Family effects on management control: the case study of Italian SMEs

This paper provides an empirical study based on SMEs, which are family firms for excellence, about the impact and implications of interaction between the family and the firm on management control. The analysis of management issues is conducted both through the main national and international literature and empirical evidences. The attention is focused on management issues and implications which may be found in Italian SMEs and derived from family management. In particular findings concern the use of management control tools and accounting tools, the methodology of budgeting and economic reporting and the process management. This study contributes to better understanding the behavior of family managed firms with small and medium size and it underlines characteristics and issues of firms which operate on construction contracts. A study about SMEs is relevant also considering that a lot of studies have focused on large firms and few studies consider the small and medium firms that in Italy, and not only, play an important role in the economy.