XIII NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE ITALIAN SOCIETY OF ACCOUNTING HISTORY Accounting, Banks and Financial Institutions: Insights from the past

  dal 24/11/16 al 25/11/16

XIII NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE ITALIAN SOCIETY OF ACCOUNTING HISTORY

Accounting, Banks and Financial Institutions: Insights from the past 

The last fifteen years have experienced unprecedented enduring discussions about the preponderant role that Finance, Banks, financial Institutions and currency have played in the current structure of the capitalist economy, both at local and global level.

Many scholars and reporters have associated the pervasive role acquired by finance to the adverse effects that led to the explosion of the financial crisis that has dominated the last seven years.
A similarly negative orientation has been associated to unscrupulous finance and market failures that followed the discovery of disastrous corporate scandals. More than a few scholars have repeatedly celebrated the forthcoming demise of banks, as we have known them so far.

Much has been said about banks, financial institutions, the markets they operate in and the relationships with companies and the real economy.
Very little has been written by addressing these topics with the use of the investigation tools of the Accounting History.

If we take into consideration the topics that have been either addressed in the previous congresses of the Italian Society of Accounting History, or debated in the “Contabilità e Cultura Aziendale - Accounting and Culture” journal, and in other international specialized journals, it is evident how limited the contributions dedicated to history are, or rather to the stories of banks, financial institutions, and insurance companies, almost as if what is a reality in terms of business, economy, management, relationships and people has been ignored because it seemingly could or should not engage scholars of Accounting History and experts in business economics.

We deem, on the contrary, that the stories that could be examined would make available to scholars an extremely wide richness of events and narrations. First of all in terms of time, since we can date back to the XV century, secondly in terms of geography, as it is possible to make references to any local, national, regional or world context.

The variety of stories worthy to be studied may concern central banks, public banks, private banks and not-for-profit banks, as well as supranational and non governmental institutions. In addition to banks, other financial institutions that operated throughout history may be considered, including insurance companies. The stories may be focused on the rich accounting archives of financial institutions, as well as be oriented to the analysis of documents, not necessarily of accounting nature, concerning managerial, management and organizational profiles.

The world of banks and financial institutions can also allow to understand, in an indirect way, the close relation with financed subjects (States, Monarchies, entrepreneurs, state-owned enterprises, specific industrial sectors etc.), or the connection with specific historical events (wars, military campaigns, geographical discoveries, colonial conquests, epidemics, etc.).

Finally, although not exhaustively, the history of banks and financial institutions allows re-enact the role of men and women that either worked in or dealt with them, thus favoring the development of small territories or whole nations.
The XIII SISR national congress aims at seizing the opportunity to debate over a theme that, also at international level, has not yet found an adequate attention in the Accounting History.

Therefore, expected contributions should address:

  1. a)  the history of banks, financial institutions and insurance companies, whatever their operational dimensions, legal characteristics, historical and geographical location (either in Italy or abroad);

  2. b)  the history of specific financing and restructuring operations, and corporate bailouts;

  3. c)  the history of relations between banks and States, sovereigns, state-owned enterprises, companies and entrepreneurs;

  4. d)  the history of specific operations, initiatives, scandals and failures involving banks and financial institutions;

  5. e)  the biographies of bank or other financial institution men and women;

  6. f)  the theoretical and doctrinal contribution about banking in the context of

    business economics.

 

 

Allegati


Referente
Alessandro Lai

Dipartimento
Management

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