Search

Michel Foucault's work had a strong influence not only in philosophy but also in a wide range of humanistic and social disciplines, including accounting. Notably, the first studies which brought Foucault's thought to the attention of interdisciplinary accounting scholars were historical. This article documents how Foucault's ideas have directly inspired accounting history scholars, how the latter have interpreted and brought Foucault's work into their field as well as what future research paths may lie ahead. The article offers a systematisation of how the complex ideas of Foucault have been translated into eight key themes that have provided a crucial interpretive prism to many studies in accounting history. In doing so, it assists scholars wishing to familiarise themselves with Foucault's work and employ it in their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The given document is an editorial from the journal Accounting History. It announces the May issue of the journal and expresses gratitude to contributors and reviewers. The issue includes articles on various topics, such as the commercialization of the university system, the development of aptitude testing in accounting, the transfer of accounting knowledge between Italy and Romania, the spread of ideas in Britain after WWI, and the role of accounting in supporting American slavery. The articles highlight the flexibility of accounting in representing both positive and negative aspects of historical events. [Extracted from the article]

Most studies of mergers and acquisitions focus on the financial motivations ('synergy') of the acquiring and acquired firms, as well as managers' self-interest and overconfidence. Few studies consider the contextual contingencies that motivate a merger and acquisition. This study examines non-financial motivations that drove the 1969 Fiat company's acquisition of the Ferrari company. The financial records and historical context surrounding this acquisition are analysed through an institutional logics framework, examining annual reports, minutes of board meetings and media coverage of the acquisition. The findings suggest the acquisition was driven by family control, brand reputation and professional expertise, and that financial and accounting motivations had only marginal importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, the adoption of new public management (NPM) practices in the public sector has increased as public sector organizations seek to improve efficiency, effectiveness and public accountability. We present case study findings of a NPM initiative to implement balanced scorecard (BSC) performance measurement systems in two Italian public sector organizations. This study considers the question of whether the BSC development process can be effectively translated into the public sector context. Our findings highlight the importance of aligning the development of performance management systems with a greater understanding of the internal and external environment of public sector organizations. Our results further emphasize the significant role of emergent stakeholders and management culture for the success of NPM performance management initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While universities have fulfilled a central role in education, their multifaceted amalgamations of economic, political, judicial and epistemological relations of power have been paid little attention by accounting historians. This study examines the role of accounting in the power/control relationship between the Papal State and an eighteenth–nineteenth century Italian University using a Foucauldian episteme of disciplinary power and governmentality. Our findings show a separation of accounting from the exercise of education or the reproduction of a meticulous grammatocentric and panoptic system for human accountability (Hoskin and Macve, 1986, 1988; Carmona et al., 1997). However, this work reveals how supervised education gradually became a more refined tool of Christian morality, along with papal control of the institution and its expenses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The eighteenth century is considered a crucial period in terms of the rise of the modern State. During this century, the logic of organization of several large European Empires began to emerge in the fragmented Italian panorama through the Lorena family's domination of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Peter Leopold of the Lorena dynasty inherited the Grand Duchy in 1765 and implemented his Reform of the Municipalities in 1774. This Reform contributed to modernizing the State and undermined most of the ancient privileges that had been established by the previous rulers of the Grand Duchy. The aim of this paper is to highlight both the government/organizational drivers of that Reform, and the relationship between central and municipal levels of governmental organization, including insights drawn from Michel Foucault's conception of governmentality in interpreting the implications of the Reform. The study is based on primary source materials from the State Archives of Florence and Galeata, and contributes to the extant, yet scarce literature on public sector management and organization of the period, and enriches understandings of the economic and accounting issues that were rationales for the Reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corti1 have been important entities in the history of Italy, as they fostered its economic growth after the medieval period. A Corte was characterized by two main elements, the Lord and the fortifications, the latter defining the physical boundaries of the Lord’s power. The Lord had a favourable position in the Corte’s coalition nature and thanks to this advantage he could order and structure the Corte, both adhering to behavioural codes and establishing hierarchy levels and accounting rules (Papagno, 1982). This article focuses in particular on the Estense Corte of Ferrara and its physiognomy from 1385 to 1471. Through analysis of original documents contained in historical archives, an attempt is made to define the exercise of the Lord’s power and its relationship with both the Corte’s organizational structure and its accounting system. The research seeks to uncover the symbolic significance of these, and sheds light on the evolution of the organization and the intertwined development of its accounting architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article provides insights into organizational and accounting changes at Saint Anna’s Hospital in Ferrara (Italy). These changes were driven by a wider environmental change which occured in 1598 when the Dukedom of Ferrara was devolved to the Papal State. This brought about an institutional and political shift that affected the overall society and its main institutions, including the hospital. Research material was drawn from State and private archives, including the original sixteenth-century accounting books, statutes and organization manuals. The article adds to the sparse literature on accounting practices in non-Anglo-Saxon countries in under-researched centuries. More specifically it provides an internal perspective on understanding the definition of responsibilities among organizational levels as well as accounting development within Saint Anna’s Hospital both before and after an episode of significant institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]