The aim of this article is to explore the role played by accounting in the building of the early modern Papal States. In particular, the study shows how the control and accountability system set up by the Pro commissa Bull (15 August 1592) allowed the Pope to concentrate and centralize political power, fostering the shift of the Papal States towards the configuration of an absolute state which can be considered the first major institutional embodiment of the modern state in the early modern period. Besides contributing to the literature on accounting and state building, this research also provides insights into the role of accounting in religious institutions. The analysis, in fact, is carried out in one of the most important religious institutions in history. Moreover, the fact that the Pope was both the political and the religious head of the Papal States allows the inference that this peculiar "dual role" could have affected the setting up of the abovementioned control and accountability system.
This article explores the contribution that management accountants and management control systems can give to the design and the implementation of an integrated reporting system. In particular, the case of the Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti Ancona is analysed in the aim of highlighting the role played by the management accountant in promoting the design and implementation of the integrated report in the specific context under investigation. The empirical evidence adds to the extant literature on this issue by showing the relevant role played by management control systems and by management accountants as well and, in particular, how the latter can significantly influence the whole design and implementation process at an organisational, technical, and motivational level.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Integrated Reporting can influence Management Control Systems (MCSs). To this aim, the paper presents a case study of a company which designed and implemented an Integrated Report (IR) that was used as a tool for communicating the company performance to the entrepreneur and as a tool for enriching the company MCS to visualize and measure the overall company performance. The case analysis shows that Integrated Reporting improves the measurement focus of the MCS thanks to the role played by the company's Business Model (BM) throughout the IR development and to the process adopted to map the BM itself. The BM mapping process was highly iterative and allowed for a better understanding of the items affecting the value creation process and of their interconnections, thus directing the MCS to what really deserved to be measured. Strategic discussion around the BM also entailed an evolution of the control system, which became a strategic control system, able to support the discussion and the creation of new strategies. Moreover, the BM ensured a high level of integration and consistency between departmental reports and the company IR, on the one hand, and among the departmental reports themselves, on the other hand. In addition, the case analysis shows that financial indicators risk becoming "phagocytized" by non-financial ones and that the implementation process of the IR can lead to a heavier workload for the Management Control Department to provide for the non-financial aspects of performance. Finally, the case analysis shows that the Integrated Reporting visual representation and its underlying logic may not work if the tool is used for managerial decision making. While the guiding principles of Integrated Reporting were accepted by the company's actors, the Integrated Reporting representation model based on the logic inputs-BM-outputs-outcomes was criticized as it was considered too complex and not able to represent the company's integrated performance, reflecting instead a series of disconnected and disjointed individual performances. The critiques of this model were so sharp that they resulted in a change to its logic and the adoption of a different model, namely that of cause-and-effect relationships.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons why Law no. 195 of 2 May 1974, which established a system of public funding for the Italian political parties, introduced a system of controls that was light touch in nature. Design/methodology/approach The paper integrates the theoretical framework on regulatory space, proposed by Hancher and Moran (1989), with that of legitimacy (Suchman, 1995) to explain the peculiar nature of the system of controls introduced by the Law. Moreover, a set of primary and secondary sources is used to provide a full comprehension of the context, of the relationships among the actors involved in the regulatory process, and of the nature of the regulated issues. Findings Besides showing that the nature of the output of a regulatory process can be understood as the effect of the peculiar configuration of the regulatory space in which it takes place, the study also sheds light on the role that legitimation can play with regard to the other features of the regulatory space, namely on its ability to strengthen or to limit their effects on the output of the regulatory process. Originality/value The paper deals with accounting and political parties which is a much underexplored topic in the field of accounting history. In addition, from a theoretical standpoint it contributes to extending the theoretical framework by Hancher and Moran (1989).
This paper aims to explore the impact of management accounting research through a review of the literature on the issues related to this topic; some new avenues of research are also identified. In so doing, the paper contributes to both theory and praxis. In fact, suggesting new areas of research it promotes research in this field which, up to now, has been mainly focused on the determinants of the loss of impact rather than on the nature of the impact of management accounting research and its assessment. Moreover, this work aims to stimulate new research focused on tools and methods for measuring the impact of management accounting research; such tools can be useful to funding institutions and evaluation agencies which can be better equipped to carry out an ex-ante and an ex-post evaluation of the impact that management accounting research projects can have on society.
In this article, we present the collaboration between the Quality, Hygiene, Security and Training department of the service provider of the Coop-branded cooperatives and the Human Sciences and Education Department of the University of Perugia, the objective of which was compulsory training in the fields of Job Security and Food Hygiene, provided by the company in e-learning, and addressing the employees of several cooperatives operating in the largescale organised distribution sector.The collaboration contemplates two steps. The first one consisted of the certification of compliance according to certain quality criteria. Course evaluation and certification were therefore assigned to an external institution that researches these subjects and thus was able to provide the training governance team with matter for reflection on the implemented training path, also indicating some potential aspects that needed to be further developed. The second step consisted of a wide-ranging, articulated empirical research that, on the one hand, enabled the university to cast light on a phenomenon that has been studied little or not at all from an educational viewpoint and, on the other, has enabled the Consorzio Interprovinciale di Servizi-Quality, Hygiene, Security and Training department (CIS-QuISF) to enhance its professional perspective and the e-learning mode to gain increasing recognition.
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the Intellectual Capital Accounting (ICA) literature by investigating the barriers to IC measurement and how they can (re)shape IC measurement projects. The paper presents an interventionist case study of a company which has been measuring its IC for several years. It focuses on some emblematic situations in which barriers arose during the design and implementation of IC indicators followed by a (re)moulding of the IC measurement project within the organization. The case analysis revealed two barriers: the heavy workload that the design and calculation process of IC indicators entails and the perceived limited reliability of those indicators. These barriers did not lead to a complete failure of the project, but acted as a “filter”, resulting in the discontinued use of those indicators that were not perceived as useful or reliable and in the adoption of those that the managers actually considered useful. While this hindered a complete implementation of the ICMS, it promoted a selection of IC indicators and a legitimation of those that subsequently became part of the management control system. While previous studies explore how barriers can hamper the design as well as the implementation of an ICMS, this paper sheds light on what happens to IC measurement projects when the magnitude of barriers is not so significant as to lead to the complete failure of the project. This offers a new and different view of the barriers related to the adoption of ICMSs. Rather than considering them as factors which can interrupt IC measurement, they could be seen as factors which can challenge the implementation of the ICMS, strengthening those IC indicators that are perceived as reliable and useful and eliminating or disregarding those that did not meet expectations.
The relationship between ERP systems and MAS is a relevant topic for accounting scholars. This relationship has often been studied by observing the influence of the implementation of ERP systems on MAS in terms of its impact on accounting tools, available information or the accountant's role. A limited number of studies have explored, instead, the inverse relationship, namely that one concerning the way MAS can influence the design, the implementation and the use of ERP systems. This paper aims to contribute to filling this gap. The bidirectional relationship between ERP systems and MAS is analysed through a case study, carried out in a medium-sized Italian firm. The findings show that the context, in this case a medium-sized firm, can play a relevant role in influencing the way the ERP system implementation affects the MAS, especially with regard to the controller's role and tasks. At the same time, they also shed light on how the existing MAS, as well as the one which is influenced by the implementation of the ERP system, can shape the customization and the use of the ERP system.
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