1,721,088 research outputs found
Shipbuilding and early forms of modern management. Six months to rebuild the Ottoman fleet after the defeat at Lepanto
Full text linkThis paper focuses on the reconstruction of the Ottoman fleet following the naval defeat at Lepanto (1571). It examines the event from the perspective of management studies. Drawing on extensive archival research, we reconstruct the Ottoman Empire's decision-making processes, looking at the main organisational conditions that made this remarkable feat possible. This allows us to make a preliminary comparison with the management of the Venice Arsenal in the same period, as an example of an early form of modern management. To what extent this extraordinary effort was-at the same time-a consequence and a driver of a different pattern of organising economic activities on two sides of Mediterranean Sea? Differences between the two contexts are discussed, while addressing the importance of shipbuilding in the development of early forms of management and the invention of the factory system in preindustrial, state run manufacturing, with particular reference to shipyards
The Chinese accounting profession in the People's Republic: A preliminary understanding from an oral history perspective
Full text linkWhile oral history still has a marginal role in accounting literature in general, it has not been applied at all in relation to the history of Chinese accounting. Within broader research on accounting change in China, this paper uses oral history to investigate patterns of the career of accountants in China. We interviewed 21 retired accountants, aging from 60 to 90 at the time of the interview, asking them to share their professional experience in open and unstructured talk. We reconstruct individual experiences, which provides insights into the working lives of our interviewees. Unlike previous studies that only focus on influential informants, we investigate Chinese accounting changes as they emerge from the collective memory of everyday accountants. Taking a pluralist perspective, we collect non-archival data to illustrate the education and common elements in accounting career development. Our approach takes a ‘view from below’, underlining the limitations of top-down perspectives in most of the literature on accounting change in China. The findings contribute to our understanding of accounting changes in China and their social and economic impacts on the profession while providing interesting implications for oral history in accounting in general
Il Ferrara Buskers Festival: progettualità, emergenza e costellazione di significati
No full textAnalisi e ricerca sui processi organizzativi e gestionali che hanno caratterizzato l'evoluzione del Ferrara Buskers Festival
Accountability and patronage in extraordinary administrations: Evidence from Pompeii
Full text linkDrawing on the concept of an accountabilityweb, this paper analyzes
the 2-year long extraordinary administration of the archaeological
site at Pompeii, where the Italian Prime Minister appointed a special
Commissioner to deal with the alleged decay of the site in July 2008.
Findings shed light on critical issues related to the appointment of
“loyal experts” in terms of strong personalization, short-term thinking,
and the influence of the media in the administration of public services.
Moreover, the paper introduces patronage accountability as a
distinct accountability dimension that is characterized by a hierarchical
and informal nature, and which cannot be accessed by those who
are not part of the transaction.We add to the literature by identifying
patronage accountability as a separate accountability dimension
that conflicts with more common ones, and examine the implications
of this practice for public administration
Accounting Relativism: The Unstable Relationship between Income Measurement and Theories of the Firm
No full textThe knowledge structures underlying accounting representations are rarely investigated and usually tend to be taken
for granted. As a case of the problematic knowledge foundations of accounting, we concentrate on one of the most
relevant conceptual underpinnings informing the construction of the accountsÐthe relationship between theories of
the ®rm, accounting theories, and income measurement. In particular we analyse and compare the ways in which this
relationship has been conceived and developed in two theoretical contexts, the Italian tradition of Economia Aziendale
and the US entity vs proprietary debate. Various and contradictory approaches to the concept of the ®rm and income
calculation in these two theoretical traditions emerge. Such a conceptual variety is what we refer to as `accounting
relativism'. This is de®ned here as the co-existence of di erent accounting representations and measurements, both of
which are not objectively rankable in any conceptual hierarchy, because of the incommensurability of their basic
assumptions, i.e. of their knowledge bases. This intrinsically `unstable' character of accounting at a conceptual level is
likely to have relevant implications, representing a major source of theoretical variety, as well as a premise for making
sense of power uses of accounting within organisational setting
Controlling Expenditure, or the Slow Emergence of Costing at the Venice Arsenal (1586-1633)
No full textThis paper aims to aid our understanding of the emergence of accounting as a control instrument in complex proto-industrial settings, through its perceived capacity of mirroring the production process. The paper starts off from an archival document, the 1586 deliberation by the Venetian Senate, which imposed on the Arsenal a stocktaking to be conducted every three years, and ad hoc galley production accounts to be kept in double entry format, where the passage of materials and
work-in-process between units were recorded both in physical quantity and value. In this deliberation, the Venetian Senate was clearly posing explicitly the problem of costing and the efficient use of resources within the Arsenal. Until then, the Senate controlled this organisation only by limiting the funds allocated to activities (wages, oars, ‘stuffs’) without entering into the substance of the operations.
Two interrelated investigations are carried out. First, a content analysis of the 1586 document is made. Second, the question of its ‘impact’ on the Arsenal’s actual accounting practices is addressed.
In a 1633 Report by Alvise Molin, a magistrate of the Republic, some elements of the 1586 deliberation seem to surface, insofar as a quite sophisticated calculation of the production costs of galleys is provided. In this sense it might well be that the notion of cost emerged as a sort of ‘accidental by-product’ of the Senate’s efforts aimed at introducing tighter forms of control on the Arsenal
Movimenti finanziari e pratiche amministrative nell’Arsenale di Venezia (seconda metà del XVI secolo)
No full textAccounting Relativism: The Unstable Relationship between Income Measurement and Theories of the Firm
No full textThe knowledge structures underlying accounting representations are rarely investigated and usually tend to be taken for granted. As a case of the problematic knowledge foundations of accounting, we concentrate on one of the most relevant conceptual underpinnings informing the construction of the accounts—the relationship between theories of the firm, accounting theories, and income measurement. In particular we analyse and compare the ways in which this relationship has been conceived and developed in two theoretical contexts, the Italian tradition of Economia Aziendale and the US entity vs proprietary debate. Various and contradictory approaches to the concept of the firm and income calculation in these two theoretical traditions emerge. Such a conceptual variety is what we refer to as ‘accounting relativism’. This is defined here as the co-existence of different accounting representations and measurements, both of which are not objectively rankable in any conceptual hierarchy, because of the incommensurability of their basic assumptions, i.e. of their knowledge bases. This intrinsically ‘unstable’ character of accounting at a conceptual level is likely to have relevant implications, representing a major source of theoretical variety, as well as a premise for making sense of power uses of accounting within organisational setting
Controlling Expenditure, or the Slow Emergence of Costing at the Venice Arsenal, 1586-1633
No full textThis paper aims to aid our understanding of the emergence of accounting as a control instrument in complex proto-industrial settings, through its perceived capacity of mirroring the production process. The paper starts off from an archival document, the 1586 deliberation by the Venetian Senate, which imposed on the Arsenal a stocktaking to be conducted every three years, and ad hoc galley production accounts to be kept in double entry format, where the passage of materials and work-in-process between units were recorded both in physical quantity and value. In this deliberation the Venetian Senate was clearly posing explicitly the problem of costing and the efficient use of resources within the Arsenal. Until then, the Senate controlled this organisation only by limiting the funds allocated to activities (wages, oars, 'stuffs') without entering into the substance of the operations. Two interrelated investigations are carried out. First, a content analysis of the 1586 document is made. Second, the question of its 'impact' on the Arsenal's actual accounting practices is addressed. In a 1633 Report by Alvise Molin, a magistrate of the Republic, some elements of the 1586 deliberation seem to surface, insofar as a quite sophisticated calculation of the production costs of galleys is provided. In this sense it might well be that the notion of cost emerged as a sort of 'accidental by-product' of the Senate's efforts aimed at introducing tighter forms of control on the Arsenal.Venice Arsenal, accounting history, management history, public sector, costing evolution,
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