Purpose The differences between Big audit firms (BigN) and non BigN (nBigN) have been discussed at the international level from various points of view, focusing in particular on issues regarding the different quality of the services offered. This study aims to analyze the impact of digitalization on audit firms in the Italian context, seeking to understand how this phenomenon has influenced the quality differences already studied in the scientific literature. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews. A total of 16 professionals working in the legal audit world were interviewed. The firms involved were PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst and Young and Deloitte in the BigN category and BDO Italia Spa, MooreAxis Srl and Analisi Spa in the non Big class. The data collected via the interviews underwent thematic analysis. This analysis allowed the identification of three topics, on which the presentation of the results concentrated. Findings The findings of this research reveal that the digitalization of companies has widened the quality gap between Big and non BigN. BigN have been better able to exploit the benefits of the new digital technologies due to their greater investment capacity. At the same time, stakeholders’ expectations of the audit process in terms of quality have increased sharply, also in relation to nBigN. Originality/value This study’s main contribution is its analysis of the impact of digitalization on the audit quality of BigN and nBigN. This paper contributes to the existing literature by studying the consequences of digitalization on nBigN, a topic previously unexplored in the scientific literature (Manita et al., 2020), and the impact of new technologies in the context of audit firms in general.

The uncertainty generated by the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced countless aspects of business management. In order to deal with the pandemic, managers had to make particularly complex choices regarding, for example, the cash management activities, investment decisions and workplace safety procedures. At the same time, the instability related to the performance and solvency of companies has made it necessary for companies to have adequate information disclosure, even more than that in the past. The Covid-19 pandemic has in fact increased the need for an effective communication about the main corporate events with all corporate stakeholders. Based on this premise, this study aims to highlight the main scientific contributions regarding the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on accounting and on corporate financial reports. The analysis carried out led to the identification of five thematic areas: Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Disclosure, Financial Statements Data and Audit. Moreover, considering the importance of providing adequate disclosure in a period of great uncertainty, this paper proposes an analysis on the disclosure about the Covid-19 pandemic provided by the companies belonging to the FTSE MIB index of the Italian Stock Exchange. Following a preliminary quantitative analysis of the performance of these companies, a content analysis was carried out on the financial statements and the main documents attached to it, in order to verify the presence of references to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be shown that the companies analyzed have made adequate disclosure of information regarding the emergency situation arising from the pandemic.

This article sets out to explain how practical wisdom, supported by rationality, can play a fundamental role in management and combat the main problems of rule-following and hyper-codification. The systematic use of Big Data, collected via the ever-increasing adoption of technology, has generated a large increase in the degree of standardisation of company procedures concerning not only physical and technical issues but above all decision-making. Applied to the solution of repetitive, easily codified problems, standardisation increases the level of efficiency, but when used for the resolution of complex problems it may partially, or even completely, preclude the pursuance of the common good. This may occur through the setting of rules which are not capable of fully describing reality, and their inappropriate use, which may lead, through their unthinking application, to a lack of morality, and even to the side-lining of earnings opportunities. We believe that practical wisdom is able to interact with necessary, unavoidable codification systems and rules to provide the right interface with circumstances, becoming a part of the decision-making process in its own right and not just a viewing lens for use retrospectively to verify whether the outcomes of decisions taken have been effective in pursuing the common good.

This study analyzes how corporate governance practices evolve to keep up with external complexities. The analysis is carried out on all Italian listed companies in the period 2018–2020. The findings suggest that Committees of the Board of Directors increased in number during the period, and the frequency of their meetings also increased. There was little variation in the frequency of the Board of Directors’ (BoD) meetings. The paper provides empirical evidence on the current trend for establishing smaller working parties that do not burden the whole BoD when the firm faces issues for which specialized skills and greater attention are required. Our study contributes to previous literature on corporate governance by jointly analyzing different mechanisms of BoD. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, it explores for the first time the duration of the meetings of the BoD and its Committees.