Dr Michele Bigoni and Professor Warwick Funnell co-wrote the text, titled: ‘The Italian and Iberian Influence in Accounting History.’
The book provides compelling evidence of how accounting, when conceived of as a technology rather than as a tool to increase efficiency, can work as a means to sustain power relations in different groups, such as the Church, the State or an Empire. The works demonstrate how accounting practices were effective in the subjugation of single individuals or entire populations, from Roman Catholic priests to state functionaries or inhabitants of conquered lands.
As Warwick Funnell describes: ‘The book is a means to provide in a very accessible form, research related to the history of accounting as a tool of power. The chapters remind students and other readers that accounting is not merely a neutral, passive technical practice but has been an instrument of power in the service of political and economic elites throughout history.’
Dr Michele Bigoni said: ‘We have sought to give a presence to the high-quality work done by Italian, Spanish and Portuguese scholars in the field of Accounting History, which is traditionally dominated by American, Australian and British researchers. Over the last twenty years, there has been a marked increase in the number (and quality) of the works published by Italian and Iberian scholars on the theme of Accounting and Power from a historical perspective. The book acknowledges the quality of some of the most remarkable of these contributions.’
‘We are extremely pleased with the final result, and seeing the book in printed form really pays back all the hard work done in preparing the book.’
The Italian and Iberian Influence in Accounting History will be launched in December in Seville, at the Royal Tobacco Factory, to which a prominent presence has been given in the book. The book launch will be in partnership with the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, where a contributor of one of the chapters works.
Congratulations to all involved from all at Kent Business School. Find out more about the MSc International Accounting and Finance programme.