Power and Discipline: The Role of Accounting in the Monte di Pietà of Ravenna between 18th and 19th Centuries

Abstract

This paper aims to fill a gap in the scant literature on accounting practices in non-Anglo-Saxon countries in underresearched periods by exploring the Monte di Pietà of Ravenna, an Italian non-profit institution. The research draws upon original 18 th and 19 th century documents found in the Monte di Pietà of Ravenna and offers an internal perspective of the development of accounting technology before and after an 'intacco' episode, thus attempting to shed light on the significance of accounting in that context. The originality of the Ravenna episode, compared to other similar ones experienced by Monti, consists in its extension over time and in its recurrence by three generations of administrators linked by kinship bonds, who systematically damaged the Monte between 1797 and 1837. The new form of control of the Monte's activities after the "intacco" based on accounting technologies, and realised a new relation between power and knowledge in which accounting was the tool to exercise disciplinary power, thus making people more governable. Accounting technologies relied upon a more articulated financial statement that included the institute's transactions and events.

At the Origins of a Multi-Stakeholder Non-Profit Organisational Model: Comizi Agrari in Post-Unification Romagna

“…Indeed, the distinctive trait they assumed for purposes of their own reproduction was that they were managed as a business. In some cases this process of "corporatisation" dates back to the late Middle Ages and the early modern period: this was the case of the Monti di Pietà (Del Sordo, Fornasari & Orelli, 2019), among others, which in Italy assumed the characteristics of an enterprise even though its aim was not to generate profit. In other cases such as those of the varied category of associations, and specifically economic associations, the process of "corporatisation" took place in the contemporary era.…”