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\u27s financial holding unit, the institute for industrial reconstruction (iri), in the 1930s. utilizing lewin\u27s 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 development of scientific management, both in italy and elsewhere

Accounting and performance monitoring in Tuscany: Larderello, 1836–1858

This study examines the use of accounting for performance monitoring in a new industrial environment, the manufacture of boric acid in Tuscany during the middle decades of the nineteenth century. We provide a background context showing the growing significance of Tuscan boric acid as a source of borax for use in the industrialisation of Britain and France, and how the supply of this product came into the hands of François-Jacques Larderel. However, given the method of financing employed, Larderel was forced into fixed-price supply agreements with his financial backers, which influenced the nature of the accounting system and its use as a means of performance monitoring. We also reflect on possible sources of inspiration for the system utilised from 1836