Traendo spunto dalle tendenze in atto rilevate nei processi innovativi della pubblica amministrazione,m il paper illustra e discute il fenomeno del bilancio sociale. Sotto il profilo teorico, si assume che nel settore pubblico esso vada incardinato nel più vasto processo di aziendalizzazione, riallacciandosi sia ai principi del New Public Management, sia al filone di studi dedicato al Public Value Management. Una particolare attenzione, in entrambe le impostazioni teoriche, è dedicata al cambiamento dei sistemi informativi ed alla costruzione di nuovi modelli di “rappresentazione” dei fatti di gestione, in grado di oltrepassare i confini marcati dal linguaggio propriamente contabile. Sulla scorta di tali premesse e del fi ne tipico della social accounting l’attenzione si concentra, mediante dei brevi case study, sui contenuti dei bilanci sociali di alcuni enti locali e di alcune aziende sanitarie.
With reference to the trends in the public administration reforms, the paper illustrates and discusses the social reporting phenomenon in Italy. In the public sector the social reporting is assumed to be included in the widespread process of managerialisation, since it is embedded both in the principles of the New Public Management, and in those of the Public Value Management theory. Actually, in both the theoretical frameworks, a particular attention is paid to the change of the accounting and information systems and to the construction of a narrative representation of goals and results, in order to overcome the interpretative limits of the traditional reporting for a better understanding of the administrative phenomena by public organisations’s stakeholders. On the basis of these assum-ptions and of the typical aims of social accounting, the paper focuses on structure and the contents of the “social reports” of a sample of Italian Local Authorities and Health Care Firms.
With reference to the trends in the public administration reforms, the paper illustrates and discusses the social reporting phenomenon in Italy. In the public sector the social reporting is assumed to be included in the widespread process of managerialisation, since it is embedded both in the principles of the New Public Management, and in those of the Public Value Management theory. Actually, in both the theoretical frameworks, a particular attention is paid to the change of the accounting and information systems and to the construction of a narrative representation of goals and results, in order to overcome the interpretative limits of the traditional reporting for a better understanding of the administrative phenomena by public organisations’s stakeholders. On the basis of these assum-ptions and of the typical aims of social accounting, the paper focuses on structure and the contents of the “social reports” of a sample of Italian Local Authorities and Health Care Firms.
