1,721,042 research outputs found
Accounting and the Restoration of Pastoral Power in the 15th-century Roman Catholic Church
No full textInformed by the work of Foucault on pastoral power the chapter examines the genealogical core of governmentality in the context of the Roman Catholic Church at a time of great crisis in the 15th century. The contributions of accounting to pastoral power have been pivotal in restoring the Church’s standing and influence. Accounting was one of the technologies that allowed the bishops to control both the diocese as a whole and each priest, to subjugate the priests to the bishops’ authority and, thereby, to govern the diocese through a never-ending extraction of truth
The Imperative of Power: Accounting in Diverse Settings
No full textThe chapter recognizes the significant contributions of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese researches in studying accounting as a socially constructed practice. In particular, it explores how Italian and Iberian scholars have contributed to unmasking the seemingly benign appearance of accounting practices which makes them invaluable as a tool in the exercise of power for institutions as diverse as the Church and the State and the Empires. It also provides an overview of the chapters included in the book
Accounting for the Holocaust: enabling the Final Solution
No full textThis chapter provides a conclusion to Accounting for the Holocaust by reflecting on the crucial contributions provided by accounting to the perpetration of the Holocaust. The banal and even benign calculative practices of accounting gave legitimacy to racial justifications for the internment of Jews in concentration camps and ensured the smooth functioning of the Nazi murderous machine. By giving visibility to selected aspects of the conditions to which Jews were condemned, accounting practices denied Jews their humanity. Moreover, accounting tools provided the means to allow the fatal consequences of the way in which the camps were managed to be largely hidden from the outside world. The chapter also calls for further investigations into the role of accounting in enabling the Holocaust both in Europe and in other locations that the German Nazis and Italian Fascists occupied
Accounting and the dehumanisation of the Jewish ‘Other’
No full textThis chapter provides an introduction to the pivotal role of accounting as a practice to expedite the attempted annihilation of Jews by the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists. Accounting practices provided the means to help deny Jews of their humanity and individuality by reducing them to mere numbers, making them effectively invisible as prescient human beings. Accounting practices used especially by the German civil and military bureaucracies also provided a means for those indirectly involved in mass murder to later claim innocence and ignorance of the consequences of their actions. Thus, accounting was to have both fatal, genocidal and moral purposes in the service of those who orchestrated and carried out the Holocaust
Popular culture and totalitarianism: Accounting for propaganda in Italy under the Fascist regime (1934-1945)
No full textThroughout history, both democratic and totalitarian States have sought to take advantage of the possible political contributions of art and culture. This chapter presents the first in-depth historical study of the relationship between accounting and culture in a totalitarian State; the Fascist State in Italy between 1934 and 1945. Accounting documents in the form of budgets and reports provided by the Fascist government, along with other accounts prepared by the Fascists, were used to build a narrative that identified the ways in which the Fascist regime sought to rally the Italian people around new values such as nationalism and hatred for the “Other”, which led to the persecution of Jews. Accounting documents and the cultural activities to which they relate show the ways in which the Fascists developed their own conception of popular culture and sought control of cultural organisations and intellectuals in spreading their values and beliefs through cultural artefacts
Accounting for the Fossoli concentration camp
No full textItalian Jews were collected by the Fascists at the Fossoli concentration camp in northern Italy and later transported by the Germans to their extermination camps. This required the suspension of the normal Italian legal protections that Agamben has recognised as the creation of a state of exception that allowed Jews to be denied the rights that gave their life value, thereby reducing them to “bare life” that could be destroyed without consequence for the killer. Accounting practices used in the management of the Fossoli concentration camp allowed Italian Jews in the camp to become known only with measurable attributes, not individuals with a right to life. Jewish prisoners sent to the extermination camps to be killed became mere numbers, data to be processed. Consequently, accounting practices became fundamental to the Nazis’ biopolitical regime that would become part of the attempted annihilation of Italian Jews
Accounting and the Diffusion of Sacred Values in the Diocese of Ferrara (1431-1457)
No full textInformed by the work of Laughlin and Booth, the chapter analyzes the role of accounting and accountability practices within the 15th century Roman Catholic Church. Secular accounting and accountability practices were not regarded as necessarily antithetical to religious values, as would be expected by Laughlin and Booth. Instead, they were seen to assume a role which was complementary to the Church’s religious mission. Indeed, they were essential to its sacred mission during a period in which the Pope sought to arrest the moral decay of the clergy and reinstate the Church’s authority
Accounting and Raison d’État in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany: Reopening the University of Pisa (1543-1609)
No full textThe University of Pisa in the 16th and early 17th centuries was essential to the governmental plan of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany to strengthen their State. Consistent with the rationality of Foucault’s concept of raison d’État, the Grand Dukes sought to constantly mould the conduct of students and professors through a multitude of interventions. These often contradicted the law in the form of the Statute under which the University was reopened that promised to protect the freedom and independence of students and professors. Detailed control by the Grand Dukes was enabled by an extensive use of written information, most notably in the form of accounting reports, which made it possible for the rulers to govern the University through a ‘permanent coup d’État’
Funding policies and accounting at the University of Ferrara under the Fascist Regime in Italy
No full textAccounting was a fundamental tool for the Italian Fascist regime to exert its power on universities, which are recognised to be among the most independent public organisations within a State. For the Fascists, educational discourses were extremely important in forming the “new Italians” by shaping the values and beliefs of future generations and ruling classes according to the Fascist creed. Limiting the autonomy of these organisations was extremely important to take control of the educational process and limit freethinking. Accordingly, at the time when Fascists came into power the University of Ferrara enjoyed the status of “Free University”. Accounting provided the Fascist Government with key information about the activities of the University of Ferrara, thereby enabling an individualised intervention. At the same time, it helped to make visible the need of the University to rely on government funding when Fascist policies had the effect of “starving” the organisation. So persuasive was the action enabled by accounting information that the University eventually surrendered to the pressure coming from the government and requested to become a “Kingdom University”, subject to formal, penetrating controls by the State
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