ACCOUNTING FOR AN ETHICAL ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT

This study examines the relationship between Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and accounting, focusing on the role of ethical variables in supporting strategic planning within Italian mutual credit cooperative banks. After the recent failures the introduction of ethics in risk management practices could contribute to the alignment between the objectives of the firms and their stakeholders. This study is supported by holistic case study of Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Napoli, as the most representative mutual credit cooperative bank of the South of Italy. Drawing on Glaser and Strauss (1967), we adopt grounded theory methodology in order to explain how ethics influences either ERM practices or accounting practices. This paper makes a contribution to existing literature giving evidence of the ability of a consolidated ethical Enterprise Risk Management process to lead the accounting practices toward the area of social accounting.