Andrea Tenucci

Strategic Management Accounting and Business Strategy: A Loose Coupling?

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether business strategy influences strategic management accounting (SMA) usage. Business strategy has been operationalized through strategic pattern, mission and positioning., – The paper is based on an internet questionnaire survey of Italian companies. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the impact of strategic variables (pattern, mission and positioning) on SMA usage. Company size is included as control variable., – Several SMA techniques appear to be used in Italian companies as they are in other countries investigated in different studies. Customer accounting, competitive position monitoring, competitor performance appraisal based on published financial statement and quality costing represent the most widely used SMA techniques in the Italian sample. From the regression analysis, both defender‐ and cost leader‐type of strategy are found to be more willing to use SMA techniques addressing cost information., – The issue, common in contingent research, of business strategy definition and operationalization constitutes the main limitation of the paper; in an attempt to restrict its effect, it uses three strategic typologies (pattern, mission and positioning) and employs a measurement method used in previous studies. A second issue concerns the definition of SMA techniques. There is no concurred list of SMA techniques in the literature and further discussion is expected in the future., – First, empirical evidence is provided to a field (SMA) where empirical research is needed in order to be comparable with traditional management accounting techniques. Second, for the first time in SMA studies, a framework is employed that considers all of the three main strategic variables (pattern, mission and positioning) used in management accounting literature. As a result, the loose coupling between SMA techniques and business strategy typologies indicates (with the possible exception of cost‐related SMA techniques) that the same SMA technique can support different strategic approaches of the company.

Analyzing intellectual capital information in sustainability reports: some empirical evidence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the content, frequency and quality of intellectual capital voluntary disclosure (ICVD) and the changes that took place over two years (2005 and 2006) in a sample of 37 sustainability reports published by Italian listed companies.Design/methodology/approach – The intellectual capital framework consists of three levels: “IC categories”, “IC items” and “IC indicators”, while content analysis was performed using a quality multidimensional scheme composed of three disclosure profiles, namely, time orientation, nature of information and type of information.Findings – The findings evidence a high and increasing incidence over time of ICVD, with strong emphasis on human capital disclosure, which represents the most reported category, followed by relational and organisational capital. ICVD is mainly expressed in non‐financial, quantitative and non‐time‐specific terms with a low level of forward‐looking information.Research limitations/implications – This study ...

An Analysis of Publishing Patterns in Accounting History Research in Italy, 1990-2004

In the last decade, an increasing number of analyses of accounting history literature have been undertaken to classify historical research paths and to “map” the variety of approaches and issues of the discipline in different geographical settings so as to make international comparisons. The paper develops these topics in the Italian context by studying the development of accounting history research (AHR) in the last 15 years. Contributions by Italian authors have been published in international and national specialist journals as well as in more general accounting journals. Other papers have been presented and published in the proceedings of the biannual SISR (Societa Italiana di Storia della Ragioneria) Congress and in the Congress celebrating the 500th anniversary of the publication of Paciolis Summa held in Venice in 1994. The findings chart publication trends during the period 1990–2004 from a quantitative and qualitative perspective, based on different dimensions, the dynamic of change in Italian A...

Time-driven activity-based costing to improve transparency and decision making in healthcare

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potentialities of innovative accounting tools in supporting “transparency” and “resource allocation” in public hospitals, by describing the implementation of a pilot project of time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC). Design/methodology/approach - – An interventionist research (IR) approach has been adopted: two medical doctors, three financial controllers and three researchers were involved. Collection of data used to implement the accounting model is based on hospital databases and interviews. Findings - – The information produced may allow a higher coherence between resources and activities. TDABC may enhance transparency and support decisions toward a better organization of work and an informed allocation of resources. Research limitations/implications - – Further studies are required to analyze decisions following the implementation of the TDABC model. Originality/value - – The accounting literature lacks case studies describing the application of TDABC in hospital settings, despite its good informative potentialities and the limited investment required to introduce TDABC. Moreover, the use of the IR approach and the involvement of medical doctors may help to get coherence between accounting data and clinical work and may support the further diffusion and development of this costing model in hospitals.

Models of performance and value measurement in service systems

The emergence of service science offers new and renewed research interest to management accounting and to performance management. In terms of management accounting, the prospects of cocreation of value and servitisation lead towards analysis objectives that consider the customer to a greater extent. Secondly, the trend of dissociation between investments (costs) and sources of revenues questions the validity of the traditional logic of costing for pricing in the context of service science. In short, problems of cost and revenue allocation emerge between coproducing partners in a service system. In terms of performance management, the development of business models in which the relevance of the service component increases requires reflection on which innovative techniques should be used to measure value, also with a view to establishing incentive systems oriented towards value creation.

The making of uniform costing in a war economy: The case of the Uniconti Commission in Fascist Italy

This article analyses the experience of the Uniconti Commission in setting rules of uniform costing in Italy during World War II (WWII). This initiative was promoted by the Italian Fascist government and the Confederazione dell’Industria (Industry Confederation) in 1941. The purpose of the study is to investigate the process of setting the uniform costing rules and “why” and “how” they were designed. This is done according to a Foucauldian perspective that allows the problematization of accounting as a complex phenomenon, the emergence and functioning of which is linked to context and dependent on the interplay of different influences. Starting from the aims inspired by the totalitarian ideology of the government that promoted the Commission, the analysis is grounded on archival primary sources and provides perspectives on the making of new accounting rules by examining the interplay among participants in the process. The article provides evidence of the complex interplay between knowledge, techniques, institutions and ideology in setting accounting rules in a totalitarian context, marked by a prevailing role of ideology and state in the regulation of the economy.

Modelli di misurazione della performance e del valore nel sistema dei servizi

L’emergere della scienza dei servizi offre nuovi e rinnovati interessi di ricerca al management accounting ed al performance management. Sul versante del management accounting, le prospettive della co-creazione di valore e della servitization spingono verso oggetti di analisi che considerano maggiormente il cliente. Secondariamente la tendenziale dissociazione tra investimenti (costi) e fonti dei ricavi mette in dubbio la validita della tradizionale logica del costing for pricing nel contesta della service science. Infine si assiste ad una crescente problematicita nella ripartizione dei costi e dei ricavi tra partner co-produttori in un sistema di servizi. Sul versante del performance management lo sviluppo di modelli di business nei quali cresce l’importanza della componente di servizi impone una riflessione su quali tecniche innovative di misurazione del valore possano essere appropriate, anche nella prospettiva di definire sistemi di incentivazione orientati alla creazione del valore.

Implementing internal environmental management and voluntary environmental disclosure: Does organisational change happen

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent the implementation of internal environmental management and voluntary environmental information is related to organisational change.,Organisational change literature provided a framework for the analysis of the materials which were collected through a mixed method. Data on internal environmental management were collected through a survey, while a quality disclosure index was used to assess the quality of the environmental voluntary disclosure. Interviews were used to enhance the quantitative results interpreted according to the four pathways proposed by Tilt (2006) and characterised by several levels of internal environmental management and voluntary disclosure.,The results indicated that companies implement more internal activities than external disclosure. Environmental planning and operational practices were the most important changes carried out. When environmental management accounting and environmental disclosure were also implemented, environmental aspects were more integrated within companies, thus revealing that a more structured integration of sustainability aspects within organisational values had taken place. The results underline the importance of primarily establishing a set of internal changes, driven by environmental planning, to promote organisational change.,The study presents a larger empirical analysis of the organisational change pathways followed by companies, showing similarities and differences among the four pathways. The results underline the importance of both dimensions for studying organisational changes. The framework of Tilt has been enriched, considering a more precise explanation of the internal aspects and adding the concept of the quality of disclosure as proxy to assess organisational change.,Organisational change is investigated through an extensive analysis of internal and external aspects and collecting quantitative and qualitative evidence. The analysis complements previous sustainability accounting literature focussed on the analysis of internal environmental management and external disclosure.