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Accounting Choices in Family Firms pp 1–12Cite as

Introduction

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Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

Many contributions have investigated the relationship between accounting decisions and the family nature of a business over the last two decades. The reasons for this success are the prominent role family firms play in the economy worldwide, and the importance of economic and non-economic factors in their decision-making process. This chapter provides the foundations of our critical review of the theoretical and empirical literature on accounting decisions in family firms. We stress that the objective is not only to provide a state of the art of this field, but to critically assess the current findings and to support the development of new research questions. We then present our theoretical and methodological choices. Last, we discuss the content of the manuscript by highlighting the key questions addressed in the remaining chapter. This study is useful for academic research, managers, accounting practitioners, and policy makers both at a national and international level.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://www.ffi.org/?page=GlobalDataPoints. Last accessed October 2017.

  2. 2.

    Azienda indicates a holistic view of a firm. Refer to Signori and Rusconi (2009) for further discussion about the notion of ‘azienda’, and the development of the ‘Economia Aziendale’ disclipline.

  3. 3.

    This quotation has been translated from Italian by the Authors, however the corresponding original quotation is available on request.

  4. 4.

    https://www.cpaaustralia.com.au/professional-resources/public-practice/family-businesses. Last accessed October 2017.

  5. 5.

    Auditing Standard No. 15, PCAOB

  6. 6.

    https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/promoting-entrepreneurship/we-work-for/family-business_en. Last accessed October, 2017.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Management, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Silvia Ferramosca

  2. Department of Accounting, Monash University, Caulfield East, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Alessandro Ghio

Authors
  1. Silvia Ferramosca
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  2. Alessandro Ghio
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Correspondence to Silvia Ferramosca .

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Ferramosca, S., Ghio, A. (2018). Introduction. In: Accounting Choices in Family Firms. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73588-7_1

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