Combining war damages accounting and accounting for the natural world with social-organisational repercussions

Abstract

The authors propose a critical reinterpretation of a case study embedded in the historical period of post-WWII in Southern Italy. This period is characterised by relevant socio-political and economic consequences at a global scale, and it has been scarcely investigated from a business perspective. The authors consider the connections between war damages accounting, adverse collateral events, and agricultural accounting as tools to claim for social changes. The analysis specifically concerns the damages caused to the warehouses of hemp growers in the province of Caserta (Campania region, Italy). This area was known as Terra di Lavoro (‘land of work’ (authors’ translation)) since the Middle Ages to outline the poor conditions of hemp growers. The features of the accounting analysed herein, in the light of neo-institutional theory, show how it was used as a technology for problem-solving and a potential trigger for the agrarian reform of 1950.

Accounting and the exploitation of the natural world: Studies from a historical perspective

“…Finally, Modarelli et al (2023) investigate the use of accounting in determining compensation for war damages relating to the bombing of hemp warehouses in the province of Caserta, in southern Italy, and how the calculations involved helped reveal the underlying poverty of hemp growers and stimulated the need for agrarian reform. They draw on a range of archival material and contemporary newspaper and magazine articles and employ neo-institutional theory to put the use of accounting calculations into a broader socio-economic context.…”

“…Does building of a dam that increases the electric power available to a region allow for economic development and growth or lead to threats to the on-going supply of water (Maran et al, 2023)? Does compensation for war damage help stimulate agrarian reform that enhances productivity on hemp farms, or does it threaten a traditional way of life (Modarelli et al, 2023)? Although specific authors may not express these dilemmas explicitly in these terms, their contributions, which cover different types of exploitation of the natural world across two centuries on three different continents, provide much food for thought.…”