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Article
Publication date: 15 October 2018

Accounting and the banality of evil: Expropriation of Jewish property in Fascist Italy (1939–1945)

Valerio Antonelli, Raffaele D’Alessio, Roberto Rossi and Warwick Funnell

The purpose of this paper is to identify the significant role of accounting in the expropriation of Jewish real estate after the enforcement of race laws under Benito…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the significant role of accounting in the expropriation of Jewish real estate after the enforcement of race laws under Benito Mussolini’s Fascist regime in Italy.

Design/methodology/approach

Hannah Arendt’s understanding of government bureaucracy in the twentieth century totalitarian regimes informs the research which draws upon a wide range of primary sources.

Findings

Implementation of the program of expropriation was the responsibility of a government body, EGELI, which was created specifically for this purpose. The language of accounting provided the means to disguise the nature and brutality of the process and allow bureaucrats to be removed from the consequences of their actions. Accounting reports from EGELI to the Ministry of Finance confirmed each year that those who worked in EGELI were devoted to its mission as an agency of the Fascist State.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this study recognize the need for further research on the role played by servicemen, bureaucrats and accounting as a technology of government in the deportation of Italian Jews to Germany. The study also provides impetus to examine how other countries managed the properties confiscated or expropriated from the Jews in the earlier stages of the Final Solution.

Originality/value

The study is the first to identify the significant role played by accounting and accountants in the persecution of Italian Jews under the Fascism.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 31 no. 8
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-11-2016-2783
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Jews
  • Accounting
  • Expropriation of property
  • Italian Fascism

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Article
Publication date: 21 May 2018

Accounting for the male domination through legislative empowerment of upper-middle class women in the early nineteenth century Spain

María Dolores Capelo Bernal, Pedro Araújo Pinzón and Warwick Funnell

The purpose of this paper is to address both the neglect of non-Anglo-centric accounting gendered practices beyond the predominant professional setting and the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address both the neglect of non-Anglo-centric accounting gendered practices beyond the predominant professional setting and the controversial roles of women and accounting in power relationships inside the household. Analyzing a Spanish upper-middle class Catholic family in the early nineteenth century, the research focuses on the reciprocal interaction of accounting with practices and processes of daily life in a rigid patriarchal socio-cultural and juridical context.

Design/methodology/approach

This microhistory draws upon several archives, including in Spain the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Cádiz. In England, the Bath Record Office has preserved documents and correspondence, both personal and business related, and the Worcester Record Office preserved notarial documents concerning the family. The large number of letters which have survived has facilitated an in-depth study of the people who were affected by accounting calculations.

Findings

In a juridical context where women were conceived as merely the means for the circulation of property between two families, the evidence shows that accounting provided the proof of women’s patrimony value and the means to facilitate their recovery in this cosification process. Although women had a little involvement in the household’s accounting and management, they demonstrated confidence in accounting, fulfilling a stewardship function for the resources received. Also, evidence shows that by using accounting practices to shield supposedly defenseless women, this reinforced male domination over women and promoted the view that the role of women was as an ornament and in need of a good husband.

Originality/value

Contrasting with the Anglo-Saxon contemporary context, the Spanish law preserved a woman’s property rights, guaranteeing recovery of properties owned by her before marriage should the marriage be legally annulled or be dissolved because one of the spouses’ death. This required a detailed accounting of the wife’s properties brought to her marriage, most especially regarding the dowry provided by her family.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 31 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2014-1664
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Gender
  • Spain
  • Household accounting
  • Langton-Dillón family
  • Patriarchy

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Article
Publication date: 27 October 2020

Accounting for control of Italian culture in the Fascist Ethical State: the Alla Scala Opera House

Michele Bigoni, Warwick Funnell, Enrico Deidda Gagliardo and Mariarita Pierotti

The study focusses on the complex interaction between ideological beliefs, culture and accounting by identifying during Benito Mussolini's time in power the contributions…

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Abstract

Purpose

The study focusses on the complex interaction between ideological beliefs, culture and accounting by identifying during Benito Mussolini's time in power the contributions of accounting to the Italian Fascist repertoire of power in the cultural domain. It emphasises the importance of accounting in making the Alla Scala Opera House in Milan a vital institution in the creation of a Fascist national culture and identity which was meant to define the Fascist “Ethical State”.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopts the Foucauldian concept of discourse in analysing the accounting practices of the Alla Scala Opera House.

Findings

Financial statements and related commentaries prepared by the Alla Scala Opera House were not primarily for ensuring good management and the minimisation of public funding in contrast to the practices and expectations of accounting in liberal States. Instead, the dominant Fascist discourse shaped the content and use of accounting and ensured that accounting practices could be a means to construct the Opera House as a “moral individual” that was to serve wider national interests consistent with the priorities of the Fascist Ethical State.

Research limitations/implications

The study identifies how accounting can be mobilised for ideological purposes in different ways which are not limited to supporting discourses inspired by logics of efficiency and profit. The paper also draws attention to the contributions of accounting discourses in shaping the identity of an organisation consistent with the priorities of those who hold the supreme authority in a society.

Social implications

The analysis of how the Fascist State sought to reinforce its power by making cultural institutions a critical part of this process provides the means to understand and unmask the taken-for-granted way in which discourses are created to promote power relations and related interests such as in the rise of far-right movements, most especially in weaker and more vulnerable countries at present.

Originality/value

Unlike most of the work on the relationship between culture and accounting which has emphasised liberal States, this study considers a non-liberal State and documents a use of accounting in the cultural domain which was not limited to promoting efficiency consistent with the priorities now recognised more recently of the New Public Management. It presents a micro-perspective on accounting as an ideological discourse by investigating the role of accounting in the exploitation of a cultural institution for political purposes.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 34 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-09-2019-4186
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Accounting
  • Ethical state
  • Discourse
  • Culture
  • State

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Article
Publication date: 24 May 2019

Accounting and the enactment of power: municipal reform by Peter Leopold 1774–1775

Laura Maran, Warwick Funnell and Monia Castellini

The purpose of this paper is to understand the enduring, fundamental contributions of accounting practices in the pursuit of decentralization by governments, with an…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the enduring, fundamental contributions of accounting practices in the pursuit of decentralization by governments, with an examination of Peter Leopold’s reform of the municipalities in the late eighteenth century in Italy.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive textual analysis of the very comprehensive collection of primary sources of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany during the de’ Medici and Hapsburg-Lorraine’s rule identified the reasons for Peter Leopold’s decision to decentralize his government’s authority and responsibilities. A systemic comparison of the 1765–1766 and 1775–1776 financial reports of the Municipality of Castrocaro and Terra del Sole disclosed the importance of the micro-practices of accounting and reporting for the reform.

Findings

In the context of the eighteenth century enlightenment, Peter Leopold legitimized his reform by the introduction of a modern style of government based on the rationalization of the municipal administrative system and decentralization of central authority and responsibility. The reform was made feasible by the substitution of a birth right principle with an economic discourse which linked tax payments to property ownership. This had the unintended consequence of increased taxes, higher municipal expenditures and possible inequalities between municipalities.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of the study are dependent on the resources which have survived and are now preserved in the official archives of Galeata and Florence. This work contributes to the extant literature on administrative reforms in a crucial period for the redefinition of sovereignty by the ruling classes, with the rise of the modern State. It extends historical understanding of the public sector with a focus on local government in the eighteenth century in a non-Anglo-Saxon context.

Practical implications

The examination of the reform of Peter Leopold contributes to an enhanced understanding of present-day decentralization by governments in the context of the new public management (NPM). It provides to NPM advocates a broader temporal and contextual understanding of the impact of current decentralization reforms.

Originality/value

Few accounting studies have considered the micro-aspects of decentralization reforms at the municipal level and tried to identify their impact on the wealth of the population. Moreover, Peter Leopold’s reform is considered one of the most innovative and enlightened of the eighteenth century, while the remainder of Europe was still overwhelmingly committed to the centralization of administrative apparatuses. Finally, this study relates to the multi-disciplinary debate about the recognition, qualification and accountization of the impact of decentralization of responsibility for the delivery of government services.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-10-2017-3180
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Municipality
  • Administrative reform
  • Accounting system
  • Decentralization of government
  • Eighteenth century
  • Grand Duchy of Tuscany

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Article
Publication date: 19 December 2019

Accounting for Napoleonic imperialism in Tuscany and the Kingdom of Naples

Tiziana Di Cimbrini, Warwick Funnell, Michele Bigoni, Stefania Migliori and Augusta Consorti

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of accounting in the enactment of the Napoleonic imperial project in Tuscany and the Kingdom of Naples in the early…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of accounting in the enactment of the Napoleonic imperial project in Tuscany and the Kingdom of Naples in the early nineteenth century.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopts the Foucauldian theoretical framework of governmentality and a comparative approach to highlight similarities and differences between the two regions.

Findings

The presence of different cultural understandings and structures of power meant that in Tuscany accounting mirrored and reinforced the existing power structure, whereas in the Kingdom of Naples accounting practices were constitutive of power relations and acted as a compensatory mechanism. In the Kingdom of Naples, where local elites had been traditionally involved in ruling municipalities, control of accounting information and the use of resources “re-adjusted” the balance of power in favour of the French whilst letting local population believe that Napoleon was respectful of local customs.

Research limitations/implications

The ability of accounting technologies to act as compensatory mechanisms within governmentality systems paves the way to further investigations about the relationships between accounting and other governmentality technologies as well as the adjustment mechanisms leading to accounting resilience in different contexts.

Social implications

By identifying accounting as an adaptive instrument supporting less obvious practices of domination the study helps unmask a hidden mechanism underlying attempts to know, govern and control populations which still characterises modern forms of imperialism.

Originality/value

The comparative perspective leads to a new specification of the multifaceted roles that accounting plays in different cultural and political contexts in the achievement of the same set of imperial goals and enhances understanding of the translation of politics, rhetoric and power into a set of administrative tasks and calculative practices.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2018-3467
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Accounting
  • Italy
  • Governmentality
  • Napoleon

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Article
Publication date: 19 June 2017

Accounting for madness: the “Real Casa dei Matti” of Palermo 1824-1860

Warwick Funnell, Valerio Antonelli, Raffaele D’Alessio and Roberto Rossi

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role played by accounting in managing an early nineteenth century lunatic asylum in Palermo, Italy.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role played by accounting in managing an early nineteenth century lunatic asylum in Palermo, Italy.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is informed by Foucault’s studies of lunatic asylums and his work on governmentality which gave prominence to the role of statistics, the “science of the State”.

Findings

This paper identifies a number of roles played by accounting in the management of the lunatic asylum studied. Most importantly, information which formed the basis of accounting reports was used to describe, classify and give visibility and measurability to the “deviance” of the insane. It also legitimated the role played by lunatic asylums, as entrusted to them in post-Napoleonic early nineteenth century society, and was a tool to mediate with the public authorities to provide adequate resources for the institution to operate.

Research limitations/implications

This paper encourages accounting scholars to engage more widely with socio-historical research that will encompass organisations such as lunatic asylums.

Originality/value

This paper provides, for the first time, a case of accounting applied to a lunatic asylum from a socio-historical perspective.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 30 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2015-2047
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Accounting
  • Foucault
  • Italy
  • Insane asylum
  • Moral therapy

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Article
Publication date: 7 February 2014

The religious imperative of cost accounting in the early industrial revolution

Warwick Funnell and Robert Williams

The paper aims to extend research which has sought to explain Britain's early success as an industrial power by identifying the influence of religious doctrine of the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to extend research which has sought to explain Britain's early success as an industrial power by identifying the influence of religious doctrine of the Dissenting Protestant churches on the development of accounting practices in the factory. The concern is not with specific accounting practices but with the social and moral environment which provided the incentives and permissions that encouraged late eighteenth century English industrialists to develop the practices that they used.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on the highly influential writings of social theorists such Weber, Sombart and Tawney to identify the religious doctrines that both motivated and justified the rational, ideological business practices of prominent businessmen.

Findings

The rise of accounting as a powerful tool of control and discipline was significantly assisted by the teaching of the Dissenting Protestant churches on “calling”. Religious beliefs provided permissions, justifications and incentives which underpinned the entrepreneurial energies, opportunities and successes of the early industrialists. Accounting could be seen to assume almost the aura and nascent legitimacy of a religious practice, a means of sanctifying practices which were otherwise reviled by social elites.

Originality/value

Despite encouragement from accounting researchers for histories of accounting which give greater credence to the reflexivity between accounting and society, this has yet to find a significant presence amongst the searches for beginnings in cost accounting where economic and management factors remain the overwhelming focus. Religious beliefs are shown to have been especially influential in the adoption of accounting practices by early industrialists who were frequently members of the Dissenting Protestant churches.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-03-2013-1269
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Religion
  • Accounting
  • Industrial revolution
  • Dissenting churches

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1998

The narrative and its place in the new accounting history: the rise of the counternarrative

Warwick Funnell

Traditional history has sought to provide narrative accounts of the past which can be accepted as factual, devoid of fictions and therefore true. This image has come under…

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Abstract

Traditional history has sought to provide narrative accounts of the past which can be accepted as factual, devoid of fictions and therefore true. This image has come under strong attack from new historians who denounce the narrative as a literary convention which mixes fiction (myth) and fact rather than being a model of an extant, discoverable reality. The narrative is also accused of being the means of privileging some accounts of history and thereby enhancing the position of social élites. This paper rejects condemnation of the ability of narrative history to provide reliable renditions of accounting’s past and promotes the role of narrativity in the “new” accounting history. It is shown that new accounting history, whilst critical of the results of traditional accounting history, currently still finds merit in the narrative as both the form in which historical events occur and as a means of telling alternative stories or counternarratives.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09513579810215446
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Accounting history
  • Narratives

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Article
Publication date: 1 October 1998

Executive coercion and state audit: A processual analysis of the responses of the Australian audit office to the dilemmas of efficiency auditing1978‐84

Warwick Funnell

The introduction of efficiency auditing in Australian Commonwealth state audit created a level of stress and threat for the Auditor‐General never previously encountered…

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Abstract

The introduction of efficiency auditing in Australian Commonwealth state audit created a level of stress and threat for the Auditor‐General never previously encountered. Using insights from processual analysis as developed by Turner to demonstrate the pressures on state audit, the paper focuses on the principal events constituting the short life of the new Efficiency Audit Division (1978‐84) which had been established within the Australian Audit Office to develop efficiency auditing methods and to carry out efficiency audits. It documents for the first time a level of executive intrusion in state audit which contradicts the image promoted in Westminster democracies of a robustly independent state auditor and highlights the political nature of state audit.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09513579810231448
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Audit Commission
  • Auditing
  • Australia
  • Efficiency

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Article
Publication date: 8 May 2009

Accounting and the moral economy of illness in Victorian England: the Newcastle Infirmary

Andy Holden, Warwick Funnell and David Oldroyd

This paper aims to examine the Victorian attitude to the poor by focussing on the health care provided at a large provincial hospital, the Newcastle Infirmary.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the Victorian attitude to the poor by focussing on the health care provided at a large provincial hospital, the Newcastle Infirmary.

Design/methodology/approach

The archives of the Newcastle Infirmary are reviewed alongside the local trade directories. These primary sources are examined in conjunction with the writings of contemporary social theorists on poverty.

Findings

At a time when poverty was seen as a sin, an act against God, it would be easy to assume that the Victorians faced no moral dilemma in dismissing the poor, particularly what were seen as the “undeserving poor”, out of hand. Yet, the paper observes how accounting was used both to persuade the wealthier citizens to contribute funds and to enable the hospital to exercise compassion in treating paupers despite this being prohibited under the hospital's rules. Such a policy conflicted with the dominant utilitarian view of society, which emphasised the twin pillars of economic expediency and self‐help.

Research limitations/implications

More case studies are needed of other hospitals to ascertain how typical the Newcastle Infirmary was of the voluntary hospital sector as a whole.

Originality/value

Although many histories of British hospitals exist and some have examined how accounting was used to manage within these institutions, the concern has not been with accounting as a moral practice.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09513570910955434
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

  • Hospitals
  • Ethics
  • Victorian Britian
  • Poverty
  • Social accounting

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