RISULTATI RICERCA

Cost-effectiveness refers to the achievement of optimal allocation of limited re-sources and its ultimate purpose is to support rational decision-making. Cost-effectiveness principles govern financial reporting and managerial accounting frameworks, yet in practice these might not have been formally characterised and identified within the accounting literature due to semantic issues and norms. This article explores the nexus between cost-effectiveness and accounting by conduct-ing a scoping review of the published literature. Findings from this study suggest that use of the cost-effectiveness criterion has increased over time and been more frequently employed by authors affiliated to U.S. academic institutions. Cost-effectiveness principles have been invoked both in published financial and mana-gerial accounting research. However, only a handful of mostly empirical studies have quantified cost-effectiveness evidence and formally applied and discussed its analytical methods. This article highlights a research gap pertaining to the de-velopment of interdisciplinary frameworks and analytical methods able to formal-ly integrate the concept of cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses into ac-counting research.

This paper aims to provide a state of the art of the current scientific literature on management accounting implementation phase in SMEs, whose economic impact in terms of GDP production and employment is recognized at worldwide level. Per-forming a structured literature review on the top journals’ publications related to four different scientific fields covering the period 2005-2021, we found 88 papers focusing on the topic. Findings reveal that the theoretical contribution on man-agement accounting implementation in SMEs has registered a decreasing trend of publications and presents a very fragmented picture of approaches and scientific perspectives. In such conditions, over the last fifteen years the structural gap be-tween theory and practice in the implementation of management accounting in SMEs appears to be widened rather than narrowed, leaving the smaller companies without effective academic support and propositions to face the new evolutionary challenges for the management control.

The aim of this research is to investigate the quality and reliability of ESG data provided by companies, as well as the accuracy and objectivity of ESG ratings produced by sustainability rating agencies (SRAs). Since SRAs use companies’ non-financial information as input data when formulating their ESG ratings, these two topics appear to be strictly interconnected. Drawing on the Shanon and Weaver (1949) model of communication, we have addressed these issues by means of a systematic literature review combined with a bibliometric analysis. In our investigation we run: i) the co-citation analysis to de-tect the seminal papers; ii) a keyword co-occurrence analysis to explore how the main features of the academic debate have unfolded in the last five years; iii) a keyword co-occurrence analysis to obtain a network visualisation map to explore how the research broad scope was articulated in different clusters (i.e., themes of research). Among the clusters that emerged from the mapping, we have decided to delve into the streams of research we consider most relevant and deal with: the re-lationships between ESG and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Namely, we deem that AI may allow us to process massive amounts of data that contain crucial information for ESG investing. However, even if computer algorithms are able to analyse all information available efficiently, and in a timely manner, managers and investors should be aware of their opportunities and criticisms, while scholars should list propositions for advancing the research on these topics.

Identifying competencies to report SDGs in accountants can enhance corporate disclosure effectiveness and provide more robust information to society. Public managers are called to control through the lens of collective objectives and multi-ple stakeholders' interests. Based on the knowledge-attitude-skills triad and the po-litical Delphi method, we could identify the antecedent factors to disclose SDGs successfully. The purpose was critical to developing competencies, aligning leaders' mindsets, and suppressing public management barriers to reporting corporate SDGs. By identifying specific competencies, we bring the individual perspectives of accounting sustainability education.

Social Impact Assessment (SIA) holds significant relevance for Social Economy Organizations (SEOs) such as associations, foundations, social enterprises, social cooperatives, and consortiums for accountability and strategic planning purposes. In Italy, the Third Sector Reform passed in 2016 mandates that an SIA should be conducted by third sector entities when they fall under specific circumsances as specified in the guidelines introduced in 2019. Notably, these guidelines do not propose a specific SIA model for Third Sector Entities (TSEs) but consider ac-ceptable models that are internationally recognized in literature and practices. In this paper, we explore the opportunity to consider new digital technologies such as digital platforms, big data, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, to implement SIA for SEOs. We conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) on the intersection of SIA and digitalization in the context of SEOs. The bibliometric analysis aims to show main authors, countries, journals, and keywords associated with the litera-ture on digital technologies and SIA of the SEOs. Finally, various themes and trend topics were identified in this studied literature. We conclude with suggestions for further research.