Relational approaches to accounting change: the Stati as means of mediation in the Kingdom of Naples

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates accounting change processes by examining the creation and implementation of new accounting tools—known as Stati—to plan and monitor local finance during the period of 1611–1633 in the Kingdom of Naples. The Stati arose among several measures in this vast peripheral State of the Spanish imperial system to address problems concerning financial and material support, given constant Spanish war campaigns. The accounting change investigated in this research involved 2000 municipalities and started an ongoing dialogue, which laid the foundations for a new relationship between the central government and local communities. The study aims to ascertain how specific contextual and cultural features shape the accounting change process. It employs the Middle Range Theory (MRT) of Broadbent and Laughlin and finds that the Kingdom of Naples underwent a successful change known as reorientation through boundary management. The results highlight how the successful change took place beyond the intrinsic potential of the proposed technical innovation, showing how the suggested tools were conceived, designed, adapted, implemented, and shared.