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IMPACT: While both the academic literature and practice suggest that the use of accounting information is often not neutral, the factors behind a manipulative use of accounting information are under-researched—especially in the public sector context. This article is intended to stimulate the debate about ethical questions related to accounting information manipulation that are often neglected. The authors aim to increase awareness among politicians and public managers about the disputability, or even inappropriateness, of the accounting information they receive.

Purpose: This article investigates how Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be integrated into the strategic planning and management processes of local governments (LGs). It draws from the classic strategic planning and control framework developed in management studies and elaborates some propositions for adapting, implementing and monitoring the SDGs at the city level. Design/methodology/approach: As a first step in the assessment of the ways the principles of sustainable development can be integrated into LG management, this research scrutinizes the incorporation of sustainability goals in the strategic plans of all medium-to-large capital cities of provinces in Italy, a context in which there has been a National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD) since 2016. Findings: The focus on SDGs at the LG level in Italy is in its initial stage, and few capital cities have started to integrate sustainable development concerns into their comprehensive strategic plans. SDGs are used mainly as a reference framework in the strategic plans to demonstrate the contribution of LG strategies to global concerns on sustainable development. Practical implications: The paper offers insights for political leaders and public managers to rethink their strategic management systems, including the continuous process of evaluating and updating of strategic plans, in accordance with the multidimensional perspective of sustainability. To this end, the study has identified possible patterns of actions that public managers elsewhere will find useful. Originality/value: The managerial approach behind the proposed conceptual framework might contribute to effectively localize the SDGs in multilevel government settings and to integrate the concept of sustainability as a guiding principle into organizational routines.

Purpose: This article investigates how Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be integrated into the strategic planning and management processes of local governments (LGs). It draws from the classic strategic planning and control framework developed in management studies and elaborates some propositions for adapting, implementing and monitoring the SDGs at the city level. Design/methodology/approach: As a first step in the assessment of the ways the principles of sustainable development can be integrated into LG management, this research scrutinizes the incorporation of sustainability goals in the strategic plans of all medium-to-large capital cities of provinces in Italy, a context in which there has been a National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD) since 2016. Findings: The focus on SDGs at the LG level in Italy is in its initial stage, and few capital cities have started to integrate sustainable development concerns into their comprehensive strategic plans. SDGs are used mainly as a reference framework in the strategic plans to demonstrate the contribution of LG strategies to global concerns on sustainable development. Practical implications: The paper offers insights for political leaders and public managers to rethink their strategic management systems, including the continuous process of evaluating and updating of strategic plans, in accordance with the multidimensional perspective of sustainability. To this end, the study has identified possible patterns of actions that public managers elsewhere will find useful. Originality/value: The managerial approach behind the proposed conceptual framework might contribute to effectively localize the SDGs in multilevel government settings and to integrate the concept of sustainability as a guiding principle into organizational routines.

L'articolo affronta il tema della pianificazione strategica negli enti locali italiani ed analizza in particolare il contenuto del Documento Unico di Programmazione (DUP). L’obiettivo è quello di esplorare la capacità di formalizzazione della strategia rinvenibile nei DUP di un gruppo selezionato di 13 Comuni italiani, muovendo dalla ricerca, all’interno dei documenti stessi, dei principali elementi costitutivi della strategia. Per la selezione del campione si sono prese in considerazione le città stabilmente posizionate al primo e all’ultimo decile della classifica contenuta nel rapporto ICity Rate per il periodo 2015-2019. Dall’analisi emerge come, a prescindere dalla posizione degli enti in classifica, la capacità di sviluppare una visione strategica resta ad un livello superficiale mentre sembra non ancora matura la capacità di esplicitare obiettivi di sintesi, valori target e misure di risultato.

This article proposes and discusses a managerial framework to provide guidance on implementing and monitoring the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the local government level. The integration of SDGs into city strategic plans will help city leaders and local politicians strengthen their planning and management processes and improve the communication of strategic goals.

Management literature has emphasized the importance of performance measurement systems (PMS) that are consistent with the organisation’s context and strategy. However, little attention has been paid to factors that explain the design of PMS not adequately reflecting an organization’s business model. We use the case of Italian universities to highlight how performance-based funding impacts resource allocation systems of faculty positions to academic departments. The findings show a variety of PMS in use. Differences across systems arise from different strategies and priorities. We have limited evidence that the systems’ features can explain the disparities in research performance and funding, which suggest that part of the explanation may reside in the size of the organization or in the power of academic disciplines.

Negli ultimi decenni, anche il settore dei servizi abitativi e dell’edilizia residenziale pubblica, in particolare quelli a vocazione sociale, sono stati coinvolti nel processo di aziendalizzazione delle pubbliche amministrazioni, seppur con logiche e soluzioni diverse a seconda delle Regioni in cui hanno trovato applicazione. Tale processo si è tradotto in differenti modelli di governance regionale e nella trasformazione degli Istituti Autonomi Case Popolari in soggetti caratterizzati da differenti formule giuridico-istituzionali, modalità di finanziamento e assetti organizzativi. Il presente capitolo intende mettere a fuoco le condizioni per il raggiungimento dell’economicità nelle aziende pubbliche di servizi abitativi e i necessari strumenti di misurazione e controllo, sia nella prospettiva delle singole aziende che in quella del policy maker regionale.

Public-policy assumptions regarding sub-national governments' financial behavior are based on economic rationality. Therefore, to achieve fiscal stability at the macro level, central governments use fiscal rules both to constrain the behavior of local policymakers and to resolve deficit/debt biases. Using the Italian fiscal governance system as an illustrative example, this chapter considers both the tensions derived from achieving fiscal responsibility at the national level in a decentralized environment and the difficulties of maintaining adequate performance at the local government level. It is argued that the public management perspective can be helpful not only at the micro-level but also at the macro level in developing public policies to promote fiscal stability. It is suggested that public policy should adopt a more holistic approach toward fiscal responsibility in multi-level governance environments. Such an approach requires a deep understanding of the determinants of financial viability of public sector organizations.

Il presente articolo fornisce prime evidenze circa i possibili effetti distorsivi sui comportamenti individuali conseguenti ad uno stretto collegamento tra performance e sistemi di allocazione delle risorse nel contesto di un Ateneo pubblico italiano. I risultati rilevano alcune criticità circa l'efficacia del sistema delle metriche; un diverso impatto sui comportamenti degli accademici in relazione al contesto disciplinare e un basso livello del loro coinvolgimento nella progettazione del sistema di misurazione della performance.

Purpose: Studies on how accounting is involved in financial crises and austerity are limited. The context of austerity provides an interesting opportunity to explore the role of accounting in shaping governmental financial resilience, i.e. the capacity of governments to cope with shocks affecting their financial conditions. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a multiple case analysis of eight Italian municipalities, this paper explores how accounting contributes to the government capacities which are used to anticipate and respond to shocks affecting public finances. Findings: Municipalities cope with financial shocks differently; accounting can support self–regulation and can affect internally-led or externally-led adaptation. Different combinations of anticipatory and coping capacities lead to different responses to shocks. Practical implications: The findings can be useful for public managers, policymakers and oversight bodies for strengthening governmental financial resilience in the face of crises and austerity. Originality/value: The results provide evidence of the conditions, contexts, processes under which accounting becomes a medium which can support both anticipation of and coping with financial shocks, supporting cuts in some cases and resistance in the short run or driving long-term changes intended to maintain public services as much intact as possible. This highlights the existence of different patterns of governmental financial resilience and thus indicates ways of best preserving the service of the public interest.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse how academic staff cope with the new culture of performance measurement and assessment in universities. In particular, the study aims to shed light on how external pressures related to measurement of research performance are translated into organisational and individual academic responses within the university and the extent to which these responses are related specifically to the operational features of performance measurement systems (PMS). Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a case study conducted in an Italian public university and based on interviews with a cross-disciplinary sample of faculty members. Findings: The study provides insights into how linking financial incentives and career progression to research performance metrics at the system and organisational levels may have important reorientation effects on individual behaviours and epistemic consequences for the academic work. Research limitations/implications: The study is based on interviews, so one limitation is related to the risk of researcher and interviewee personal bias. Moreover, this study is focused on one single case of a specific university setting, which cannot be fully representative of the experiences of others. Originality/value: The study contributes to the literature on management accounting by exploring the factors that might explain why the unintended effects of PMS on academics’ behaviour reported by several studies might occur. From a practitioner’s point of view, it shows features of PMS that may produce unintended effects on academic activities. It also highlights the need to rethink PMS for the evaluation of university performance through the involvement of different stakeholders.

The Asili di Carità was a non-profit educational institution established for very young children by the Catholic Church in 1836 in the City of Milan. This study shows how the First World War, changes in political ideology and economic developments in northern Italy directly impacted upon the, sometimes precarious, financial position of the Asili. Within the context of such change, the Board of the Asili enacted accountability through the maintenance and presentation of accounting records and meetings with stakeholders. This study draws from both public and private archives to examine the decisions made by the Board in response to change. The study focuses on the Asili’s relations with its most economically powerful stakeholders in the period from 1913 to 1926 as it transitioned from a privately funded organisation to one that was funded predominantly by the Municipality of Milan, before reverting to private hands.

Le società ICT in-house pubbliche producono ed erogano servizi digitali ai cittadini e alle imprese e sviluppano e gestiscono i sistemi informativi degli enti pubblici loro azionisti. L’affidamento di un servizio a queste società trova giustificazione laddove queste garantiscano costi inferiori al mercato o restituiscano un valore aggiunto maggiore. Le società ICT in-house devono quindi ri-orientare i propri sistemi di controllo strategico-direzionale in una prospettiva di misurazione e rendicontazione del valore prodotto per l’azionista pubblico. Ciò implica la necessità di adottare modelli organizzativi e sistemi di activity-based costing che tengano conto delle diverse attività «di servizio pubblico» nell’ambito della catena di produzione del valore dei servizi digitali

This paper focuses on a specific case of innovation in financial governance in Italy that aimed to minimize the effects of financial constraints on local government, while managing deficit control goals at the central level. It consisted in a system of agreements between levels of government based on exchanges of fiscal deficit permits. While this system keeps the aggregate government-wide deficit unchanged, it allows individual local governments to deviate from their initial fiscal targets by obtaining deficit permits from governments that have a surplus. The paper critically analyzes this innovation from three perspectives: the governance model inherent to this mechanism, the new financial management practices emerging locally, and the effectiveness of the mechanism with regard to declared goals and objectives. Our findings show that a critical element limiting innovation in fiscal governance seems to be the simplistic observation that the overall budgetary position of the country’s government results from the algebraic sum of all individual government bodies’ financial results. At the core of this understanding are collateral effects that occur when local priorities are distorted by the need to achieve top-down fiscal targets set by the central government, as exemplified by the unexpected investment crunch in Italy.

In the last decade, especially after the fiscal crisis, policymakers at the supranational and national levels have increased their concern regarding the financial sustainability of public finances and have tightened the control of government deficits by setting permanent financial constraints on government budgets—that is, budgetary rules. The use of budgetary rules in government has been mainly investigated through the lens of public finance and economic theory, while the accounting perspective seems to have been quite neglected. Accounting rules and procedures are critical for the effective functioning of budgetary rules, as they define what has to be measured and lay out a framework for assessing progress and achievement. This chapter aims to start filling this gap by shedding light on the role of budgetary rules in ensuring the financial sustainability of public entities in the context of a multi-level government system.

Drawing on the results of a systematic literature review of empirical studies, this paper sheds light on six broad factors that facilitate the initiation and implementation of co-production in public services. The factors are classified into two overarching categories: organizational factors, including organizational arrangements, professional roles, and managerial tools; and procedural factors, including participant recruitment, participant preparation, and process design. For each set of factors, the paper provides a series of management implications. It concludes with additional observations for practice. Unfortunately, ‘one-size-fits-all’ does not apply to co-production. Policy-makers and public managers need use their knowledge, skills, and judgment to design, activate, and implement co-production activities. The paper presents three organizational factors (organizational arrangements, professional roles, and managerial tools) and three procedural factors (participant recruitment, participant preparation, and process design) that facilitate the initiation and implementation of co-production. Moreover, for each set of factors, the paper provides an important series of management implications that offer guidance to those who are using, or who wish to use, co-production in their organizations. Thus, this paper provides evidence-driven advice that can assist public managers and policy makers looking for ways to improve co-production in public services