اطلاعات حسابداری به عنوان تسهیل کننده انتقال بین نسلی در کسب و کارهای خانوادگی Accounting information as a facilitator of inter-generational transfer in family businesses: The case of an Andalusian business family

1. Introduction This article deals with the use that business families make of accounting reports to achieve successful intergenerational transfers, understood as those that contribute to the longevity of the family business. Such transfers usually generate stress regarding the survival of the family business and can even jeopardize the continuity of the family firms when they engender conflict within the family (De Massis et al., 2008, p. 188). The literature has shown how intergenerational change is one of the most decisive processes within a family business and how it may lead to its disappearance (Rose, 1993, p. 133; Colli and Rose, 2008; Songini et al., 2013; Fernández and Lluch, 2016). This work aims at contributing to the literature on this topic with the idea that accounting information facilitates intergenerational transfers by preventing conflicts within the business family, thus increasing the probability of success. This research adopts the theoretical approach of the socioemotional wealth (SEW) of the family (Gómez-Mejía et al., 2007, 2010, 2011; Berrone et al., 2010). The SEW theoretical framework has a great potential to be used in studies dealing with the accounting issues of family businesses (Prencipe et al., 2014, p. 379), given thatthe performance ofthis kind of businesses is evaluated not only in financial terms (profit maximization, profitability, stakeholder value or cash flow), but also in non-financial terms, including the family’s and firm’s reputation with stakeholders, long-term survival as a family business, preservation of unity within the family and accumulation of social capital (Carney, 2005; Miller and Le Breton-Miller, 2005). In short, Songini et al. (2013) underline how family succession, an especially delicate process in relation to the preservation of SEW, introduces accounting research into the field of family business studies.