Accounting for Cultural Heritage Management : Resilience, Sustainability and Accountability

The transformative role of culture, its ability to create value for the benefit of current and future generations, is widely recognized by academics of many disciplines, professionals and policymakers. Notwithstanding, how culture can be a driving force for economic growth, a source of welfare and tools for social inclusion, still deserves to be investigated at various levels, starting with local communities. This book attempts to explain the relevance of accounting knowledge for managing cultural heritage by sustainable, resilient, accountable organizations, regardless of their public or private institutional form. This book aims at understanding the role of cultural heritage in the economy, in society and in facing the new challenges deriving from the enactment of the UN Sustainable Development agenda, as well as the pandemic emergency from COVID-19. It adopts a managerial accounting studies approach to provide answers that can be applied in any organizational context. The results achieved from the field research are critically discussed under the theoretical frameworks referring to the theory of value and its creation. From the findings and their discussion, a conceptual model based on empiricism is proposed for managing cultural heritage of communities under sustainable perspective, even in times of crisis. It will be essential reading for academics and students of cultural heritage management, sustainability and crisis management in organisations. Acknowledgments 7 Contents 8 List of Figures 11 List of Tables 14 Chapter 1: Introduction: Research Aims, Methodology, and Design 16 References 23 Chapter 2: Cultural Heritage Under a Managerial-Accounting Perspective 25 2.1 Introduction 25 2.2 The Managerial Features of Cultural Organizations 28 2.2.1 Community of People, Organization, Decision-making/Responsibility 29 2.2.2 Legal Form 32 2.2.3 Mission and Objectives 32 2.2.4 Assets 33 2.2.5 The Creation Processes 35 2.3 Value Cocreation 36 2.4 The Multidimensional Created Value: Measurement and Reporting 39 2.4.1 Economic Value: How to Measure and Report? 40 2.4.2 The Sociocultural Value: How to Measure and to Report? 45 2.4.3 The Case of the Civic Museums of Pavia (Lombardy) 48 Overview 48 Methodology 49 Results 50 Discussion 53 2.5 The Cultural and Creative Production Ecosystem 54 2.5.1 The Museum of Electrical Technology of Pavia (Lombardy) 56 Overview 56 Methodology 57 Results 58 Discussion 59 2.6 Final Remarks 60 References 63 Chapter 3: Using Accounting for Managing Cultural Heritage 67 3.1 Introduction 67 3.2 Strategic Thinking and Planning 69 3.3 The Balanced Scorecard for Cultural Organizations 72 3.4 The Roadmap of Cultural Value Creation 75 3.4.1 The Case of the Cultural Rural Network Project 78 Overview 78 Methodology 78 Results 79 Discussion 85 3.5 The Budgeting and Cost Accounting for Cultural Organizations 85 3.5.1 Cultural Budgeting 85 3.5.2 “Cultural” Cost Accounting 88 The Alfa Case 93 3.6 Final Remarks 95 References 96 Chapter 4: Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development: How Does Accounting Matter? 99 4.1 Introduction 99 4.2 Culture for the Agenda 2030 101 4.3 The European and Italian Guidelines 103 4.4 The UNESCO Culture 2030 Indicators 107 4.5 Accounting and Sustainability: Multiple Case Studies—The European and Italian Capital Cities of Culture 114 4.5.1 Overview 114 4.5.2 Methodology 116 4.5.3 Results 118 Palermo—Italian Capital City of Culture 2018 118 Matera—European Capital City of Culture 2019 119 Parma—Italian Capital City of Culture 2020+21 127 Procida—Italian Capital City of Culture 2022 129 Bergamo e Brescia—Italian Capital Cities of Culture 2023 134 4.5.4 Discussion 139 4.6 Final Remarks 143 References 145 Chapter 5: The Resilience in Cultural Heritage Management: Which Role for Accounting? 150 5.1 Introduction 151 5.2 The Notion of Resilience in Management Studies 152 5.3 Digital Technologies for Resilience 159 5.3.1 The Lessons from the Italian Universities’ Museums During the COVID-19 Pandemic 161 Overview 161 Methodology 162 Results 162 Discussion 169 5.3.2 The Experience of the Italian Association of Corporate Archives and Museums 170 Overview 170 Methodology 171 Results 173 Discussion 179 5.4 Final Remarks 180 References 183 Chapter 6: Resilience, Sustainability, and Accountability: Conceptual Propositions 188 6.1 Introduction 188 6.2 Cultural Heritage and Resilience 189 6.3 Cultural Heritage and Sustainability 192 6.4 Cultural Heritage and Accountability 197 6.5 Final Remarks: A Conceptual Model 200 References 202 Chapter 7: Conclusions 204 References 206 Index 208