Fraud and incompetence: Accounting in the Papal States (1831–1859)

Abstract

The Papal States was a longstanding nation ruled by the Pope, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church. Its accountants included priests and laymen who were employed as bureaucrats. Despite an expectation that the finances would be carefully managed, this research from the mid-nineteenth century shows that incompetence and fraud dogged the Papal States’ latter years, contributing to it losing most of its territory in the Second War of Italian Independence from 1859, and its final demise in 1870. This prosopography of three men who held high bureaucratic positions, analyses their approach to accounting in the Papal States. It shows that waste and deficient accounting arose from individuals undertaking fraud and from organisational (and individual) incompetence. In doing so, it elucidates how the Papal States could be a ‘vehicle for fraud’, and in particular, how it was used as a shield to enable both fraud and incompetence to go unpunished.

Job satisfaction’s effects on fraud intentions on employees of financial companies in Semarang City

“…Argarini (2016) assumed that fraud includes manipulation, embezzlement, theft, and other bad actions committed by a party that can cause losses to other parties or companies/organizations. Fraud in the public and non-profit sectors is a perennial problem, fraud has adverse repercussions leading to entity failure (Antonelli et al, 2021) The tendency of fraud has attracted a lot of media attention and has become a prominent and important issue in the eyes of world businesses (Anggreni et al, 2020). Fraud is a form of fraud that is deliberately carried out so that it can cause losses without the aggrieved party realizing it and provide benefits for fraudsters.…”

Innovation in accounting historiography: Where to from here?

“…The individuals or events may be interesting or unusual but could be more mundane, providing witness to the everyday life of the time, with the history being written up from a micro perspective. In contrast, the recounting of a prosopography or collective biography focuses on the group or what they hold in common as prosopography investigates the common background of a group of historical actors via a collective study of their lives (Coronella et al, 2021; Stone, 1971). ‘Public history’ or engaging with professional bodies, in museums and schools (Carnegie and Napier, 2013), offers opportunities to innovate and make accounting history matter.…”

It's a gift – Samuel Pepys and Sir William Warren, an account of gifts, bribes and kickbacks

“…Knights (2021) highlights that history offers important insights to the study of corruption (Kroeze et al ., 2018), quality of government (Knights, 2015) and fraud due to incompetence (Antonelli et al ., 2021). Knights (2014) develops ideas from Handley and Hayton (2002) to examine parliamentary corruption, noting the political motivations behind criticisms of Pepys and campaigns against corruption.…”

“…Travits (2010) argues that whilst economists and political scientists have researched and interpreted cross-national differences of the levels of perceived corruption, research has mainly focused on aspects of structure. Knights (2021) highlights that history offers important insights to the study of corruption (Kroeze et al, 2018), quality of government (Knights, 2015) and fraud due to incompetence (Antonelli et al, 2021). Knights (2014) develops ideas from Handley and Hayton (2002) to examine parliamentary corruption, noting the political motivations behind criticisms of Pepys and campaigns against corruption.…”