Valerio Antonelli

The development of accounting in Europe in the era of scientific management: the Italian engineering conglomerate, Ansaldo, 1918-1940

Utilizing archival materials, this paper examines the case of the Genoa-based firm, Ansaldo, which, by the early decades of the 20th century, had emerged as a major force in the inter-related fields of engineering, shipbuilding, and metal and steel manufacture in Italy. Following financial problems immediately after World War I and during the 1920s, the company was subsequently taken under the umbrella of the Italian State s financial holding unit, the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction (IRI), in the 1930s. Utilizing Lewin s theory of change as a framework for investigating change in management accounting, the paper examines the internal and external factors influencing the development of cost/management accounting at the company. These are also examined against the background of the de- velopment of scientific management, both in Italy and elsewhere.

Summa DB: A research note about an Italian accounting history database

This paper details the preparation, structure, uses and availability of a database (known as Summa DB) which collects and codifies many aspects of the accounting history literature contributed by Italian authors. There are a total of 1,253 units of analysis: 1,197 Italian language publications printed from 1861 to 2010, and 56 international articles and books printed from 1976 to 2010. For each publication, the data collected includes the date and type of publication, the period studied, the accounting history field, sources of data, the affiliations of the authors, and the accounting methods examined. The aim of this paper is to show how Summa DB can provide researchers with multidimensional data which can assist in solving some problems emerging from applying the “Comparative International Accounting History” (CIAH) perspective.

Accounting history as a local discipline: the case of the Italian-speaking literature (1869-2008)

The aim of the paper is to demonstrate how Italian-language accounting history was one example of a “local” accounting discipline. For this purpose, we reviewed all historical publications edited f...

The development of cost accounting in Italy, c.1800 to c.1940

The relationship between literature/theory and practice in accounting is not well understood, especially in the area of cost accounting. This article examines the development of both the relevant literature/theory and cost accounting practice in Italy during the nineteenth century and the first four decades of the twentieth century. In this way, the article provides insights into aspects of accounting’s development, throwing light on alternative views such as the diffusionist and “multiple origins” theories, and helps to provide material for future comparative international accounting history research.

Multiple Origins of Accounting? An Early Italian Example of the Development of Accounting for Managerial Purposes

ABSTRACT Utilising archival materials relating to an Italian pottery manufacturer, Manifattura Ginori, this paper examines the development of the companys accounting system during the 19th century. By the early 1800s, Manifattura Ginori is shown to have developed a double-entry bookkeeping system and to have carried out cost calculations. Deficiencies in the archive unfortunately do not enable us to determine precisely the nature of the links between the cost calculations and the financial accounting system during the early decades of the 19th century. However, as the century wore on, and the business moved from being an artisanal based manufacturer of high quality porcelain to a large-scale, industrial producer of utilitarian wares, Manifattura Ginori developed its system of accounting to reflect organisational changes and managerial needs. The Ginori archives therefore not only provide us with a rare glimpse of accounting in an early industrial context in Italy, but also of the use of accounting as a mechanism for business management and control in a non-Anglo-Saxon context. In particular it allows us to examine the role of accountants, to throw light on factors causing accounting change, and the relevance of alternative theoretical paradigms in interpreting such changes. By placing the experiences of Manifattura Ginori in a context of developments elsewhere in Europe, especially Britain and France, some implications can be drawn regarding the possibility of multiple origins of accounting ideas.

Budgetary practices in the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Munitions in Italy, 1915–1918

The purpose of this paper is to examine state budgeting for the costs of the First World War (WWI) in Italy. Troops, weapons and munitions were initially managed by the Ministry of War (1915–1917) and then jointly with the Ministry of Munitions (1917–1918). The change was intended to improve efficiency, cut costs and prevent fraud and corruption. However, the budgetary system proved incapable of achieving these aims. The ministry budgets were adjusted in wartime to disclose the additional costs of pursuing the conflict in a generalised way. Before the war, the budget report contained 101 items. When the war broke out only one additional category was added ‘War Expenses’ even though this comprised 90% of total costs by the end of the conflict. Drawing on a range of primary sources the paper analyses likely reasons for limited disclosures about the cost of the war, and emphasises the role of economic and political elites and systems of procurement. The experience of Italy in WWI confirms that budgeting is a socio-political, as well as a technical process.

A pioneering era of accounting history: The contributions of nineteenth-century Italian literature and its enduring dissemination around the globe:

The aim of this article is to show the contributions to the accounting history literature made by Italian scholars working in the second half of the nineteenth century. These scholars comprised the world’s first community of academics, practitioners, office bearers and historians dealing in a systematic way with accounting’s past. They invented the narrative of accounting history and their historical re-enactments on relevant topics have been the basis for further historical research for many years. The last decades of the nineteenth century saw great development in historical studies of accounting, both in and outside of the academies. These studies were mainly of three types: (a) general histories, which examined the evolution of accounting practices from antiquity to the late nineteenth century; (b) investigations of the origins of double-entry and Pacioli; and (c) research on the evolution of accounting practices. Some of the most prominent books and papers published in this period have become widely known abroad. This article contributes to knowledge of early international accounting historians and can be linked to the field of accounting history today. It also demonstrates the widespread dissemination of this early Italian literature around the world, thereby forming the first example of international accounting history.

Cost Accounting for War: Contracting Procedures and Cost-plus Pricing in WWI Industrial Mobilization in Italy

Abstract The aim of this paper is to explore the role played by cost accounting in Italys Industrial Mobilization system and in the largest firm manufacturing weaponry, Ansaldo of Genoa, during WWI. While in other countries such as the UK and the USA, efficiency in buying and managing war material was an important part of military strategy, in Italy, various factors impeded it. This paper focuses on contracting procedures adopted by the Ministry of War and Ministry of Munitions and looks at the cost accounting practices in Ansaldo to see how costs were determined and how prices were set. We found a paradox. On the one hand, despite knowledge of costing, the government did not impose cost controls on the producers of war material, nor on their profit rates. On the other hand, examining Ansaldos cost sheets we discover they underestimated their production costs leading the firm to losses despite its favorable political position. This paper contributes to the theoretical debate about the relationships between accounting and war in the Italian context where lobbying, collusion, bribery and private interests dominated the administrative behavior of public and private actors instead of efficiency, accountability and honesty.

Accounting in hybrid forms of capitalist/socialist enterprises: A multiple interpretative approach to the Royal Factory of Silk of San Leucio, 1802–1826

The aim of this article is to describe the role played by accounting in an industrial company in which elements of utopian socialism and capitalism co-existed. The case is the Royal Silk Factory founded by King Ferdinand IV at San Leucio, near Caserta in 1778. The article covers the years 1802–1826. In this hybrid institution, double-entry bookkeeping (DEB) was adopted to calculate the minimum profit rate owed to the capitalist shareholders, while ‘labour accounting’ measured the workers’ performance. The surplus value was shared between the enterprise and the workers. This article makes a number of contributions to the accounting history literature: First, it adds archival evidence of accounting practices in Italian industrial companies; second, it supports the close connection between DEB and capitalism; third, it shows that the accounting system is set up to reflect the different social organisation of a manufacturing company; and finally, it illustrates how the accounting system makes the wealth-generating and wealth-distributing processes accountable.

Art and Accounting History: The Teatro San Carlo of Naples, 1737–1786

Abstract Situated in the centre of Naples, the Teatro San Carlo (TSC) was founded in 1737 by the Bourbon Crown during the Reign of the Two Sicilies (one of the several states into which Italy was divided in the eighteenth century), The theatre immediately became an object of admiration and was soon held to be without equal for the perfection of its acoustics. Its original project was described in the Encyclopédie by Diderot as a prime example of a modern theatre. The TSC was one of the most important theatres of Europe in the eighteenth century thanks to its opera buffas, ballets, comedies and operas. This paper examines developments in the management system (private vs. public), the organisational structure, the artistic and administrative activities as well as the accounting practices of the TSC during a period of approximately fifty years (from 1737 to 1786).