Government accounting reform in an ex-French African colony: the international political economy of neo-colonialism

This paper examines the political economy of introducing a computerised accounting system in a former French colony in Africa with little government accounting and few financial statistics. The reforms were a condition of structural adjustment programmes imposed by the World Bank to improve governance, decision making and government accountability in a country with a turbulent political history since independence, and weak and often corrupt governance. The reform was unusual in that indigenous civil servants had considerable discretion over the choice and development of the system. Thus the local capability in developing government accounting technology suited to the local context and derived from learning by experience was created. The system was widely regarded as effective but it was abandoned for a French system which ultimately proved problematic. The decision to change the system and its ensuing problems are attributed to North-South relations, indigenous neopatrimonial leadership, and neocolonialism, especially by France in Francophone Africa

Globalisation, accounting and developing countries

Accounting is an instrument and an object in globalisation but its impact and manifestation is not uniform across Northern developed countries and Southern developing countries (DCs). This paper reviews contributions on globalisation and its influence on accounting in DCs, and identifies important research gaps. It examines the role of accounting in changing development policies, from state capitalism through neo-liberal market-based to good-governance policies. It then considers specific accounting issues, namely the diffusion of International Accounting Standards (now International Financial Reporting Standards) and how they promote global neo-liberalism; the development of the accounting profession in DCs in the face of competition from Northern global accounting firms and professional associations; accounting issues in state-owned organisations, and privatised and multinational corporations; government accounting reforms and the resurrection of the state in DCs; social and environmental accounting issues; and the rise of non-governmental organisations and their accounting and accountability. The discussion and conclusions reflect on achievements to date and important areas requiring further development

Varieties of neo-colonialism: government accounting reforms in Anglophone and Francophone Africa - Benin and Ghana compared

This study compares government accounting reforms in an Anglophone and a Francophone African country, namely Ghana and Benin, with respect to neo-colonialism. The data draws from interviews with local officials concerned with government accounting, documents and documentaries. The focus lay on the perceived effectiveness of reforms, and their formulation and implementation. In both countries their former colonial powers, Britain and France, still influence accounting through economic means (through monetary systems), international financial institutions, political advisors, Northern accounting associations and neo-patrimonialism. However, their use of these differs. While France structures her control mostly around the monetary system established during colonialism, Britain relies on its post-colonial infrastructure and accounting profession, and concedes much influence to the USA, essentially through international financial institutions. France exerts more direct control through advisors than Britain (with the USA). The French approach is conceptualized as coercive-neo-colonialism and the British as soft-neo-colonialism. Despite international financial institutions’ pervasive presence, they are not monolithic agents with a uniform role and influence in Ghana and Benin, and good governance aims to increase civil service capacity, financial transparency and accountability remain problematic

International political economy: north south relations and neocolonialism France ‘pushing’ through an accounting reform in its former African colony

This paper examines the case of a government accounting reform in a former French colony in Africa, nicknamed T Republic1, through the lens of international political economy. The reform is concerned with the introduction of a computerised recording and reporting process in the government accounting system. It is particularly important since it was introduced at a time when there was almost no set of government accounting information and financial statistics. Further, in addition to improving governance, decision making and government accountability among other objectives, the reform has also the potential of developing local capability in the area of government accounting technology rooted in the local environment through learning by experience. However, the reform failed to achieve these objectives in a significant manner. North-South relations and neo-colonial factors are found to have led to this lack of succes

Les institutions de contrôle en Afrique francophone : L’indépendance relative de l’Inspection Général d'État par rapport à la Cour des Comptes

La fonction d’audit ou de vérification externe remplie par les institutions supérieures de contrôle des finances publiques (ISC) revêt une importance capitale pour une bonne gestion des finances publiques et la bonne gouvernance, particulièrement dans les pays en développement. En vue d’aider les pays à renforcer cette fonction essentielle, l’INTOSAI a formulé en 2007 une déclaration sur l’indépendance des ISC basée sur les bonnes pratiques. Cependant cet idéal n'est pas atteint dans de nombreux pays d’Afrique sub-saharienne. La situation est particulièrement complexe dans les pays francophones où il y a généralement deux entités qui exercent cette fonction d’audit : la Cours des Comptes et l’Inspections Générales d'Etat. Cet article a réalisé, à titre introductif, une analyse comparative des rôles et niveaux d'indépendance relatifs de ces deux institutions au regard de la Déclaration de l'INTOSAI. L’article conclut que, malgré les améliorations récentes, aucune des deux institutions n’a atteint les niveaux d'indépendance proposés par l'INTOSAI

Political economy of accounting and governance in Africa

Governance has become an important concept in the development agenda and forms part and parcel of the development discourse and has, thus, become central in donor decisions. Unfortunately, while government accounting system is likely to contribute to strengthening governance, most efforts in the areas to ultimately improve governance fail or achieve limited results. This paper examines the views of various stakeholders on the ground to understand the lack of success in government accounting and governance initiatives. Our analysis is based on case studies conducted in two African countries, namely Benin and Ghana. Data was collected by ways of interviews, informal discussions and document analysis. The views of the participants were paramount in drawing tentative conclusions from the study. We find that weak governance and accounting systems and the resistance to improve go beyond widely reported corruption, weak capacity and lack of ownership but rather lie within the political economic forces and interests at work in Africa. Three groups of forces and interests are found to shape the state of governance and accounting system. These are (1) internal political system and institution forces, (2) internal economic interests/forces, and (3) international political economic forces and interests. In conclusion we suggest that in order to understand governance and how this should be improved requires engaging with the stakeholders on the ground. Furthermore, we conclude that accounting is central to the analysis of governance and should be accorded more importance in the development arena

The multiverse of non-financial reporting regulation

International audienceAlthough non-financial reporting (NFR) has been extensively explored in the accounting literature, most previous studies have focused on relevant issues in contexts where firms report their impact on society and the natural environment voluntarily. Despite the important role previous studies on voluntary NFR play in our understanding over of its role, processes and consequences, extant literature has provided limited evidence on (i) how NFR regulation affects (if at all) corporate reporting, (ii) whether such regulated reporting affects the users of corporate reports and, (iii) whether mandatory NFR has any "real effects" on how firms affect society and natural environment. This special issue attempts to enrich our understanding of the impact of NFR regulation with reference to the studies accepted for the special issue. In addition, this paper discusses key aspects of NFR regulation, provides an overview of the papers included in the special issue and proposes further axes of research in light of the continuing reforms in the NFR regulatory space; which we foresee to lead to a "multiverse" of NFR regulatory models and approaches

Financial controls to control corruption in an African country insider experts within an enabling environment

This study analyses an implementation of a government accounting reform in Benin directed at redressing fraudulent and corrupt practices. Although reforms to improve public administration and to mitigate corruption in Africa often have disappointing outcomes, our case study involving systems for payment of supplier invoices, payroll matters, and debt certificates had encouraging findings. The systems reduced inefficiencies and corrupt practices. An “enabling environment” (its main elements being emancipatory space, empowered participation, and ethical leadership) encouraged the deeper involvement of committed, expert, and ethical local civil servants in establishing effective financial controls. In the context of anticorruption reforms, this illustrates that public sector organizations in Africa should not invariably be regarded as monolithic bureaucratic top‐down entities, staffed by civil servants who are either passive “bystanders,” purely self‐interested “players,” or insufficiently expert, and hence in need for more training, and of imported, expensive, accounting systems implemented by foreign consultants. In contrast, the paper argues that, within a suitable environment, granting indigenous experts enough latitude to enact incremental yet substantive accounting changes at the local level may be more effective

Researching and publishing on accounting in emerging economies: an experiential account

This chapter discusses substantive issues for academia generally, and for researchers actively or contemplating conducting research on accounting in emerging economies. The authors have all researched and published in this area, sometimes individually but more often collaboratively, all but one have supervised PhD students, and all have promoted networks of researchers in this area. Except for one author born in the UK, the others were born, received their education up to and including university, and initially worked in their home countries (Bangladesh, Benin, Nigeria, Mauritius, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) before completing their PhDs in the UK or, in one instance, New Zealand. All retain links with their birthplaces, through their research and university and professional contacts. Whilst we do not claim expertise on accounting in all emerging economies, our careers have exposed us to much of this research, especially in Asia and Africa. This chapter draws on these experiences