Accounting for Privatisation in Africa? Reflections from a Critical Interdisciplinary Perspective

The interrelation of privatisation and accounting constitutes a wide-ranging focus for research that is attractive from a critical theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective. A number of studies may be considered part of this focus in holding themselves out as types of evaluation of – or as an accounting, or accountability, for – privatisation. For us, the evaluation of privatisation programmes is properly a concern of critical accounting research and of those interested in the development of more holistic forms of accounting and auditing for appraisal, such as is envisaged in forms of social accounting and social auditing. Indeed the assessment of privatisation has been deemed within the ambit of the social audit movement. Privatisation in Africa is controversial. In today's context it is often integral to the particular form of the globalisation process and carries related ambiguities. Apparently something of a panacea for its advocates, it is problem-ridden for its critics. How should we account for privatisation in Africa? We promote the delineation of a holistic accounting evaluation model by reflecting on a critical review of research constituting accounts of privatisation in Africa. Of course such research, to the extent that it is holistic or comprehensive, would include attention to the mobilisation in context of various accountings as well as related practices of governance at micro- and macro-levels—in turn reflecting the sense in which accounting, along with related systems of governance, is pervasive in privatisation processes. While we find strengths in the research analysed and acknowledge its contribution, we point to deficiencies and gaps from a critical theoretical and interdisciplinary perspective. These gaps and deficiencies delimit policy discourse and praxis vis-à-vis privatisation in Africa and beyond. They also point to a more holistic accounting model of appraisal. We acknowledge the particularities of Africa, and indeed of the differing nations, cultures and regions of Africa, but also suggest the model's relevance not only for African contexts but beyond

Developing appreciation of micro-organizational processes of accounting change and indicating pathways to more ‘Enabling Accounting’ in a micro-organizational domain of research and development

The paper contributes by developing and refining the critical theoretical framing of organizational processes implicating accounting change. This includes articulating how accounting can become more ‘enabling’ in a dynamic micro-organizational context. The latter articulation reflects a critical theoretical appreciation and mobilization of the construct ‘enabling accounting’ that begins to contextualize and reconcile aspects of differing usages of this construct in the literature. In framing organizational processes implicating accounting change, the paper furthers understanding of accounting colonization around categories building upon Laughlin (1991) and related studies, including work seeking to develop Laughlin (notably Tucker, 2013, and the Social Network Theory he promotes). Change pathways implicating colonization are in this respect seen as shaped by structural, relational and social mechanisms. The theoretical framing advanced helps to illuminate aspects of colonization processes that facilitate, as well as hinder or counter, meaningfully enabling dimensions of accounting. This enhances the critical theoretical appreciation of colonization in terms of a more complex evaluation. The theorizing is fleshed out and developed through an action research project conducted at the Research and Development (R&D) site of a multinational corporation in France during the implementation of a performance measurement system (PMS). In theorizing accounting colonization and dynamics of an enabling accounting in an R&D setting, we add to prior appreciations of the relation between creative, innovative, ostensibly intuitive and unstructured processes, and, systems of financial control

Influences on therapist's decisions for neuroleptic treatment in schizophrenia: the role of characteristics of the patient and the physician

We investigated factors influencing physicians' treatment decisions regarding 4 antipsychotic treatment strategies for schizophrenia (conventional oral/conventional depot/atypical oral/atypical depot). We analysed the influence of the patient's compliance with medication, socio-economic status (occupational prestige/educational attainment), as well as the influence of gender, age and practice setting (psychiatric/general hospital/private practice) of the prescribing physician.We examined the influence of these factors by means of case vignettes. 4 vignettes were constructed with varying levels for compliance and socio-economic status. For each vignette, physicians had to choose one treatment strategy from the 4 alternatives. Data were collected using a survey (n=1 342) of physicians in Germany and analysed using a weighted least-squares regression model and a random-effect logit model.Compliance and status had interactive effects on treatment selection. Low compliance was associated with an increase in selections of depot medication. For high-status, noncompliant patients, physicians selected mainly atypical oral and atypical depot antipsychotics. Low-status, noncompliant patients were mostly given conventional and atypical depot antipsychotics. Noncompliant, low-status patients received conventional depot antipsychotics 4 times as often as noncompliant, high-status patients. The physician's age and practice setting were also related to the treatment selection.Therapeutic decisions are influenced by patients' and the physicians' characteristics. There might be barriers for patients with low compliance and low socio-economic status that prevent them from being prescribed newer medications. Not all physicians seem to have the same choices of treatment options available to them

The significance of caudate volume for age-related associative memory decline

Bauer E, Töpper M, Gebhardt H, Gallhofer B, Sammer G. The significance of caudate volume for age-related associative memory decline. Brain Research. 2015;1622:137-148.Aging comes along with reduced gray matter (GM) volume in several cerebral areas and with cognitive performance decline in different cognitive domains. Moreover, regional GM volume is linked to specific cognitive sub processes in older adults. However, it remains unclear which regional changes in older individuals are directly associated with decreased cognitive performance. Moreover, most of the studies on this topic focused on hippocampal and prefrontal brain regions and their relation to memory and executive functioning. Interestingly, there are only a few studies that reported an association between striatal brain volume and cognitive performance. This is insofar surprising that striatal structures are (1) highly affected by age and (2) involved in different neural circuits that serve intact cognition. To address these issues, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to analyze GM volume in 18 younger and 18 older adults. Moreover, several neuropsychological tests from different neuropsychological test batteries were applied to assess a broad range of cognitive domains. Older adults showed less GM volume than younger adults within frontal, striatal, and cerebellar brain regions. In the group of older adults, significant correlations were found between striatal GM volume and memory performance and between prefrontal/temporal GM volume and executive functioning. The only direct overlap between brain regions associated with regional atrophy and cognitive performance in older adults was found for the right caudate: older adults showed reduced caudate volume relative to younger adults. Moreover, caudate volume was positively correlated with associative memory accuracy in older adults and older adults showed poorer performances than younger adults in the respective associative memory task. Taken together, the current findings indicate the relevance of the caudate for associative memory decline in the aging brain

Developing Environmental Accounting: Insights from Indigenous Cultures

The view is taken that the study of diverse cultures can contribute to the development of environmental accounting and reporting. The focus is upon seeking to articulate insights from three indigenous cultures: the Australian Aboriginal, the Maori and the Native American. These cultures, alive today, provide relevant insights for those concerned with challenging mainstream and Western practices and seeking to develop alternatives. Attention is focused on these insights and it is hoped that further research will be stimulated