factors for successful\ud implementation of sustainability-oriented strategies.\ud Originality/value – From a theoretical point of view, it has been observed that research in the field\ud of social and environmental accounting has been mainly focused on social and environmental\ud reporting, disclosure initiatives and their linkages to other attributes of performance, such as economic\ud or financial outcomes. The paper contributes to developing a debate on the potential of MCS in\ud embracing social and environmental issues as well as in producing social and environmental\ud information useful for internal users in decision-making processes

This paper presents evidence that corporate governance quality measured by (1) the board size and (2) the fraction of directors that serve on more corporate boards, influences the market value of firms. The analysis is based in Italy, a country that is characterized by family and concentrated ownership, low legal protection of investors and pyramidal firm structures. Our empirical results suggest that the level of ‘busy-ness’ of corporate directors as a measure of board effectiveness has a significant influence on firm’s market performance. By contrast, we find limited evidence that board size has a substantial impact on the market valuation, except in small and medium enterprises and in some specific industry sectors

During the past few years research on cultural, behavioural and social\ud aspects of organizational activities and interactions have proliferated\ud considerably in the accounting literature, thereby emphasizing the role\ud played by accounting practices in shaping and/or balancing power\ud relations in modern organizations. A relevant contribution to understanding the origins of the power of accounting can be found in accounting history. The present article examines a fourteenth-century case, that of the Opera della Metropolitana di Siena, an institution in charge of the construction and maintenance of the cathedral of the city of Siena, Italy, to explore the potential role played by accounting systems in influencing power relations. By analysing institutional and organizational change as well as the evolution of accounting practices within the Opera, this article shows that, since the medieval age, accounting data has played an important role not only in recording operational activities but also in managing power relationships

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Purpose-This paper explores how accounting and control practices contribute to the persistence of the multiple logics that characterise hybrid organizations, i.e. organizations that constantly incorporate elements from different institutional logics at the very core of their identity. Design/methodology-We draw on the literature regarding institutional logics and on studies exploring the enabling power of accounting to interpret the findings derived from a longitudinal case study of a hybrid organization operating in the field of brain-computer interface technology. Findings-Our study shows that the persistence of conflicting logics and innovation within hybrid organizations can be sustained through the mediating role of accounting and control practices. By engaging different interested parties within processes of innovation, these practices can establish complex interconnections between conflicting perspectives and their objects of concern. Consequently, accounting and control do not address a specific logic but instead contribute to lock different parties to their own logic, allowing them to engage and generate innovation while maintaining their diversity. Originality/value-Whereas previous studies have explored mechanisms for keeping the multiple logics of hybrids separate or for reconciling them, our paper shows that conflicts between these logics do not need to be reduced but can be mediated to generate innovation. Additionally, we contribute to the literature on accounting 'in action', by illustrating the role of accounting and control practices as boundary objects that act within a broader 'ecology of objects' through which innovation materializes in a context of enduring institutional pluralism.

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