Elena Giovannoni, PhD, is Professor in Accounting at Royal Holloway University of London, where she is the director of the Centre for Critical and Historical Research on Organisation and Society (CHRONOS). Elena is also Otto Mønsted visiting professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark (2023-2024), and part-time (tempo definito) researcher at the University of Siena, Italy.

Her research interests focus on the understanding of accounting and its social, cultural, historical and organizing context. She is particularly interested in bridging critical and historical perspectives on accounting, organizing and material practices. She is also interested in exploring the design of performance management systems, management accounting, and their interplay with sustainability. Elena has extensive experience on field study methodologies, as well as on historical archival research.

She has published her research in journals such as Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Accounting History, British Accounting Review, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, European Accounting Review, Family Business Review, Huma Relations, Management Accounting Research, Organization Studies.

Editorial Board Memberships and refereeing activities

Elena serves in the Editorial Board of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Accounting History, Contabilità e Cultura Aziendale (Accounting and Culture), Family Business Review, Organization studies. She is a co-editor of Management Control.

She was member of the Scientific Committee of the Annual (2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2023) Conference of the European Accounting Association.

Awarded papers

- “Unveiling images of Covid-19 in non-financial reports: a multimodal analysis” (co-authored with Russo S. and Ruggiero P.) received the best Conference paper award, BAFA (British Accounting and Finance Association) Annual Conference, April 2022.

- “Exploring the generative power of performance measurement systems design”, (co-authored with S. Quarchioni) in The British Accounting Review, 51(2), 211-225 (2019), Ranking 3 ABS, has been awarded the British Accounting and Finance Association Prize for 2019. The prize is awarded to the authors of the papers assessed by members of the Editorial Board and Associate Editors as being the most outstanding paper published in The British Accounting Review during 2019. 

- “The materiality of absence: organizing and the case of the incomplete cathedral”, (co-authored with P. Quattrone) in Organization studies, Ranking 4 ABS, Vol. 39, issue 7, pp. 849-871 (2018), was finalist (top 5 articles) for the Roland Calori 2019 Award as best paper published in 2017-2018.

 -          “Sustaining multiple logics within hybrid organizations: Accounting, mediation and the search for innovation”, (co-authored with C. Busco and A., Riccaboni) in Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol 30 (1), pp. 191-216 (2017), was awarded as “Highly Commended” in relation to the Mary Parker Follett Award 2017.

-          “Building an integrated governance framework”, (co-authored with C. Busco and R. Scapens) in Finance & Management, n. 134, pp. 12-14,  (2006) - Article nominated by the Finance and Management Faculty of the ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales) for the IFAC’s ‘Articles of merit award.'

-           “Accounting and power: evidence from the 14th century”, co-authored with A. Riccaboni, A. Giorgi, S. Moscadelli, Accounting History, February, 2006, pp. 41-62 – This paper was awarded by the Accounting History Special Interest Group of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand with the 2006 Manuscript Award for the article published in the journal which “makes the most significant contribution to the accounting history literature”. AU$400 prize sponsored by the School of Accounting, University of New South Wales.

Other awards

 -          2017 ‘Outstanding reviewer award’ from QRAM (Qualitative research in Accounting & Management)

 International conferences and colloquia organized

Elena is/was part of the scientific and organizing committee of several international conference and colloquia. In particular:

Co-convenor (with G. Achilli, S. O’Leary, H. Tregidga) of the 14th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Royal Holloway, 3-5 July 2024.

Member of the Scientific and organizing Committee of the “10th ENROAC doctoral summer school in management accounting”, 23-26 June 2024, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena, co-organized by CHRONOS with Alliance Manchester Business School and University of Siena.

Co-convenor (with F. Barnabè and P. Ruggiero) of the 12^th Accounting History International Conference, University of Siena, 4-6 September 2024.

Co-convenor (with J. Mouritsen, M. Ronzani) of Sub-theme “Counting the unimaginable: calculative practices for human ambitions”, Egos 2023, Cagliari, Italy.

Co-convenor (with P. Quattrone and J. Mouritsen) of Sub-theme 52: “Perfectly Imperfect Organizing: The Beauty of Incomplete Calculative Practices”, 2022 EGOS Colloquium, Vienna, 7-9 July 2022.

Member of the Scientific and organizing Committee of the “9th ENROAC doctoral summer school in management accounting”, 15-18 July 2018, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena, co-organized with Alliance Manchester Business School and University of Siena, and supported by IMA (Institute of Management Accountants).

Member of the Scientific and organizing Committee of the “8th ENROAC doctoral summer school in management accounting”, 17-20 July 2016, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena.

Member of the Scientific and Organizing Committee of the 10^th Enroac Conference, Galway, Ireland, Galway, June 2015.

Member of the Scientific and organizing Committee of the “7th ENROAC doctoral summer school in management accounting”, University of Manchester and Siena, July 2014, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena.

Member of the Scientific and organizing Committee of the “6th ENROAC doctoral summer school in management accounting”, University of Manchester and Siena, 22-25 July 2012, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena.

Member of the local Organizing Committee of the 34^th Conference of the European Accounting Association, Università di Siena – Università di Roma “Luiss - Guido Carli”, Siena-Roma, 16- 22 April 2011.

Member of the Scientific and organizing Committee of the “5th ENROAC doctoral summer school in management accounting”, University of Manchester and Siena, 14-17 July 2010, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena.

Member of the organizing and scientific committee of the workshop on “Innovating management&Accounting practices. Turning challenges into opportunities through performance measurement systems”, organized by the University of Siena and SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milano, Sda Bocconi, 1-2 December 2009.

Conference Convenor (and president of the panel of the faculty) of The first Accounting History International Emerging Scholars Colloquium, University of Siena and Accounting History Special Interest Group of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, 16-17 July 2009, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena.

Member of the Scientific and organizing Committee of the 4^th, 3^rd and 2nd ENROAC doctoral summer school in management accounting", University of Manchester and Siena, 2004, 2006, 2008, Certosa di Pontignano, Siena.