The rise of cost accounting: evidence from Italy

Accounting historians link the origins of cost accounting to the rise of manufacturing firms and, in a more detailed way, to efficiency control, pricing and decision-making problems faced in those organizations. To date, the international debate has mainly focused on practices in the USA, Great Britain and France, with little evidence available of developments in other countries, such as Italy. In this paper, the authors analyse the development of cost accounting in an Italian firm, 'La Magona d'Italia'. This iron, steel and tinplate firm, situated in Piombino, is observed over the period 1865-1940, i.e. during the central phase of the industrial revolution in Italy. We find that several factors influenced the implementation of a cost accounting system at Magona, including efficiency control, strategic decision making, and stock valuation. We also find a strong British influence on Magona's strategy, organization and information system, particularly in respect of finance, managers, technology and accounting practices. There is little evidence that Italian accounting traditions and practice played much of a role.     

反商业贿赂与政府采购机制的完善

政府采购已成为财政支出的重要组成部分.巨大的利润空间给政府采购带来了商业贿赂的风险.运用成本-收益理论、政府规制俘获理论和公平理论,分析其产生的根源及可能带来的后果,可采取相应措施消除政府采购中商业贿赂因子的现实途径.     

个人教育投资的均衡分析

人力资本投资的关键形式是教育投资。文章认为,个人教育投资的均衡条件是边际成本等于边际收益。因为个人教育投资的边际成本递增,边际收益递减,所以必须采取多种措施刺激个人教育投资的积极性,才能促进我国教育事业的大发展。     

现代各种不同的维修管理

介绍当代各种不同的维修管理方法，以及在现代生产系统中造成维修管理复杂性的因素及其特征。对维修管理的方法及其框架这两个概念加以定义。详细说明维修活动的过程是由企业活动水平来划分，并提出一个结构，保证正确支持当前的管理人员，根据应用于维修的信息技术，现代维修工程的作用，以及根据维修方面公关能力的需求，对所需要的功能进行分类。     

企业组织变革中的冲突管理研究

中国的企业面临前所未有的复杂的市场环境。组织重组,组织流程再造,公司股权体制改革……企业或多或少都在进行这样或那样的组织变革,在变革过程中,冲突的产生是不可避免的。对于变革中的冲突应该怎样进行有效的管理是关系到变革成败的重大问题。本文指出应该区分变革过程中的建设性冲突和破坏性冲突,并针对不同类型的冲突采用与之相适应的冲突管理方式。     

对发展我国汽车金融公司的思考

随着我国加入WTO以后对汽车金融服务业的进一步开放,国外汽车金融公司纷纷进驻这个极具潜力的庞大市场.2003年底我国先后颁布了<汽车金融公司管理办法>和<汽车金融公司管理细则>,至2005年1月,通用、大众、丰田汽车金融(中国)公司相继开业.本文在介绍成熟汽车金融公司特点的基础上,针对我国汽车金融公司的具体情况,提出一些对策与建议,希望能够对我国的汽车金融公司的发展有所裨益.     

LONWORKS现场总线质量控制技术在油田生产中的应用

现场总线是一种安装在生产过程区域的现场设备或过程仪表和控制室内的自动化控制系统之间的开放式、数字化、双向串行、多节点的数据通信总线。该技术是近年来随着计算机、通信、控制技术的进步，数字通信网络应用到工业过程现场控制后，逐渐发展．并得到广泛应用的现代控制技术，目前，比较有名的有FF、Profibus、LONWORKS、HART、CAN等总线。     

Students’ opinions on teaching and services provided by the Italian Universities: a proposal for a new evaluation scheme

Quality & Quantity - In Italy, the evaluation of the internal effectiveness of academic training courses has been substantiated, for over 20&nbsp;years, in periodical surveys on...     

Transformational tourism as a hero's journey

Transformational tourism is an emerging form of tourism that deserves better attention from researchers and reviewers. This article provides a better understanding of the phenomenon, its varieties and its different stages, drawing on the metaphor of Campbell's archetypical journey of transformation: hero's journey. Using a phenomenological approach, the article tries to shed some light upon the conditions of the touristic experiences that foster transformation. Eight factors were identified: personal situation, being away doing unfamiliar activities, interaction with people, live the moment, difficulty, setting, reflection and integration. The three stages of the hero's journey (departure, initiation and return) are subsequently applied to describe the transformative travel process. The paper concludes with implications for research and professional practice.     

Extinction accounting and accountability: Empirical evidence from the west European tissue industry

Recently, human activities are more and more invasive with respect to biodiversity. Several studies highlighted the key role played by accountants in contributing to the development of tools able to support company in assessing, reporting, and disseminating, as well as accomplishing, the preservation of natural species and ecosystems (King and Atkins, 2016). Corporate reporting of environmental information might increase the credibility of forest certifications, given that some scholars argued that certified forests are not often run, in a sustainable way. Moreover, certifications sometimes cover harmful forest practices (Elad, 2014) and do not ensure a good quality of environmental reporting and performance. The research question therefore intends to explore how extinction accounting and accountability (EAA) is able to reflect ex post the company's business strategy and, at the same time, influence ex ante its formulation by easing the prevention of deforestation risk and addressing the issue of credibility through specific actions. In more detail, the “Emancipatory Framework for Extinction Accounting and Accountability” (EFEAA) (Atkins and Maroun, 2018) was tested using content and interpretative analyses based on the reports inherent to top four companies working in West Europe in the tissue industry, where the preservation of forest heritage is a “compulsory route” for assuring the business sustainability, in terms of both raw material renewal and brand reputation. The findings highlighted the first attempt to carry out a qualitative research over the management of forest issues. In our study, companies tend to report advantages arising from the use of forest, but this kind of disclosure is too generic without providing evidence over the ecosystem services forests produce. Moreover, firm size affects the quantity and the quality of disclosure. At last, managerial implications and future research avenues are outlined and discussed.