After my Marie Skłodowska-Curie post-doctoral fellowship, more than twenty years ago, I re-joined the Alliance Manchester Business School in April 2020 as Professor of Accounting, Governance and Society.

From January 2021, I am the Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Investment Risk (CAIR)

Prior to Manchester, I held positions at University of Edinburgh Business School (where I was Chair of Accounting, Governance and Social innovation and co-director of the Centre for Accounting and Society), at IE Business School, Madrid (where I was Professor of Accounting and Management Control) and at Saïd Business School (SBS), (where I was Reader in Accounting and Official Student, i.e. fellow of Christ Church). At Oxford, I am still an Associate fellow of SBS and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow of Italian Studies at Oxford, which I co-founded during my time there.

I am currently co-Editor-in-Chief of Organization Studies.

My research relates to two big issues. The first of these concerns how decisions are made under radical uncertainty and ambiguity and looks at the role that data visualizations and governance mechanisms play in decision-making processes. I am particularly interested in major programme management, where I apply most of my historical research on how the Jesuits dealt with unknown unknowns through an intelligent and innovative use of accounting figures. In this context I also use some of more contemporary research on the roles that information technologies (such as ERPs, data viz, etc.) and data viz (e.g. dashboards) play well beyond the metaphor of viewing them as ‘oracles’ that provide answers in all kinds of decision-making scenarios. For me, instead, when facing ambiguity and uncertainty, data visualizations, reporting and governance systems have to prompt interactions and explorations of unknown unknowns to make sure that the right questions are asked.

The second area of research concerns the notion of ‘value’ and its fluidity and volatility, and the need to rethink reporting to adjust to the contemporary social contexts, markets and technologies. This for me means to explore what it means to move from an idea of corporate communication as a ‘push’ effort (with corporations preparing reports ‘pushed’ to the market) to one where various stakeholders can instead ‘pull’ information on the corporation sin various forms and formats. This also means to shift the focus from reporting as the measurement of shareholders’ value to reporting as a tool to explore the ‘common good’. I pursue this line of inquiry through research on alternatives forms of accounting in historical and contemporary times.

I have has published widely on the interface between management control and information technologies (especially ERPs), the history of accounting and management practices and thinking, and the managerialisation of higher education institutions and his works have appeared in journals such as Accounting, Organizations and Society, Contemporary Accounting Research, Organization Studies, and Administrative Science Quarterly.

As Fulbright New Century Scholar at the University of Stanford, I have conducted research on changes in business models and education, something in which I am getting interested again, due to the uncertainty that we all face in the context of a post Covid-19 scenario.

I teach on the PhD, the MSc in Management practice and I am involved in the delivery of various Executive education modules.

In the area of Major Programme Management, I am developing a series of impact case studies on reporting, governance and leadership practices to address issues of risk and uncertainty in complex organisations in various programmes of the UK government at the Ministry of Defense, Home Office, Justice, HMRC among others.

I also have contributed to the forthcoming publication of the Report on the Future of Corporate Reporting of the Financial Reporting Council.

In terms of engagement and impact, I have served on the standing Scientific Committee of the European Accounting Association for several years. I am currently a Member of the Advisory Group on the Future of Corporate Reporting at the Financial Reporting Council and of the Thought Leadership and Ethics Committee of the AICPA-CIMA. I also am a member of the faculty of the Cabinet’s Major Programme Leadership Academy and teach on various programmes of sponsored by the Infrastructure and Project Authority, including the EU Exit course. I am also involved in the delivery of the Australian Major Project Leadership Academy.

International press

• “Finance needs the classics now more than ever”, Financial Times, February the 8 ^th , 2020.
• “The true purpose of accounting is to hold society to account”, Financial Times, May the 24 ^th 2018.
• “Accounting Lies. And that’s a good thing”, Global Banking and Finance Review, April, 2018
• “Integrated Thinking: aligning purpose and business model to market opportunities and sustainable performance”, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Research Executive Summary, 2017, 13: 3. 
• “Dealing with the unknown. Leading in uncertain times by rethinking the design of management accounting and reporting systems”, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Research Report.  
• Why the new entrepreneurial citizen must learn from the past to account for an uncertain world, Global Peter Drucker Forum 2016.
• It’s time to stop worshiping certainty, UEBS blog, 2016.
• Quattrone (2015). Governing Social Orders, Unfolding Rationality, and Jesuit Accounting Practices: A Procedural Approach to Institutional Logics. ASQ Blog (2015).
• Financial Times (26 March, 2015), Jesuits have much to teach modern business about morality, (interviewed by Daniel Ben-Ami).
• “Can finance regain the centre of the business stage?” PwC blog (http://bit.ly/13dS1Bu)
• “Illuminated leadership, wise governance and how the Jesuits invented modern management” Forbes magazine, (September, 2012).
• “The school of the future has no doors”, World Economic Forum Blog.

Italian Press:

• “Brexit e fuga dei cervelli: ultima chiamata per il governo italiano”,Corriere della sera, (11/10/2016)
• “Diario di un Prof Palermitano -4. La cintura di sicurezza, gli esami non registrati e i mulini a vento”, Corriere della sera – Scuola (23/07/2014).
• “Diario di un Prof Palermitano -3. La meritocrazia bella ma inutile nelle università italiane”, Corriere della sera – Scuola (22/07/2014).
• “Diario di un Prof Palermitano -2. Tra gli Azzeccagarbugli di Palermo spunta la mano gentile del signor B.”, Corriere della sera – Scuola (21/07/2014).
• “Diario di un Prof Palermitano -1. Da Oxford a Palermo, tornare in un Ateneo italiano senza «uscire pazzo»”, Corriere della sera – Scuola (20/07/2014)

Accounting & Finance Division

I hold a Doctorate from the University of Catania (Italy).

I am a Dottore commercialista (Italian for Chartered Public Accountant) and Revisore contabile (Italian for Auditor).

Most relevant awards and prizes

• Award for Excellence in Doctoral Supervision (2018), University of Edinburgh.
• Messaggero della conoscenza, Italian Ministry of Innovation and Territorial Cohesion (2013)
• Fulbright New Century Scholar Award (2009), Stanford University.
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow (1998-2000), School of Accounting and Finance, The Victorian University of Manchester, UK.

I am interested in supervising students in the area of decision-making and uncertainty, new digital technologies and impact on management accounting and control, definitions of notions of value and the future of accounting profession and practices.

I currently supervise three PhD students at the University of Manchester

• Kefei Wu, first year, doing work on IFRS9, future and uncertainty
• Johnny O’Rourke, second year, doing work on private-public partnerships and social impact bonds
• Martin Martinoff, second year, doing work on the future of the Audit profession

 And I also supervise two PhD students at the University of Edinburgh:

• Carolina Toczycka, third year, doing work on Digital twins and Major programmes
• Jason Valette, fourth year, doing work on Resilience and management controls

Journal editorship:

• Organization Studies, Senior Editor (2020-2021); co-Editor-in-Chief (2021-)
• Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Associate editor (2014-2021)

Editorial board membership:

• Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (2008-)
• Accounting History Review (2010-present)
• Accounting, Organization and Society, (2010-present)
• British Accounting Review, (2019-)
• Management Accounting Research (2015-)
• ‘Organization: the critical journal of organizations, theory and society’ (2006-present).
• Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, (2006-present).

For further information, please visit my Personal web site

By appointment