Staff profile

Professor Mariannunziata (Mariann) Liguori is Professor of Accounting at Durham University Business School, where she moved after working at Queen’s University Belfast and Bocconi University (Milan, Italy). In 2007/2008 she was invited, as a visiting scholar, for a research period at the University of Alberta Business School, in Canada.

She was awarded her PhD by Bocconi University, Milan. Her main research interests relate to accounting in the public and not-for-profit sectors, and include: (i) processes of change in management accounting and control; (ii) accounting and performance-management change in public and not-for-profit sectors: tools, rhetoric and organisational dynamics; and (iii) governance and management-control systems in outsourcing and privatisation practices of public services.

In 2015 she has been elected secretary of the British Accounting and Finance Association’s Public Services and Charities Special Interest Group. She is a member of the editorial board of Financial Accountability & Management and of the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management. She has edited a number of Special Issues in important journals in the area and published in a number of other leading journals in the field, such as Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Organisations Studies and Public Administration.

Mini Biography

Professor Mariannunziata (Mariann) Liguori is Professor of Accounting at Durham University Business School, where she moved after working at Queen’s University Belfast and Bocconi University. She has been secretary of the British Accounting and Finance Association’s Public Services and Charities SIG since 2015. She is a member of the editorial board of Financial Accountability & Management and of Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management. Her research interests relate to processes of accounting change, control of outsourced public services and performance management in the public and not-for-profit sectors.

• Accounting and performance-management change in public and not-for-profit sectors: tools, rhetoric and organisational dynamics
• Governance and management-control systems in outsourcing and privatisation practices of public services
• Processes of change in management accounting and control

Authored book

• Connolly, C., Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2017). Charity accounting and reporting at a time of change. Chartered Accountants Ireland

Chapter in book

• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2024). Accounting change in the public sector: rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic?. In T. Rana, & L. Parker (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Public Sector Accounting. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003295945-7
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2024). Reflecting on Management Change in the UK Public Sector: Was it all Worth it?. In I. Lapsley, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Resilience of New Public Management (317-344). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198883814.003.0014
• Liguori, M., & Kelly, M. (2023). Public-Sector Accountability: A Journey from Performance Measurement to Performance Governance. In G. Carnegie, & C. Napier (Eds.), Handbook of Accounting, Accountability and Governance (258-280). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800886544.00022
• Liguori, M., Sicilia, M., & Steccolini, I. (2014). Public value as “performance”: politicians’ and managers’ perspectives on the importance of budgetary, accruals and non-financial measures. In Public Value and Performance Management, Measurement and Reporting. Emerald
• Liguori, M., Sicilia, M., & Steccolini, I. (2012). Politicians and Administrators: Two characters in search for a... role. In Reforming the Public Sector: How to Make the Difference? (157 - 172). Brookings Institution Press
• Alesani, D., Liguori, M., & Steccolini, I. (2007). Strengthening UN accountabilities: between managerial reforms and search for legitimacy. In Management Reforms in International Organisation (97 - 115). Nomos

Journal Article

• Ferry, L., Hyndman, N., Liguori, M., & Midgley, H. (in press). Public Accountability in an Unpredictable World: Tales of the Unexpected. Abacus: A Journal of Accounting, Finance and Business Studies,
• Liguori, M., & Kelly, M. (online). Performance Measurement in the Prison Sector: Highlights from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Accountancy Ireland,
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (online). How to make the case for change
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2024). Rationalising externally-driven change: Charities and the exploitation of new-practice requirements. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 53(5), 1101-1128. https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640231204297
• Hyndman, N., Lapsley, I., & Liguori, M. (2024). The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune: Exploring resilience in the third sector. Financial Accountability and Management, 40(3), 247-259. https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12400
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2024). ‘Be a game changer and keep the ball rolling’: Exploring linkages between football clubs, charitable foundations and doing good. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 37(2), 502-529. https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-06-2022-5876
• Hyndman, N., Lapsley, I., & Liguori, M. (2024). Universities in a contested space: the dominance of calculative accounting practices and the development of a research agenda. Financial Accountability and Management, 40(1), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12383
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2023). Framing the use of performance management in universities: the paradox of business disciplines. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 36(4), 1194-1219. https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-08-2021-5423
• Hyndman, N., Liguori, M., & McKillop, D. (2021). Many stones can form an arch, singly none: (Re-)establishing trust in charities. Financial Accountability and Management, 37(4), 385-398. https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12286
• Connolly, C., Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2021). Legitimating accounting change in charities: when values count more than regulation. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 17(1), 23-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/jaoc-09-2020-0128
• Connolly, C., Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2020). Legitimating accounting change in charities: When values count more than regulation. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 17(1), 23 - 49
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2019). Accounting change in the Scottish and Westminster central governments: A study of voice and legitimation. Financial Accountability and Management, 35(4), 390 - 412. https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12219
• Hyndman, N., Liguori, M., Meyer, R., Polzer, T., Seiwald, J., & Steccolini, I. (2019). Justifying public-sector accounting change from the inside: ex-post reflections from three countries
• Connolly, C., Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2018). Performance accountability: a study of the UK and Irish charity practices at a time of change
• Liguori, M., & Steccolini, I. (2018). The power of language in legitimating public-sector reforms: when politicians "talk" accounting. The British Accounting Review, 50(2), 161 - 173
• Liguori, M., Rota, S., & Steccolini, I. (2018). Studying administrative reforms through textual analysis: the case of Italian central government accounting. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 84(2), 308 - 333
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2018). Achieving radical change: a comparative study of public-sector accounting in Westminster and Scotland. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 31(2), 428 - 455
• Hyndman, N., Liguori, M., Meyer, R., Polzer, T., Seiwald, J., & Steccolini, I. (2018). Legitimating change in the public-sector: the introduction of (rational?) accounting practices in the UK, Italy and Austria. Public Management Review, 20(9), 1374 - 1399
• Connolly, C., Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2017). Charity accounting and reporting: Big challenges, big changes
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2016). Public Sector Reforms: Changing Contours on an NPM Landscape. Financial Accountability and Management, 32(1), 5 - 32
• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2016). Justifying accounting change through global discourses and legitimation strategies. The case of the UK central government. Accounting and Business Research, 46(4), 390 - 421
• Ditillo, A., Liguori, M., Sicilia, M., & Steccolini, I. (2015). Control patterns in hybrid relationships: it matters what you do, not who you are. Public Administration, 93(1), 212 - 229
• Hyndman, N., Liguori, M., Meyer, R., Polzer, Y., Tora, S., & Seiwald, J. (2014). The translation and sedimentation of accounting reforms. A comparison of the UK, Austrian and Italian experiences. Critical Perspectives On Accounting, 25(4/5), 388 - 408
• Liguori, M., & Steccolini, I. (2014). Accounting, innovation and public-sector change. Translating reforms into change?. Critical Perspectives On Accounting, 25(4/5), 319 - 323
• Liguori, M. (2012). The supremacy of the sequence: key elements and dimensions in the process of change. Organization Studies, 33(4), 507 - 539. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840612443457
• Liguori, M., & Steccolini, I. (2012). Accounting change: explaining the outcomes, interpreting the process. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 25(1), 27 - 70
• Liguori, M. (2012). Accounting and Public Sector Reforms: A Comparison of Italian and Canadian Municipalities
• Liguori, M., Sicilia, M., & Steccolini, I. (2012). Some like it non-financial... Politicians’ and managers’ views on the importance of accounting information. Public Management Review, 14, 903 - 922
• Cristofoli, D., Ditillo, A., Liguori, M., Sicilia, M., & Steccolini, I. (2010). Do environmental and task characteristics matter in the control of externalized local public services? Unveiling the relevance of party characteristics and citizens’ offstage voice. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 23(3), 350 - 372
• Liguori, M., Sicilia, M., & Steccolini, I. (2009). Politicians vs. managers: roles and interactions in accounting cycles. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 22(4), 310 - 323

Report

• Hyndman, N., & Liguori, M. (2015). Central Government Accounting: Arguing For and Legitimating Change. [No known commissioning body]