Accounting, accountability and crisis management: an overview of the book

This chapter presents a brief introduction to this book, which offers a variety of research findings on the major impacts that COVID-19 had on society and business and, in particular, on the ways in which these impacts have been accounted for, managed and governed. By focusing on COVID-19 and its governing mechanisms, we can learn “the lessons” to understand and better manage extraordinary events and their harmful impacts in the future. We hope that these lessons, which draw from the case of Italy, will also provide opportunities for rethinking the pillars of the existing capitalist system and for reimagining new, emancipatory ways of understanding the role of businesses and corporations in society. These opportunities call for considering the role of governance systems and, in particular, of management, accounting and accountability.