Contabilità e potere pastorale. Il contributo delle tecniche contabili al rafforzamento del potere della Chiesa nel XV secolo

Journal title CONTABILITÀ E CULTURA AZIENDALE
Author/s Michele Bigoni, Enrico Deidda Gagliardo, Warwick Funnel
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2014/1
Language Italian Pages 29 P. 55-83 File size 292 KB
DOI 10.3280/CCA2014-001005
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Accounting and pastoral power. The contribution of accounting techniques to reinstating the power of the Church in the XV century The work aims at analysing the role of accounting in the religious context, assessing its role as a tool for the exercise of power. The authors apply Foucault’s concept of "pastoral power" (2001, 2007) to the XV century Diocese of Ferrara. Analysing original Latin-written documents, they show how accounting was a fundamental tool to reinforce the cornerstones of the Christian pastorate: salvation, law and truth. Accounting provided information on the whole diocese and on every parish, eased the subjugation of each priest to the authority of the bishop and fuelled the analysis of the priest’s soul, allowing the bishop to fulfil his truth. As a result, accounting was a valuable technology of power to mould human behaviour, consistent with the exercise of power by the bishop. Thus, it was a fundamental tool to reinstate the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Keywords: Accounting, Roman Catholic Church, Foucault, Pastoral Power, Reform, Control.

  1. Aho J. (2005). Confession and bookkeeping. The religious, moral and rhetorical roots of modern accounting. Albany: State University of New York.
  2. Alberti G.B., Leardini G. e Rossi G. (2008). L’azienda convento nei registri contabili di Santa Maria della Scala a Verona. 1345-1355. Padova: Cedam.
  3. Antonelli V. e D’Alessio R. (2011). Gli studi di Storia della Ragioneria dall’Unità d’Italia ad oggi. Evidenze, interpretazioni e comparazioni in tema di autori, opera, oggetto e metodo. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  4. Armstrong P. (1994). The influence of Michel Foucault on accounting research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 5, 1: 25-55, DOI: 10.1006/cpac.1994.1003
  5. Balboni D. (1958). I sinodi diocesani di Ferrara. Analecta Ferrariensa, 1, 1: 113-142.
  6. Baños J., Gutierrez F., Álvarez-Dardet C. e Carrasco F. (2005). Govern(mentality) and accounting: the influence of different Enlightenment discourses in two Spanish cases (1761-1777). Abacus, 41, 2: 181-210, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6281.2005.00175.x
  7. Beresford A.D. (2003). Foucault’s theory of governance and the deterrence of internet fraud. Administration and Society, 35, 1: 82-103, DOI: 10.1177/0095399702250347
  8. Besta F. (1909). La ragioneria, vol. I, seconda edizione riveduta ed ampliata con il concorso dei professori Vittorio Alfieri, Carlo Ghidiglia e Pietro Rigobon. Milano: Vallardi.
  9. Bigoni M. (2012). La contabilità come mezzo per diffondere I valori religiosi. Il caso della diocesi di Ferrara del XV secolo. Milano: Rirea Historica.
  10. Bigoni M., Deidda Gagliardo E., Funnell W. (2013). Rethinking the sacred and secular divide: accounting and accountability practices in the Diocese of Ferrara (1431-1457. Accounting, Accountability & Auditing Journal, 26, 4: 567-594, DOI: 10.1108/09513571311327462
  11. Booth P (1993). Accounting in churches. A research framework and agenda. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 6, 4: 37-67, DOI: 10.1108/09513579310045684
  12. Burchell S., Clubb C. e Hopwood A.G. (1985). Accounting in its social context: towards a history of value added in the United Kingdom. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 10, 4: 381-413, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(85)90002-9.CarmonaS.(2004).Accountinghistoryresearchanditsdiffusioninaninternationalcontext.AccountingHistory,9,3:389-402,doi:10.1177/103237320400900302
  13. Carnegie G.D. e Rodrigues L.L. (2007). Exploring dimensions of the international accounting history community. Accounting History, 12, 4, 2007: 441-464, DOI: 10.1177/1032373207081601
  14. Comi A. (2007). Verità e anticristo. L’eresia di Jan Hus. Bologna: Pendragon. Cordery C. (2006). Hallowed treasures: sacred, secular and the Wesleyan Methodists in New Zealand, 1819-1840. Accounting History, 11, 2: 200-220, DOI: 10.1177/1032373206063114
  15. Dobie A. (2011). Granators’ accounts of Durham Cathedral Priory 1294-1433: an early example of process accounting?. Accounting History Review, 21, 1: 7-35, DOI: 10.1080/21552851.2011.548178
  16. Domenicali M. (2008). Biopolitica e libertà in Michel Foucualt. Annali Online dello IUSS, 2, 1: 1-252.
  17. Faircloth A. (1988). The importance of accounting to the Shakers. The Accounting Historians Journal, 15, 2: 99-129.
  18. Ferraresi G. (1969a). Il Beato Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano e la riforma di Ferrara nel Quattrocento, Vol. 1. Brescia: Morcelliana.
  19. Ferraresi G. (1969b). Il Beato Giovanni Tavelli da Tossignano e la riforma di Ferrara nel Quattrocento, Vol. 3. Brescia: Morcelliana.
  20. Foucault M. (1976). Sorvegliare e punire. Nascita della prigione. Torino: Einaudi.
  21. Foucault M. (1983). The subject and power. In: Dreyfus H.L. e Rabinow P., a cura di, Michel Foucault, Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  22. Foucault M. (1991). Governmentality. In: Burchell G., Gordon C. and Miller P., a cura di, The Foucault effect. Studies in governmentality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  23. Foucault M. (2000). Truth and power. In: Rabinow P., a cura di, The Foucault reader. New York: Pantheon Books.
  24. Foucault M. (2001). Omnes et singulatim. Verso una critica della ragion politica. In: Marzocca O., a cura di, Biopolitica e liberalismo. Detti e scritti su potere ed etica (1975-1984). Napoli: Medusa.
  25. Foucault M. (2007). Sicurezza, territorio, popolazione. Corso al Collège de France (1977-1978). Milano: Feltrinelli.
  26. Gatti M. e Poli S. (2011). L’evoluzione del sistema contabile e di controllo della Santa Casa di Loreto tra il XVI e il XVIII secolo: un’interpretazione tra sacro e profano. Contabilità e Cultura Aziendale, 11, 1: 5-30.
  27. Gill J. (1961). Eugenius IV, Pope of Christian union. Westminster: Newman Press.
  28. Golder B. (2007). Foucault and the genealogy of pastoral power. Radical Philosophy Review, 10, 2: 157-176.
  29. Graham C. (2010). Accounting and the construction of the retired person. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35, 1: 23-46, DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2009.03.001
  30. Grey C. (1994). Debating Foucault: a critical reply to Neimark. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 5, 1: 5-24, DOI: 10.1006/cpac.1994.1002
  31. Hardy L. e Ballis H. (2005). Does one size fit all? The sacred and secular divide revisited with insights from Niebuhr’s typology of social action. Accounting, Accountability & Auditing Journal, 18, 2: 238-254, DOI: 10.1108/09513570510588742.HopperT.,StoreyJ.eWillmottH.(1987).Accountingforaccounting:towardsthedevelopmentofadialecticalview.AccountingOrganizationsandSociety,12,5:437-456,doi:10.1016/0361-3682(87)90030-4
  32. Hoskin K.W. e Macve R. (1986). Accounting and the examination: a genealogy of disciplinary power. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 11, 2: 105-136, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(86)90027-9
  33. Hoskin K.W. e Macve R. (1988). The genesis of accountability: the West Point connection. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 13, 1: 37-73, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(88)90025-6
  34. Irvine H. (2002). The legitimizing power of financial statements in the Salvation Army in England, 1865-1892. Accounting Historians Journal, 29, 1: 1-36.
  35. Jacobs K. (2005). The sacred and the secular: examining the role of accounting in the religious context. Accounting, Accountability & Auditing Journal, 18, 2: 189-210, DOI: 10.1108/09513570510588724
  36. Jacobs K. e Walker S.P. (2004). Accounting and accountability in the Iona Community. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 17, 3: 361:381, DOI: 10.1108/09513570410545786
  37. Jones M. (2010). Sources of power and infrastructural conditions in medieval government accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35, 1: 81-94, DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2009.01.005
  38. Kuasirikun N. e Constable P. (2010). The cosmology of accounting in mid 19th century Thailand. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35, 6: 596-627, DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2010.01.004
  39. Lai A., Leoni G. e Stacchezzini R. (2012). Governmentality rationales and calculative devices: the rejection of a seventeenth-century territorial barter proposed by the King of Spain. Accounting History, 17, 3-4: 369-392, DOI: 10.1177/1032373212443226
  40. Latour B. (1987). Science in action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
  41. Laughlin R.C. (1988). Accounting in its social context: an analysis of the accounting systems of the Church of England. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 1, 2: 19-42, DOI: 10.1108/eum0000000004622
  42. Loft A. (1986). Towards a critical understanding of accounting: the case of cost accounting in the U.K., 1914-1925. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 11, 2: 137-169, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(86)90028-0
  43. Mari L.M., Cavazzoni C. e Picciaia F. (2010). Il governo e l’amministrazione contabile dell’Opera del Duomo di Orvieto dalle origini al XIX secolo. Contabilità e Cultura Aziendale, 10, 1: 56-81.
  44. Marzocca O. (2001). Introduzione. In: Marzocca O., a cura di, Biopolitica e liberalismo. Detti e scritti su potere ed etica (1975-1984). Napoli: Medusa.
  45. Miller P. e O’Leary T. (1987). Accounting and the construction of the governable person. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 12, 3: 235-265, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(87)90039-0
  46. Miller P. e O’Leary T. (1989). Hierarchies and American ideals 1900-1940. Academy of Management Review, 14, 2: 250-265, DOI: 10.2307/258419
  47. Miller P. e O’Leary T. (1990). Making accounting practical. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 15, 5: 479-498, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(90)90029-t
  48. Miller P. e Rose N. (1990). Governing economic life. Economy and Society, 19, 1: 1-31, DOI: 10.1080/03085149000000001.NapierC.J.(2006).Accountsofchange:30yearsofhistoricalaccountingresearch.Accounting,OrganizationsandSociety,31,4-5:445-507,doi
  49. 10.1016/j.aos.2005.12.004.
  50. Neu D. (2000). Presents for the Indians: land, colonialism and accounting in Canada. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 25, 2: 163-184, DOI: 10.1016/s0361-3682(99)00030-6
  51. Peverada E. (1982). La visita pastorale del Vescovo Francesco Dal Legname a Ferrara (1447-1450). Deputazione provinciale di storia patria, Ferrara.
  52. Prieto B., Maté L. e Tua J. (2006). The accounting records of the Monastery of Silos throughout the eighteenth century: the accumulation and management of its patrimony in the light of its accounts books. Accounting History, 11, 2: 221-256, DOI: 10.1177/1032373206063115
  53. Riccaboni A., Giovannoni E., Giorgi A. e Moscardelli S. (2006). Accounting and power: evidence from the fourteenth century. Accounting History, 11, 1: 41-62, DOI: 10.1177/1032373206060082
  54. Robson K. (1992). Accounting numbers as inscription: action at a distance and the development of accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 17, 7: 685-708, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(92)90019-o
  55. Sargiacomo M. (2008). Accounting and the “Art of Government”: Margaret of Austria in Abruzzo (1539-1586). European Accounting Review, 17, 4: 667-695.
  56. Sargiacomo M. (2009). Accounting for the “good administration of justice”: The Farnese State of Abruzzo in the sixteenth century. Accounting History, 14, 3: 235-267, DOI: 10.1177/1032373209335290
  57. Scalabrini G.A., Le rendite e le spese della sacristia della Metropolitana di Ferrara. Ferrara: Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, cl. I, n. 456.
  58. Sorrentino V. (2008). Il pensiero politico di Foucault. Roma: Meltemi. Stacchezzini R. (2012). Accounting e potere. Il contributo interpretativo del governmentality framework. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  59. Stewart R.E. (1992). Pluralizing our past: Foucault in accounting history. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 5, 2: 57-73, DOI: 10.1108/09513579210011862
  60. Thompson G. (1991). Is accounting rhetorical? Methodology, Luca Pacioli and printing. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 16, 5-6: 478-500, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(91)90042-d
  61. Tinker T. (1980). Towards a political economy of accounting: an empirical illustration of the Cambridge controversies. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 5, 1: 147-160, DOI: 10.1016/0361-3682(80)90031-8
  62. Yayla H.E. (2011). Operating regimes of the government: accounting and accountability changes in the Sultan Süleyman Waqf of the Ottoman Empire (the 1826 experience). Accounting History, 16, 1: 5-34, DOI: 10.1177/1032373210389320

Michele Bigoni, Enrico Deidda Gagliardo, Warwick Funnel, Contabilità e potere pastorale. Il contributo delle tecniche contabili al rafforzamento del potere della Chiesa nel XV secolo in "CONTABILITÀ E CULTURA AZIENDALE" 1/2014, pp 55-83, DOI: 10.3280/CCA2014-001005