This article aims to shed light on the distinguishing features of management accounting in family firms in relation to processes of professionalization and succession. The study combines insights offered by the debate on family businesses and management accounting with the empirical findings of a longitudinal case study (Monnalisa). By exploring the evolution of management accounting practices within the company and the processes of succession and professionalization, this article shows that management accounting can affect the transfer of knowledge across generations and between the owner family and the management team, thus representing and reproducing the priorities, values, and vision of the entrepreneur.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the challenges involved in the development of integrated performance measurement systems (PMS). In particular, given the difficulties involved in the development process, and the “inherent incompleteness” of PMS, the authors seek to investigate whether and how these difficulties may challenge the integrating role of PMS and the eventual influence of alternative integrating mechanisms on this role. Design/methodology/approach – The paper combines studies on PMS with empirical findings related to Monnalisa, a medium-sized Italian family firm, which designs and sells children ' s wear and accessories. Over the last ten years Monnalisa has adopted various design frameworks (such as the balanced scorecard and the integrated report) for integrated PMS. Through an analysis of the PMS development process within the company, the authors explore the challenges involved in this process. Findings – In the case of Monnalisa, despite the adoption of a design framework for integrated PMS, various critical issues emerged during the implementation phase, mainly as a consequence of tensions between different performance dimensions and the need for creativity. While these critical issues compromised the integrating role of PMS, alternative integrating mechanisms (such as the direct intervention of the founder and social interaction) were stimulated and worked alongside PMS in achieving organizational integration. In so doing, these mechanisms operated in different ways, by complementing incomplete PMS when they were failing to achieve organizational integration, or improving their integrated nature. Originality/value – Although the literature acknowledges some of the challenges involved in PMS development, understanding how to manage these challenges and how they actually affect PMS require further investigation. This paper provides new insights on the challenges involved in the development process (particularly in relation to the tensions caused by creativity, unpredictability, time gaps between operations and targets, as well as the distinct priorities of different levels of customers), and on the role played by alternative integrating mechanisms in the management of these challenges. While the founder ' s direct intervention may be peculiar to the context of medium-sized enterprises, the role played by social integrating mechanisms suggests potential ways to overcome the challenges of integrated PMS also within larger firms.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges that companies could face over time when dealing with sustainability reporting (SR) and focusses on potential mechanisms they may adopt to cope with them. Design/methodology/approach The investigation is conducted adopting the theoretical framework proposed by Baret and Helfrich (2018) and using a longitudinal case study. Findings The authors found that the challenges that gradually arose induced the evolution of SR. Dissemination, employees’ involvement, managerial commitment and routinization/institutionalization of reporting practices appeared to be useful mechanisms to face the related challenges. Conversely, the authors found that stakeholders’ engagement scarcely affected SR. Furthermore, the legislation impacted the extent and quality of disclosed contents and fostered the standardization of the reporting process. Practical implications In analysing how Estra faced SR challenges, this paper emphasizes the mechanisms that can be used to properly manage them, in a gradual and holistic way. Hence, this study offers a useful example for companies approaching SR for the first time. Originality/value The authors adopt a holistic theoretical perspective providing evidence on how SR development within a company depends on the continuous and integrated management of its multiple challenges, also suggesting that its interdependencies with the definition and execution of sustainability should be exploited.

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