13 research outputs found
When sorry is not an option: CSR reporting and 'face work' in a stigmatized industry - A case study of Barrick (Acacia) gold mine in Tanzania
This paper investigates how a stigmatised company mobilised accounting, particularly CSR reporting, to manage a crisis of legitimacy and spoiled identity following a series of social and environmental crises. Specifically, it uses Goffman’s (1959, 1963) writings on stigma and presentation of self and Benoit’s (1995) image restoration theory to explore how a large mining company in Tanzania used various strategic responses in striving to distance and dissociate itself from the attached ‘stigma’. The evidence shows that, in response to attacks from pressure-group organisations, rather than apologising for the social and environmental crises, the company was preocupied with ‘defensive stigma management’ strategies, including denial and refocusing attention, evading responsibility, image bolstering, excuses and dissociation. Drawing on our findings, we argue that, rather than making the effects of stigma more visible, accounting and CSR disclosures were mobilised to conceal the threats of stigma, manage the legitimacy crisis and repair spoiled identity. This study moves beyond the current focus on legitimacy in the extant CSR reporting literature, by bringing in the concept of organisational stigma to examine stigma management strategies implemented by a company operating in a stigmatised industry to avoid, reduce or minimise its audiences’ disapproval
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Creative accounting and financial scandals in Nigeria: structures an actors analysis
The critical factor in a number of corporate collapses was the use of creative and manipulative accounting practices to distort reported profitability and indebtedness. As accounting forms a central element of any business success or failure, its role is crucial in understanding such scandals which have cost investors millions of dollars and in other cases, inflicting misery on millions of people. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the consequences of creative accounting and its role in causing corporate collapse in Nigeria. Within a socio-political framework, this paper adopts the theories of critical realism to explore the relationship between social agency and the institutional structures that shape social actors. The paper uses publicly available data to show the role of creative accounting and significance of financial scandals in Nigeria. The evidence implicates accounting professionals and corporate managers in creative accounting. The paper also offers some suggestions for reform