Purpose In 2009, the Union of European Football Associations approved the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. These regulations refer to the requirements of transparency and financial conditions for football clubs participating in European competitions. The purpose of this paper is to combine the managerial and the economic points-of-view in order to understand if Italian football clubs are ready to comply with the new FFP rules. Design/methodology/approach In the analysis, the authors focus on the main Italian football league, Serie A. Using business model analysis, the authors determine what the main profit determinants of football associations are, through panel data for 15 clubs from 2011-2013. The authors then try to match the statistical and managerial approach. Findings The results show that the key contributing factors to profits are on the costs side. In particular, the most relevant expenses are player wages. The core revenue for clubs comes from the net profit from player trading, while other income, such as TV rights, commercial and match-day proceeds, have no statistical significance for profit formation. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of the analysis is that the survey regarded only on Italian Championship. So it is deeply influenced by the competitive structure of the Italian league that is different from that of other European leagues. Therefore, the authors think that the future developments of this work could be the examination of another European Championship, for example, English Premier League, and the compared analysis of Italian league and other European one. Practical implications There is a close-link between costs and profitability, and especially between expenditure on players and the ability to close the financial year with a profit. Clubs must address the issue of player wages in order to follow a path of economic recovery towards profitability. Originality/value In the work the authors put together managerial point of view and economical one, in order to understand how FFP can impact on profitability of football clubs. The authors use an empirical econometrics model to test the hypothesis about business model of Italian Clubs.

During the past few years, scholars have investigated accounting practices from different perspectives and in different contexts; however, the topics of accounting and fraud-corruption appear to be underresearched areas in accounting history literature. This article examines the case of Galliera Hospital of Genoa, established as Opera Pia De Ferrari Brignole Sale in 1877 by the Duchess Maria Brignole Sale. Currently, the Galliera Hospital is an important and specialised Italian hospital with 450 beds and almost 2,000 employees. Using the lens of Foucault’s governmentality and discipline power framework, this article explores how unforeseen events and misconduct can deeply change governance and control mechanisms, implying the adoption of empowered accounting practices. Thus, this article shows that accounting practices, when perceived as a real technology of government, allow the exercise of power. The study offers a relevant contribution to the extant accounting history literature by examining how accounting can be used as an instrument of power in the presence of misconduct.

No abstract

Purpose This conceptual paper proposes an intellectual capital (IC) framework dedicated to elite athletes (EA) to demonstrate the usefulness of IC on individual persons. Thus, it connects EA with the concept of IC.Design/methodology/approach The paper is inspired by the classical IC dimensions (human capital, structural capital and relational capital), which are used to develop the IC framework for EA. An exemplary case study is used to validate the framework.Findings It is argued that there is a need to adapt the traditional IC framework for EA. Therefore, this paper proposes a specific IC framework consisting of natural capital, sports capital and media capital.Research limitations/implications This paper deals with EA and the sports industry, but should be extended to other sectors where aspects such as image and celebrity represent significant intangible resources.Practical implications The proposed IC framework can help EA and their managers to better understand how IC value is created.Originality/value This paper extends the IC concept to other fields of application, i.e. EA, and thus individual persons.

No abstract