President’s Message

Two years have passed by quickly just like a Ferrari on the roadway. My presidential term is going to finish very soon

President’s Message

As the Academy begins its new year of activity I am writing to express my gratitude for the opportunity to serve you

Accounting Historians Journal on Scopus

It’s my pleasure to announce that at the beginning of 2015 the Academy’s submission for inclusion of The Accounting Historians Journal in the Scopus database was accept-ed

Listening as ‘Guiding Tool’ in the Continuous Improvement of University Education: A Holistic Approach

The quality of higher education is linked to listening and to satisfying the needs of all those involved (social partners, teachers, students, institutional bodies). The satisfaction of these needs requires a holistic approach that is capable of respecting the complex nature of teaching. In this sense, an approach called L’Ascolto has been developed, aimed precisely at listening to the needs and satisfying those needs through the design, management, evaluation and improvement of a degree course and the individual subjects that compose it, considered as a system of relationships and interdependencies. The approach is based on the TQM logic where the satisfaction of needs is pursued through a holistic approach. Given the innovative nature of the L’Ascolto, it is initially introduced and subsequently developed both in reference to the principles and methods of operation as well as in relation to other existing models

Monopolistic professional closure, family credentials and examination procedures in the Venetian College of Accountants (16th-17th century)

Peer reviewedPostprin

Unification and Dual Closure in the Italian Accountancy Profession, 1861–1906

Drawing on Parkin’s (1979) concept of dual closure, this paper examines the attempt to secure the regulation of the accountancy profession in post-unification Italy. The state’s establishment of a class of ‘expert accountants’ in 1865 represented an imperfect closure of the profession. In consequence, a chain of closure attempts ensued. These ventures involved shifting constructions of dominant and subordinate occupational groups and the deployment of diverse strategies to achieve usurpationary and exclusionary forms of closure. The study reveals that the achievement of state regulation of the profession in 1906 reflected the successful pursuit of usurpationary closure by a subordinated group within the accountancy field. However, it also points to the failure of the profession’s efforts to make incursions into the jurisdictions of higher status occupations, especially lawyers, who wielded considerable socio-political power in newly unified Italy. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, the paper confirms the complexity and uncertain outcomes of closure projects in the accountancy profession

Exploiting Manipulated Small Extracellular Vesicles to Subvert Immunosuppression at the Tumor Microenvironment through Mannose Receptor/CD206 Targeting

Immunosuppression at tumor microenvironment (TME) is one of the major obstacles to be overcome for an effective therapeutic intervention against solid tumors. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) comprise a sub-population that plays multiple pro-tumoral roles in tumor development including general immunosuppression, which can be identified in terms of high expression of mannose receptor (MR or CD206). Immunosuppressive TAMs, like other macrophage sub-populations, display functional plasticity that allows them to be re-programmed to inflammatory macrophages. In order to mitigate immunosuppression at the TME, several efforts are ongoing to effectively re-educate pro-tumoral TAMs. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), released by both normal and tumor cells types, are emerging as key mediators of the cell to cell communication and have been shown to have a role in the modulation of immune responses in the TME. Recent studies demonstrated the enrichment of high mannose glycans on the surface of small EVs (sEVs), a subtype of EVs of endosomal origin of 30–150 nm in diameter. This characteristic renders sEVs an ideal tool for the delivery of therapeutic molecules into MR/CD206-expressing TAMs. In this review, we report the most recent literature data highlighting the critical role of TAMs in tumor development, as well as the experimental evidences that has emerged from the biochemical characterization of sEV membranes. In addition, we propose an original way to target immunosuppressive TAMs at the TME by endogenously engineered sEVs for a new therapeutic approach against solid tumors

Migration and the neoliberal state: accounting ethics in the Italian response to the refugee crisis

This research adds to sparse accounting literature on immigration by problematizing the intertwined relationship between accounting and ethics in the neoliberal era. It explains ethical paradoxes inherent in the neoliberal project and how these unfold in the accounting practices deployed by the Italian state to handle the ongoing refugee crisis. Our analysis shows how the State’s proclaimed conviction to the human right cause turned out to be neoliberal in nature. On the one hand, the use of accounting was indeed partially dictated by the State’s mission of constructing the neoliberal citizen. On the other hand, accounting practices mainly prioritized efficiency over care and reflected the unwillingness of the State to enact responsibility for immigrants' human rights. We conclude that the use of accounting epitomizes complementary rather than opposing forms of neoliberalism and ultimately unveils the inability of the State to offer a humanitarian response to the immigration crisis