Davide Giacomini

Contextualizing politicians’ uses of accounting information: reassurance and ammunition

This paper explores the use of accounting information by local government politicians. The authors examined three very typical council decisions in both their policy formulation and decision-making stages, which had different levels of political conflict. During policy formulation, accounting information was used mostly to provide answers—improving understanding. At the decision-making stage, the level of conflict influenced the quantity of information used, as well as the way it was used. Under low political conflict, accounting information primarily provided reassurance, whereas when there were conflicts between majority and opposition politicians, accounting information was used to (de)legitimize political positions and decisions. This paper is one of the first to contextualize politicians’ use of accounting information and has important implications for practice and future research.

The introduction of mandatory inter-municipal cooperation in small municipalities: Preliminary lessons from Italy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of mandatory inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in small Italian municipalities. Data from 280 small Italian municipalities on the effects of IMC in terms of higher efficiency, better effectiveness of local public services, and greater institutional legitimacy of the small municipalities participating in IMC have been investigated against four variables: size, geographical area, type of inter-municipal integration, and IMC membership (the presence in the IMC of a bigger municipality, the so-called big brother). Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from a mail survey that was sent to a random sample of 1,360 chief financial officers acting in municipalities of under 5,000 inhabitants, stratified by size (0-1,000 and 1,001-5,000) and geographic area (North, Center, and South) criteria. To analyze the dependency relationships between the three potential effects of participating in IMC and possible explanatory variables, the authors used a logistic regression model as the benefits were binarily categorized (presence or absence of benefits). Findings The findings show that in more than two-thirds of the municipalities participating in IMC, there were benefits in terms of costs reduction and better public services, whereas greater institutional legitimacy was detected in about half of the cases. The statistical analysis with logistic regression highlighted that IMC type is particularly critical for explaining successful IMC. In particular, the positive effects of IMC were mainly detected in those small municipalities that promoted a service delivery organization rather than participating in service delivery agreements or opting for mixed arrangements of joint public services delivery. Originality/value The paper focuses on small municipalities where studies are usually scant. The analysis highlighted that the organizational setting is particularly critical for explaining a successful IMC.

Accounting Reform in Italy and Perceptions on the Local Government Consolidated Report

ABSTRACT The article aims to explore the perception of local government (LG) financial officers on the users, the uses, and the utility of the consolidated financial report in Italy, since it was one of the first countries to expressly provide for compulsory adoption. A questionnaire was sent to a statistical stratified sample of LG, collecting 133 responses (response rate 17%). The results, tested through the structural equation model we observe that social legitimization pressure rather than accountability patterns or performance analysis drive more the adoption process. The evidence indicates that the report is perceived as a potential tool for pursuing performance assessment strategies in a group context. However, this potentiality depends on the coordination effort made by the LG. The article finds out the rise of the topic of the public governance and the role of coordinating the local public group.

Trends in the Sustainability Reporting in Italian LGOs: Better Stick or Carrot?

The role of public-sector organizations (PSOs) for promoting the agenda of sustainability 10 accounting and accountability is often not adequately considered [1]. In the public sector universe, 11 Local Governments are close to their communities and thus have a particularly important role to 12 play in the pursuit of sustainability goals [2,3]. Hence, further research is still needed to understand 13 if Local Governments Organizations (LGOs) are still using reporting tools to promote sustainable 14 development. The empirical data show that the Sustainability Report (SR) is not having the spread 15 assumed in the past years; over time, the great majority of Italian Municipalities does not continue 16 or embark on a path of sustainability reporting. The findings suggest the fashion of SR in Italy is 17 falling and it seems that the SR tool is a “mere trend reporting based on descriptive indicators leads 18 to decreasing interest from internal and external audiences” [4]. The carrot is unsuccessful; maybe 19 the mandatory requirements could be a stick? 20