Maria Pia Maraghini

Transmitting Knowledge Across Generations: The Role of Management Accounting Practices

This article aims to shed light on the distinguishing features of management accounting in family firms in relation to processes of professionalization and succession. The study combines insights offered by the debate on family businesses and management accounting with the empirical findings of a longitudinal case study (Monnalisa). By exploring the evolution of management accounting practices within the company and the processes of succession and professionalization, this article shows that management accounting can affect the transfer of knowledge across generations and between the owner family and the management team, thus representing and reproducing the priorities, values, and vision of the entrepreneur.

Operationalising Sustainability: How Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Translate Social and Environmental Issues into Practice

Drawing on a survey of Italian SMEs from the Tuscan area, this study aims to explore if and how SMEs integrate sustainability in their strategy and management systems, in particular in the performance measurement system. By combining theoretical and empirical findings, the study provides insights on how performance measurement systems could be improved to better operationalise sustainability strategies in SMEs. Moreover, the paper aspires to contribute to the existent sustainability literature by focusing on the processes of translating social and environmental issues into practice within SMEs.

New Integrated Information Systems and Management Control Change in Small and Medium Enterprises

This research attempts to explore the process of change and to examine in more depth the nature of the changes in management control which accompany the adoption of the new information technologies within small and medium enterprises. In particular, recognizing that management control change is a continuous organizational process (rather than an outcome), the trajectory of which is shaped by an incessant inter-play of several influences, this research intends to explore the way in which the implementation of a new integrated information system contributes to this process. To address this issue, the current research combines theoretical and empirical insights. After having reviewed the literature on the main topics and produced a theoretical understanding to illuminate the nature of the aforementioned changes, the research relies upon an illustrative case study concerning a medium-size cooperative society based in Italy. Recognising the complexity of organizational life, the field study does not aspire to isolate and define how and by how much ICT has been a driver of the management control change, but rather to explore the whole process of change in order to appreciate the diversity of interrelated influences which have shaped its trajectory and how these influences interacted with each-other. Among this inter-play of influences, the study aims then to investigate the particular role played by the two-way relationship between ICT and management control. The implementation of the new integrated information system has opened up several opportunities for the business management and in particular for the management control. However, so far, only part of these opportunities have been exploited. Furthermore, while it could be acknowledged that the new system facilitated the changes in management control both in its material and immaterial dimensions, it could not be concluded that they were the result of the implementation of the new system. Many other factors have interacted within the process of management control change. For example, of paramount importance has been the controller’s determination to enact the change. The case study analyzes these factors and the way in which they have jointly facilitated and/or hindered the management control change.

The Case of Monnalisa

This chapter focuses on Monnalisa, a medium-sized Italian company that operates in the fashion industry. The purpose is to illustrate the way in which Monnalisa has gradually redesigned its Annual Report. To do this, after having introduced the company’s background information, the evolution of corporate reporting in Monnalisa is briefly reviewed. During the last decade Monnalisa has progressively engaged with its key stakeholders in order to develop an Integrated Report that now combines the European Union format of an Annual Report with the triple bottom line reporting that characterises sustainability reports. In particular, since 2009 the information and the key performance indicators presented within Monnalisa’s annual Integrated Report reflect a combination of the requirements of the key stakeholders together with the main strategic objectives of the company. The current structure and some insights into Monnalisa’s Integrated Report are illustrated and discussed in the chapter.