Institutional Variance and Implications for Corporate Governance Reforms in a Developing Country

Corporate governance has attracted significant interest in the post-Enron era, following incidences of corporate fraud and collapses. Some of this attention has been witnessed in the proliferation of corporate governance codes of best practices and reforms. Following the agency theorisation, corporate governance codes and reforms are generically inclined. However, institutional configurations differ across contexts. (Neo-)Institutional theory posits that institutions influence corporate governance. Corporate governance practices, in turn, affect their institutional structures. Equally, organisational and social actors moderate and are compelled by these institutional boundaries. Drawing on these perspectives, this study investigates the inference of the distinct institutional context of developing countries, for corporate governance reforms. It expounds the implications of these evolving structures for the dynamism and procedures involved in such transformational schemes, in a bid to contribute to the theorisation of institutional reproduction. In this respect, a constructivist position is adopted by exploring the views of key stakeholders in the Nigerian corporate context. Against this backdrop, the study employs a qualitative method approach, involving in-depth interviews supported by documentary evidence, to fulfil its aim. In line with the description of salient stakeholders in corporate governance reforms, such key stakeholders include: regulators and policy makers, listed companies and other notable players, within the corporate governance context of Nigeria – a central economy in Africa. The findings are several. First, the study highlights that corporate governance reforms are motivated by the interface and alignment of established institutional logics, informed largely by the prevalent influence of a compendium of large family founders, regardless of supposed external pressures. Second, the expectations of the universally driven corporate governance reforms are found to contradict the dominant corporate governance performance in Nigeria, reflecting a complexity in application. Third, the mode and approach to corporate governance reforms in Nigeria are principally determined by internal legitimation, including: endogenous factors, social ratifications and path dependence, from established corporate governance structures. Lastly, corporate governance reforms are disclosed to be moderated primarily by informal mechanisms, as opposed to the more structured techniques of developed countries. Correspondingly, employment of such a framework of performance is advocated in the realisation of an institutionally informed corporate governance reform scheme in Nigeria, whereby the predominance of family block-holders could positively provide an avenue for tailored change through proper integration of their influence. In the main, the study forges a debate on the practice and policy that “a fit for all” corporate governance reform’s procedure is yet to be achieved. In this vein, theoretically, the study provides a model for understanding the institutionalisation of corporate governance reforms within maturing fields, as in Nigeria

INTERNAL AUDIT CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITY OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION IN NIGERIA

The basic goal of Accounting is to provide enabling accounting information for reliable decision-making. The quality level of this accounting information comes from the company's governance practices, thereby emphasizing the importance of corporate governance in companies. Recently, following the financial crises resulting in accounting scandals, attention has been moving towards Internal Audit Function as an important factor in the structure of Corporate Governance. This paper therefore examined the extent of the relationship between internal audit function and the quality of accounting information of companies. The study adopted the Survey research design. The research instrument employed was Questionnaire which was administered to internal auditors of the “Big Four”. Linear regression analysis was employed in the analysis of the data collected with the use of Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results revealed that there is a significant relationship between the internal audit characteristics and the quality of accounting information. It was recommended that in order to provide credibility to the financial statement, there should be a law in place mandating attachment of internal auditors report to the financial statemen

The Impact of Corporate Governance and external audit on controlling discretionary accruals: A study of impacts on earnings management based on FTSE350, UK.

While the interest of shareholders contradicts with the interests of the managers, agency problem appears. However, the principle of the agency theory is to establish the relationship between the shareholders and managers; and this thesis relies on the involvement of corporate governance and external audit who can resolve the issues between them. The main aim of this study is to identify the impact of corporate governance and external audit on controlling the discretionary accrual based on the FTSE350, in the UK. This study has considered the performance matched discretionary accruals to measure the magnitude of the discretionary accruals. The monitoring devices are established in the segmenting the models in two different categories; these are corporate governance and external audit. There are two models; first model and second model, formed and the hypotheses are created based on those attributes of the corporate governance and external audit. This study has considered the data from FTSE350 index of the UK; from 2014 – 2019. The variables of the first model; non-executive director’s fees and block holders are positively associated while managerial ownership and non-executive director’s meeting are negatively associated at 0.05 significant level. Further, remuneration committee independence is posi- tively associated with earnings management at P-value<0.1. On the other hand, the variables of second model, non-audit fee is positively associated whereas audit fee, Auditors with industrial specialism, audit expertise are negatively associated at P-value<0.05

Tax Compliance in Immigrant Communities: Bangladeshis in the UK

This thesis employs Bourdieu’s theory of practice to explore small immigrant business owners’ adaptation to the host country’s income tax system. In doing this, the thesis applies a sociological perspective in the theorizing and study of their tax compliance behaviour. Drawing on a survey (N=101) and in-depth interviews (N=27) with Bangladeshi family business owners and their tax advisers in the UK, this thesis demonstrates that immigrant business owners’ engagement with the host country’s tax system is grounded in the sociocultural status they inherit from their country of origin, even though their social class positions in the new society unconsciously condition and impact on how they practise tax compliance. Findings suggest that the power relations inherent in the tax professional-taxpayer relationship act as a critical factor in the reproduction and transformation of immigrant business owners’ moral disposition towards compliance with tax laws. The thesis argues that the ways small Bangladeshi family business owners think, feel and act in their approach to tax compliance is likely to differ not only from those of native business communities but also from those of other immigrant communities in the UK

The Winds of change in Africa-China relations? Contextualising African agency in Ethiopia-China Engagement in Wind energy Infrastructure Financing and Development

Despite the long-standing tradition in the mainstream media, policy and academic scholarship on China's role in investing and providing development finance to Africa, the majority of narratives assume China dominates the decision-making processes around the engagement. Drawing on qualitative case study rooted in an extensive field based research, I challenge such assertions with contextual reference to Ethiopia-China engagement in wind energy infrastructure financing and development. Situated in the authoritarian developmental state praxis and African agency analytical framework, I first examine the drivers and motivations that contributed to both Ethiopian and Chinese actors to finance and develop the Adama wind farms. Second, I explore engagement modalities and negotiation processes between Ethiopian and Chinese stakeholders along the wind farms projects’ lifecycles. Third and finally, I examine the engagement outcomes and local development impacts of the wind farms. The study found that, firstly, there were a plethora of drivers and motivations for both Ethiopian government and Chinese state and semi-state actors to finance and develop the wind farms. The choice by the Ethiopian government to seek financing from China and consequently award the contracts to Chinese enterprises to develop the two wind farms was driven by a bricolage of economic and political factors. Second, Ethiopia’s domestic socio-economic and political makeup conditioned the Chinese interactions with the Ethiopians to ensure that the Ethiopian government retained control, influence and direction of the engagement from brokering to commissioning of the wind farms. That said, in some cases, the Chinese were allowed to shape the processes where the Ethiopian government had limited control and local capacity. Third and finally, local outcomes and development impacts of the two wind farms are complex and are intertwined across multiple actors. On one hand, the wind farms are new frontiers for enabling environment-friendly electricity generation to sustainably power industrial growth and ensure modern energy access for all, and on the other hand, are seen as symbols of dispossession and disruption of communities’ livelihood capabilities. Such complexity underscores the contested and disruptive nature of development. Importantly, the engagement outcomes and local development impacts of the Adama wind farms were dependent on Ethiopia’s regulatory and governance structure, and to a lesser extent the conditioning effects of Chinese transnational capital features. This thesis’ findings, therefore, help to develop a new reading and better understanding on politics of development in Ethiopia and the role of African agency in shaping engagement outcomes with external actors