26 research outputs found
Accounting can support a “sustainable” corruption network: a case analysis
No full textPurpose: The paper aims to explore the links between corruption and accounting in the public procurement setting. In particular, it investigates how accounting can fight or facilitate corruption Design/methodology/approach: The study takes a qualitative approach, analyzing one of the worst recent Italian cases of corruption, the “MOSE” trial. Documents produced during the trial are analyzed. Findings: The findings contribute to our understanding of how the (mis)use of accounting can help to build a “sustainable” corruption network, and be used to create, maintain and share corruptive cash flows. Participating actors can use accounting tools to coordinate their actions and organize their misconduct. Accounting may also reveal the existence of such networks, however, by enabling the fiscal police to discover tax fraud, and by reconstructing how a corruption network functions from records kept to manage internal cash flows and the provision of other benefits. Practical implications: Because corruption is a worldwide phenomenon, a better understanding of how it functions may lead (among other things) to the identification of more effective prevention measures. Particular attention should be paid to events that favor corruption, such as extraordinary occurrences, huge amounts of public resources and new institutional structure without appropriate control and balance tools. Originality/value: Given the specific features of episodes of corruption, qualitative studies on this topic are scarce. Little is known about corruption processes, and even less about the part that accounting can play in them. The MOSE case offers some intriguing insight, showing how accounting can be used to build a “sustainable” corruption network by collecting slush funds and facilitating benefit-sharing among individuals
La misurazione dalla performance degli atenei: uno schema per l'analisi dello stato dell'arte
No full textA seguito dell’ampio movimento di riforma del settore universitario e del mutato contesto culturale ed economico, gli atenei ed i sistemi universitari nazionali sono chiamati a sostenere processi di autonomia anche attraverso l’introduzione di strumenti di misurazione, valutazione e controllo della performance. Il paper sintetizza inizialmente gli elementi di complessità propri del concetto di performance applicato all’università; illustra successivamente la proposta di uno schema interpretativo per l’analisi dei diversi contributi normativi ed accademici sul tema. Il framework proposto può essere utilizzato al fine di identificare quali aree sono state presidiate dalla letteratura e dalla normativa e quali invece trascurate
I trasporti ferroviari: specificità nella misurazione dei costi
No full textL'articolo sintetizza le specificità di metodo per lo sviluppo di un sistema di contabilità analitica nelle aziende di trasporto ferroviario
La misurazione della performance negli atenei: evidenze dalle pubblicazioni italiane dell'ultimo decennio
No full textLa letteratura e la normativa, sia italiana che internazionale, hanno dimostrato
un crescente interesse per il tema della misurazione della performance nelle
università. Sono quindi oggi presenti numerosi contributi sul tema, ciascuno dei
quali mira ad analizzare uno o più dei numerosi e spesso complessi aspetti
legati allo sviluppo di un efficace sistema di misurazione per gli atenei. Il paper,
sulla base di un originale schema interpretativo, presenta l’analisi dei contributi
accademici e normativi italiani dell’ultimo decennio, ai fini di definire lo “stato
dell’arte” sul tema ed individuare quali aree siano state approfondite e quali
invece per lo più trascurate
Performance measurement in academic departments: The strategy map approach
No full textThis is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in [include the complete citation information for the final version of the article as published in Public Money and Management in 2011 [copyright Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09540962.2011.586240."The purpose of the paper is the implementation of the strategic map model to an academic
department. We use a qualitative methodology to identify dimensions of performance measurement
suitable for application. After identifying the relations between the four perspectives and identifying
the strategic maps, the case proposes a set of goals and measures which are suitable to satisfy the
managerial needs a public service organization
Performance measurement systems in higher education: how levers of control reveal the ambiguities of reforms
No full textThis paper focuses on the introduction of new performance measurement system (PMS)for measuring teaching performance in Universities. The adoption of such PMS should prompt significant changes in existing control processes, but the goals of reform do not automatically translate into the desired organisational responses. Given the impact of PMSon management controls, the nature of such ambiguities may be better investigated using a framework that allows management control systems (MCS) to be taken in account. This paper investigates key actors' perceptions regarding the introduction of PMS through the lens of the levers of control (Simons, 1995, 2000). A qualitative analysis is conducted on interviews held with Italian university teaching managers and heads of programmes to examine the ambiguities arising from the implementation of a PMS.Several ambiguities emerge, both within and between the levers analysed, suggesting some reasons for the (partial) ineffectiveness of PMS reforms. In particular, the belief systems lever is crucial in making reforms acceptable, bureaucratic procedures are important in the diagnostic control systems lever, and performance indicators operate as a boundary system lever. Our findings show that administrative and academic actors perceive the interactive control capacity of PMS differently
La misurazione dei costi nelle aziende di trasporto ferroviario: dal costo delle attività al costo della corsa
No full textThe article analyzes the methodological characteristics which
should govern the application of a cost measurement system in a company that provides rail transport services. It identifies the main distinctive features which a cost accounting system must have in order to capture the particular structure of companies operating in rail transport sector. These features basically concern the need to modify and integrate the activity-based costing system with the aim of understanding and managing the costs which have no link in terms of consumption with the activities of the service rovision process, but they do have a link with the components and infrastructures of the network.
This methodology has been applied to Trentino Trasporti, a medium sized, privately owned passenger railway company operating in the Trentino/Alto Adige region. Evidence suggests that the proposed methodology allows the operational connection between the company’s costs and the clients’ consumption of them when they buy transport services to be measured. Such connection also enables the identifi cation of new opportunities for improvement and for cost optimisation
Performance measurement systems in higher education: How levers of control reveal the ambiguities of reforms
No full textThis paper focuses on the introduction of new performance measurement system (PMS) for measuring teaching performance in Universities. The adoption of such PMS should prompt significant changes in existing control processes, but the goals of reform do not automatically translate into the desired organisational responses. Given the impact of PMS on management controls, the nature of such ambiguities may be better investigated using a framework that allows management control systems (MCS) to be taken in account. This paper investigates key actors’ perceptions regarding the introduction of PMS through the lens of the levers of control (Simons 1995, 2000). A qualitative analysis is conducted on interviews held with Italian university teaching managers and heads of programmes to examine the ambiguities arising from the implementation of a PMS.
Several ambiguities emerge, both within and between the levers analysed, suggesting some reasons for the (partial) ineffectiveness of PMS reforms. In particular, the belief systems lever is crucial in making reforms acceptable, bureaucratic procedures are important in the diagnostic control systems lever, and performance indicators operate as a boundary system lever. Our findings show that administrative and academic actors perceive the interactive control capacity of PMS differently
Costing and pricing in healthcare private firms
No full textThis article analyzes the development of an activity-based costing (ABC) system in a private Italian healthcare firm.
Findings shed light on the role of the cost accounting system in price assessment: It outlines new opportunities for
the identification of the service mix offered as well as for price optimization. Because private companies provide
services both within the public system—where the National Health System (NHS) provides fixed reimbursement
fees—and within the private system—where prices are defined by each company. Accurate cost information is
extremely important to support managers in the analysis of the service mix profitability offered in each system. For
the business segment in which companies do not have flexibility in setting prices, cost information enables
managers to identify services which may present profitability problems. For the business segment where price
flexibility exists, cost information supports the identification of pricing errors so that charges can be better defined
