Fondamenti di programmazione e controllo negli insegnamenti della scuola cafoscarina

The chapter discusses the results of an empirical analysis we conducted on the management accounting courses taught at Ca’ Foscari between 1871 and 1991. The aim is to explore the roots and the evolution of management accounting at Ca’ Foscari. The evidence we collected shows that the early management accounting concepts can be traced back to the course Bookkeeping which was taught in 1871 by Biliotti and, some years later, by Besta. As time went by, management accounting concepts evolved and expanded until some specific courses devoted to this field of study were created. The chapter discusses the evolution not only of the contents but also of the teaching methods. In its early years, teaching at Ca’ Foscari was very much based on practice (case study, simulations) while it became more theoretical as time went by. We also provide a brief description of the teaching of management accounting at the Harvard Business School, one of the pioneering institutions in management accounting, pointing out some similarities and differences in the Italian and in the United States contexts.

Bilancio e sistema giuridico

In the framework of the environmental determinism model this chapter analyses and questions the relation between legal system and accounting regulation as it is presented in the accounting literature. The two different legal families, common and civil law, impact differently the accounting regulation. Although in recent time the named distinction has gradually lost its relevance, its historical meaning is not questioned. This dichotomy will be used to investigate the relation between law and accounting in the Italian and US contexts at the end of the nineteen-century when both countries were emerging from wars and entering a phase of economic development that generated accounting debate and rules. The aim of the chapter is to highlight specificities emerging from the examination of regulative interventions in the accounting scenario by governmental and professional agencies in a period in which accounting regulation was unexpected and according to models that do not reproduce the traditional common-civil law country categorization.

I primi anni della Scuola Superiore di Commercio attraverso il primo Resoconto della gestione

The retrieval of the first financial report allows the analysis of the income and expenses of the Advanced School for Commerce from 1868 to 1872. This analysis shows the relevance of two groups of accounting headings: the contributions of the founding bodies and the government to the revenues; the salaries of the Director and of the faculty to the expenses. The numerical data corroborate the information available in other descriptive sources, allowing to discuss the crucial contribution of specific items to the good initial functioning of the School. The chapter also presents a comparison of the weightings of the main groups of accounting headings in the first report and in the last one.

Francesco Ferrara, il primo degli economisti cafoscarini

The paper presents the important personality of the great Italian economist Francesco Ferrara who has been the first Director of the new School of Commerce founded in Venice in 1868. The paper is divided in two parts: the first part presents the main features of Francesco Ferrara as an economist, showing how he was clearly a supporter of a free-market oriented vision of the economic analysis and of the economic policy, not liking at all a vision of the economic analysis separated from the political implications, but definitely favouring a political economy vision. He was a sharp opponent of socialism, although admiring the logical power of Marx’s thought, but not Marxian ideas. But he was also an opponent of intermediate visions leading to mediations in the field of economic policy. His rather radical positions led him to resign from the role of minister of Finance. In the second part the paper shows how Ferrara accepted the proposal of Luigi Luzzatti to be appointed as director of new School of Commerce of Ca’ Foscari in summer 1868; the paper shows how the relations between Ferrara and Luzzatti were characterized by polemical moments, both because of the lines followed by Ferrara in appointing the professors of the new school and because of the openness shown by Luzzatti, and not liked at all by Ferrara, towards policies showing a favorable attitude towards social interventions. Eventually the disagreements were solved. Finally, the paper shows how Ferrara succeeded in appointing at Ca’ Foscari some of the most important Italian economists of his time, such as Maffeo Pantaleoni.

Gino Luzzatto, Ca’ Foscari e la Storia economica

Gino Luzzatto is somehow the father of Economic History in Italy and was one of the most charismatic figures teaching at Ca’ Foscari, both for his political activity and for the commitment he showed in supporting the university’s growth and its success at the international level. For this reason, many studies were dedicated to him after his death and continue to be so. This essay provides both a brief overview of the years that led up to his appointment to the first chair in Economic History and an analysis of his concept of the discipline permeated with elements of law and sociology. It highlights the role Mediaeval History had in his work, as it did in the work of many other great international historians of the time, such as Bloch and Pirenne, who were linked to the journal Annales. The theoretical dimension of Gino Luzzatto’s approach was never separated from his conviction of the unity of human history and the purely practical nature of disciplinary specialisation.

Fabio Besta: il padre della ragioneria moderna

Fabio Besta, Professor at Ca’ Foscari for almost fifty years, was the best-known and most eminent figure among the Italian accounting scholars. His pivotal contribution to the development of the subject encompassed the upgrading shift of accounting from technique to theory, his equity-based accounting system to be applied to the double-entry bookkeeping as well as the related ‘value-based’ accounting theory, the introduction of a new conception of business firm and combination of inductive (empirical) and historical research method. The school he founded deserves credits. Fabio Besta’s pupils would be the most relevant scholars of the following period, that is Vittorio Alfieri, Alberto Ceccherelli, Carlo Ghidiglia, Pietro D’Alvise, Francesco De Gobbis, Benedetto Lorusso, Pietro Rigobon, Vincenzo Vianello and Gino Zappa.

Gino Zappa: il fondatore dell’Economia aziendale

Gino Zappa, eminent Professor at Ca’ Foscari, is known as the founder of the Economia Aziendale – Business Administration – the new scientific discipline which merges accounting, operations and organization into one broader subject. He also deserves to be credited as he introduced the inductive-deductive research method in business administration studies, he devised the income system, he advocated the economic view of the entity’s wealth, thus providing new and modern notions for business firms. The school Gino Zappa founded is very important too. Indeed, his pupils included Aldo Amaduzzi, Lino Azzini, Teodoro D’Ippolito, Carlo Masini, Pietro Onida and Napoleone Rossi, who would be the most relevant accounting scholars of the following period.

L'evoluzione degli insegnamenti di Ragioneria

This chapter aims at analysing how the teachings in accounting evolved from the foundation of the School of Commerce in Venice in 1868 for the first century of its activity. As teachings in accounting we consider the courses dealing with recognition methods and accounting principles both applying in private and public entities, but also the courses dealing with business practice where accounting played a relevant role (such as the case of the course entitled ‘Banco modello’). During this period the number, name and contents of teachings in accounting changed as consequence of the influence of the scientific thought of two great Maestri of Italian accounting: Fabio Besta and Gino Zappa, both teachers in Venice.

Il contributo di La Volpe alla teoria dinamica dell’economia

The paper presents the dynamic theory proposed by La Volpe in 1936. This analysis has been innovative in many ways: general equilibrium is defined as temporary, the presence and the role of expectations are introduced, the intertemporal choice of the agents is determined in such a way as to anticipate the life-cycle theory, and some important problems that emerge in the dynamic analysis are addressed. The relevance of La Volpe’s book led Michio Morishima to publish its English translation.

Dalla Scuola Superiore di Commercio alla Facoltà di Economia (1868-1935)

The Venetian University Ca’ Foscari was officially established in 1968 although it roots in the ‘Regia Scuola Superiore di Commercio’ – the Advanced School of Commerce – which was founded exactly a century before. This School was the first of its kind in Italy and among the early ones as well all over the world. Indeed it represented the national reference for the following foundation of similar Institutions in our Country. During the start-up phase, the School of Commerce experienced alternate stages, given the fluctuation of the number of entrants whereas from the end of the 19th century onwards its activity would be strengthened. Henceforth, the impressive academic activity developed both by the Venetian School of Commerce and by other ‘sister-Schools’ – which had been established in the meanwhile – would lead to the ennoblement of Business curricula for University programs, thus reaching its climax with the foundation of the Business Faculties.