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Accounting and the 'Art of Government': Margaret of Austria in Abruzzo (1539-86)

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  • Massimo Sargiacomo

Abstract

This paper analyses the accounting, accountability and disciplinary practices triggered by the Ordinances of 1571 in the feudal State of Abruzzo, whose sovereign was Margaret of Austria, daughter of Emperor Charles V. In a scenario stimulated by the ascent of mercantilist discourse and police schemes, new 'technologies of government' were forged to optimize the State's collection of receipts and to minimize fraud, rendering public officers accountable and their activities visible and controllable 'at a distance'. Using the 'governmentality' framework, this paper analyses the Ordinances that disciplined the activities of the primary finance/accounting and police officers in Abruzzo. The paper complements and extends the previous literature by illustrating the wide array of accounting- and non-accounting-based disciplinary techniques enforced by the sovereign in order to shape, align and even seduce the behaviour of officers/functionaries working in the State apparatus, and the general population. The analysis goes beyond the existing literature by unveiling the implementation of the hitherto undisclosed disciplinary double system of gratification-punishment advocated by Foucault, that also involved the population in the 'State control of the mechanisms of discipline'. In a related vein, the accounting system applied displays representational, translational and distributive properties, along with novel incentive schemes.

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  • Massimo Sargiacomo, 2008. "Accounting and the 'Art of Government': Margaret of Austria in Abruzzo (1539-86)," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 667-695.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:17:y:2008:i:4:p:667-695
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180802324401
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    Cited by:

    1. Ferry, Laurence & Funnell, Warwick & Oldroyd, David, 2023. "A genealogical and archaeological examination of the development of corporate governance and disciplinary power in English local government c.1970–2010," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. Michele Bigoni & Enrico Deidda Gagliardo & Warwick Funnel, 2014. "Contabilit? e potere pastorale. Il contributo delle tecniche contabili al rafforzamento del potere della Chiesa nel XV secolo," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 55-83.
    3. Dyball, Maria Cadiz & Rooney, Jim, 2019. "Governing and disciplining Filipino migrant workers’ health at Hawaiian sugar plantations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Gianluca Antonucci, 2023. "The Church and the art of governing people in a period of crisis: An analysis of the Inchiesta Innocenziana (1650-55)," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 39-59.
    5. Araújo, Wilde Gomes & Rodrigues, Lúcia Lima & Craig, Russell, 2017. "‘Empire as an imagination of the centre’: The Rio de Janeiro School of Commerce and the development of accounting education in Brazil," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 38-53.
    6. Maran, Laura & Bracci, Enrico & Funnell, Warwick, 2016. "Accounting and the management of power: Napoleon’s occupation of the commune of Ferrara (1796–1799)," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 60-78.
    7. Giovanna Centorrino, 2021. "The complex power dynamics within a health care institution during the 15th and 18th centuries. The case of the Great and New Hospital of Palermo," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 11-59.
    8. Massimo Sargiacomo & Luca Ianni & Antonio D'Andreamatteo, 2014. "Contabilit? e Governo dell?Economia Agricola della Nazione: Arrigo Serpieri e la Riforma dei Consorzi di Bonifica," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 85-111.
    9. Papi, Luca & Bigoni, Michele & Deidda Gagliardo, Enrico & Funnell, Warwick, 2019. "Accounting for power and resistance: The University of Ferrara under the Fascist regime in Italy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 59-76.
    10. Bigoni, Michele & Antonelli, Valerio & Cafaro, Emanuela Mattia & D'Alessio, Raffaele & Funnell, Warwick, 2020. "Accounting for the ‘deviant’ in 19th century Italian prisons," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    11. Bigoni, Michele & Funnell, Warwick & Verona, Roberto & Deidda Gagliardo, Enrico, 2018. "Accounting and raison d’État in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany: Reopening the University of Pisa (1543–1609)," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-19.

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