RISULTATI RICERCA

Il contributo analizza l’impatto del piano Next Generation European Union (NGEU) sui diritti e i doveri dei cittadini europei, con particolare attenzione alle decisioni adottate per reperire le risorse finanziarie a livello sovranazionale e nella fase attuativa a livello nazionale. Dopo un inquadramento iniziale sulla dimensione sociale del piano, ci si concentra sugli strumenti utilizzati per finanziarlo. Viene quindi analizzato il ricorso al debito comune da parte dell’Unione, le questioni giuridiche che esso solleva e le sue prospettive future. A seguire, si considerano il dovere di contribuzione dei cittadini europei, le regole procedurali che ostacolano la costruzione di un sistema tributario europeo che sostenga il bilancio dell’Unione e il potenziale impatto del NGEU su questo percorso. Infine, ci si propone di verificare quale sia stato l’impatto sui federalismi fiscali a livello nazionale della prima fase di attuazione del NGEU.

Il presente contributo ricostruisce le diverse misure poste in essere dall’Unione europea in risposta alle conseguenze economiche e sociali della pandemia. Dopo un breve raffronto con la strategia dell’austerità fiscale praticata dall’Unione europea nella crisi post-2008, ci si pone la domanda se la stagione dell’indebitamento e dell’interventismo pubblico inaugurata nell’ambito della crisi sanitaria possa considerarsi un’inversione di rotta nel processo di integrazione europea in direzione della promozione dei valori del costituzionalismo democratico e sociale. A tal fine, vengono esaminati in particolare il Recovery and Resilience Facility e il piano nazionale di ripresa e resilienza italiano. La tesi sostenuta è che la finalità ultima di tali strumenti non è la realizzazione di un autentico progetto di emancipazione sociale ma quella di ristabilire il corretto funzionamento del mercato interno per assicurare una maggiore crescita attraverso la promozione di una maggiore coesione sociale e territoriale.

La Corte di giustizia ha saputo proteggere i principi dello stato di diritto di cui all’art. 2 TUE, in particolare quello dell’indipendenza e dell’autonomia della Magistratura, sulla base dell’applicazione dell’art. 47 della Carta dei diritti e dell’art. 19.2 del TUE. Il rispetto della rule of the law è diventato anche un presupposto per godere delle risorse dell’Unione da parte degli stati. Si è sviluppata una nuova fase del processo di integrazione fondata sulla convergenza sui valori fondamentali, che molto dipenderà dalla cooperazione e dal dialogo tra Corti nazionali e Corte del Lussemburgo.

In the current context of climate change, and despite the general acceptance of the urgency of actions, accounting disclosure fails to outline financial climate-related risks. In this regard, considering the different environmental and sustaina-bility frameworks, this paper adopts the Task force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) framework because it encompasses the potential substantial risks to financial results stemming from a corporation’s climate dependency. It is noteworthy to investigate the changing role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as climate-related disclosures are constructed and reported based on TCFD require-ments, as transposed by the EU’s recommendations. Based on these premises, this study analyzes the reporting requirements provided by the TCFD for the voluntary disclosure on climate change that must be addressed by contemporary CFOs. Considering the required disclosure, it is possible to identify the competencies that CFOs must acquire in the immediate future (in terms, e.g., of environmental-managerial metrics that must be measured) and the soft skills that are required to collaborate with scientific experts who provide the technical side of the disclosed data. The authors develop a content analysis of the most recent, available Non-Financial Declarations of Italian listed companies and then disentangle the results into distinct categories. This study expands the field of knowledge of a key future issue and, in so doing, it emphasizes the role of accounting in fostering/contrasting the necessary actions to manage climate change.

Directive 2014/95/EU and the recent importance of the social and environmental sustainability topic have increased the interest of scholars, practitioners, investors, and other stakeholders in nonfinancial information aspects. This article examines the impact that the level of disclosure of nonfinancial information, as dictated by the European Union (EU) directive, has on market value. It measures the effect of some variables of nonfinancial information (proxied by the adoption of the Glob-al Reporting Initiative [GRI] "core" or "comprehensive" option or the GRI "refer-enced-claim" option, the number of pages of the nonfinancial statement, the presentation of the statement separate from or aggregated with the annual report, and the use of the same or a different auditor for the statement and annual report) on the level of market value measured by market-based performance (Tobin’s Q). The analysis was tested on Italian listed companies that presented nonfinancial statements during the 2017-2019 period. The research, conducted on the 2019 nonfinancial statements, shows that all investigated companies apply GRI stand-ards. The empirical results furthermore show that the examined variables are not related to market performance and are not significant. These results lead to poten-tially contradictory findings. Whereas the adoption of generally recognized Corpo-rate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards - being voluntarily adopted by all the investigated companies - is deemed crucial by stakeholders, the details of CSR information, by contrast, do not seem to have an impact on market value.

Previous academic research found that two broad approaches characterize non-profit foundations when setting objectives. In the first approach, the business-like model, nonprofit foundations are inspired by for-profit organizations, and they adopt methodologies, tools, and practices typical of business management to better respond to social issues connected to their local dimensions. The second approach, the charity-like model, conversely argues that hybridization toward the market risks undermining the peculiarities of the nonprofit sector, thereby emphasizing the need of nonprofit foundations to be guided by the solidarity of interests that resides in the natural interdependencies of various members of society. To date, no study has fo-cused on the role of nonprofit foundation employees to understand the impact of a business-like approach on employee professionalism and job performance. Using responses from 277 employees of nonprofit foundations, this study investigates whether increased participation in planning and control tools increases employees’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the grant process. The results show that a busi-ness-like approach to planning, if well-balanced and considered, can contribute to greater employee professionalism and lead to improved information clarity and project innovation.

Over the past decades, the interest in Precision Agriculture (PA) has increased in most developed countries. The adoption of new technologies in agriculture is com-plex. PA improves efficiency, product quality, the rational use of chemicals and biological resources, and the preservation of the environment. Because of the need to invest in technology for sustainability and profitability, the sector becomes in-creasingly data driven. However, this data becomes valuable and strategic only if effectively managed. This study, through a critical literature review on selected topics, sheds light on PA’s information potential for farms’ managerial processes. It investigates the im-pact of PA on profitability, the features of farmers’ decision making, and the spec-ificities of Decision Support Systems for agribusinesses. Given the sector character-istics, the discussion of findings leads to the identification of aspects that should be carefully considered when designing an information system for new-generation agricultural companies. Considering the limited amount of previous research on the decision-making process in farming and the challenges posed by the use of technology, the authors believe that this study could assist researchers, practition-ers, and farmers interested in increasing their knowledge of the issue.

Smart technologies influence the accounting and reporting environment and pose several challenges to academics and practitioners. In this scenario, Big Data (BD) and BD analytics could play a crucial role in improving management control and accounting practices, as well as the accuracy of financial, non-financial and sus-tainability reporting. This paper is the first to draft the impact of BD and BD ana-lytics in the management of non-financial and sustainable information. It in-volved a review of the literature connecting BD to sustainability accounting and reporting, using document-based data covering the 2010-2022 period. The paper’s main contribution, by applying a qualitative approach, is the mapping of current research on this emerging topic. Elaborating on previous scholarly contributions, it provides a first account of this research area and recommends possible directions for future studies.

The recent Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected the financial health of com-panies all over the globe. Small and micro enterprises are more vulnerable due to their limited financial resources and lack of specialized knowledge. This article ex-plores the impact of the pandemic on the early stage of small companies’ Digital Transformation (DT), and its effect on the barriers to DT. The authors adopted an inductive qualitative approach and engaged in purposeful sampling to investigate micro and small enterprises operating in Piedmont, Italy, that were at the earliest stage of their DT journey. The final sample included 11 unique cases, involving a total of 49 interviews. The results show that the Covid-19 pandemic did not act as a catalyst to the DT of small and micro enterprises, instead sharpening the barriers to DT. The paper provides owners, managers, investors, politicians, and territorial institutions with a better understanding of the tools and initiatives that must be implemented to foster small and micro enterprises’ DT. The research, due to the selected sample, is limited to small companies’ personnel and to their owners' ex-periences

The paper investigates the ongoing digital transformation process in a firm operat-ing in the agri-food sector by analyzing the approach adopted, the barriers and challenges faced when implementing digital technologies, and the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on this process. The authors opted for a qualitative approach based on a single case study. The results suggest that the preferred approach of top management played a crucial role in supporting the changes brought about by the transformation. Specifically, it is a conscious, incremental, and critical approach that combines digitalization and craftsmanship. The research reveals four barriers to the implementation of digital technologies: resistance to change, a lack of digi-tal skills, an inadequate organizational structure, and financial constraints. Fur-thermore, the results show that the Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the implemen-tation of digital technologies, which was already in progress during the pre-pandemic period.

The paper investigates the current state of studies on double-entry bookkeeping and ledgers in accounting through a bibliometric analysis covering the1990-2021period. The study allows an interpretation of accounting information systems as they evolve, due to the impetus of recent, disruptive information technology. The authors used a sample of 230 publications, collected from the Web of Sci-ence, and adopted VOSviewer software to illustrate different relational techniques: citation, co-citation, keyword co-occurrence, and bibliographic coupling analyses. The results highlight the emergence of recent research streams that are weakly connected to the foundation of modern accounting, albeit sharing the same roots with seminal historical accounting contributions in terms of trustworthiness, moral-ity, and communication. This study’s main contribution, based on its findings, is a better understanding of the growing interest in double-entry bookkeeping and ledg-er, focusing on blockchain and its dimensions. Potentially, the study can shed light on the possible implications of new technologies for accounting and bookkeeping. The universality of accounting language is called upon to describe new "genealo-gies of calculation" by converging professional and academic efforts in a field that can benefit extensively from a transdisciplinary approach to research.

The purpose of this special issue is to contribute to the international debate on novel approaches to corporate data management for the improvement of man-agement control systems. The theme embraces the interdisciplinary relationships that management controls and the accounting function that it, increasingly, should have with other disciplines. These relationships are permeated by both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative models include those created through data science and those that refer to mathematics, statistics, and information tech-nology. Moreover, corporate data management models combining qualitative and quantitative approaches are explored and discussed within disciplinary areas that, due to their consolidated history, are close to management control: e.g., legal, soci-ological, historical and other humanities areas. This theme embraces not only business data management but also knowledge management; it is not only about internal (accounting and non-accounting) data, but also about external data of a statistical, economic, and social nature, which are of interest from different disci-plinary perspectives concerning the integrated management of accounting data and Big Data. With the development of new technologies, such as the ‘Internet of Things’, and the increasingly extensive applications of blockchain, social net-works, and mobile devices, organizations are generating huge volumes of data in different formats much faster than in the past. In this sense, big data analytics techniques present opportunities to improve decision-making processes of both a strategic and an operational nature, due to their ability to extract knowledge from data, to facilitate problem solving, and to favor predictive and prescriptive ap-proaches to business phenomena. From an organizational point of view, it is im-portant to analyze the impact of Big Data on the professional profiles of actors typically involved in accounting and management control processes.