Aida Sy

Archival research and the lost worlds of accounting

Developments in History Proper have by-passed accounting history. While sometimes open to occasional alarm calls such as this, mainstream history has carried-on regardless behind a defunct methodological shield. Historians have complacently paraded “interesting” data and evidence without consideration of its validity or relevance. Philosophical concerns have been methodically barred from consideration. Despite the Kuhnian Revolution, archival antiquarianism reigns supreme. This regimen survives in a North-Korean-like insularity, by combining a self-referential closure using Great Men of accounting with a refusal to engage a broader literature in social history. This paper redresses the balance in two ways: First, by using Kuhn’s critique to show archivalist empiricism as incapable of proving a paradigm’s truth, and revealing how easily the latter may succumb to popularist euphoria and ideologies. Second, by sketching a Post-Kuhnian panorama in terms of a Non-Eurocentric, social, gendered, environmental, public interest and labour orientation. Ignoring such possibilities condemns accounting history to more soldiering under impoverished Archivalism.

The return of paper prophets a social critique of mainstream accounting: up-to-dated by Professor Sy

The African Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance extends its scope to publishing work that deals with general classical theories. AJAAF has published the contribution of Professor Abraham Briloff. In the same spirit, the editor of the journal has considered Professor Tinker’s PAPERS PROPHETS. The chapter chosen is an introduction to the Tinker’s book. The book is concerned with explaining the most complex problems of the accounting profession. Accounting cannot be explained without its social elements. These include, but not limited to, the historical background of human organisations. Who is familiar with Tinker’s writings understands that he is a Marxist. What matters most to Karl Marx is history, as it explains the complex connections in the struggles that underline capitalism. The paper has been updated to include the origins of accounting and bookkeeping in Africa.

Africa does not need IFRS

A great deal of hype surrounds the so-called revolution in accounting standard setting. The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) enterprise aims to introduce a single global accounting and financial reporting language that would standardise reporting practices throughout the globe. There are several reasons why this vision may not hold, and therefore Africa should be wary. First, there are many obstacles for any US option. Second, International Financial Standards Board (IFSB) has failed to create a uniform set of standards.

Democracy, capitalism and racism: Latino labour and US capitalism

Since the US voters elected Barack Obama in 2008 – the first African American President of the United States of America – we witness continual attacks on this first black president. The attacks by the Tea Party have been widely broadcast by those parts of the US media most sympathetic to their concerns. The Tea Party has also attacked Nancy Pelosi – the first woman Speaker of the House; the Presidents Healthcare Reform (initially planned to provide healthcare for 50 millions of Americans); the minimum wage and many other social protections for the middle class. Their other attacks were directed against the Latino labour.

Editorial: No David to battle Goliath or analysing accounting for climate change

The world financial and economic crisis is the worse since the Great Depression. But it should not be forgotten that climate change is dangerously and continuously destroying planet earth. This editorial does not deny the importance of the economic mess that bankers and hedge-fund managers have plunged the world economy. While world leaders are focused on the economic crisis, climate change is growing. We have no David to do battle with the environmental Goliath. In this editorial, we provide evidence as to the seriousness of the climate change and explore our responsibilities as academics and professionals.

Ponzi schemes and California pyramids Ponzi schemes and Home-Stake

In this paper, we investigate the cases of accounting and business fraud known as Ponzi schemes. These cases studies have been done several decades ago by Professor Tony Tinker. But, notwithstanding Tinkers warning, some corporations and some corporate executives still believe, they are above the law and are using accounting to mislead shareholders and mismanage the corporate finances. The case of Bernard Madoff, a CPA, is an example.

Do ownership structure and quality of financial information affect the cost of debt of Tunisian listing firms

The main objective of this paper is to investigate empirically the relationship between the boards with other internal governance mechanisms such as ownership structure, quality of financial information and the cost of debt. To do so, we use a sample of 28 Tunisian listing firms during the period from 2007-2015. The empirical results show that the ownership structure and the quality of financial information have an important role in determining the characteristics of the cost of debt. The results also indicate that the cost of debt is related positively with factors from the boards of directors, to the size of the listing firms and negatively to the institutional participation on the capital of firm.

Athen's game of chicken or the conditional dependence between the Greek banks

In this paper, we investigate empirically evidence to examine the conditional dependence between the Grecian banks. Then, we use, first, the methodology GARCH-DCC based on the dynamic process of dependence and, second, we use the methodology GARCH-DECO based on the constant process of dependence. The two methodologies DCC and DECO proposed, respectively, by Engle (2002), and Engle and Kelly (2009) are improved from a sample composed by 18 Grecian banks listed in the Athens Exchange over the period 2nd January 2006 from 31st December 2012. The results show the effect of time varying variance and dynamic correlations on the assets returns of all banks listed in the stock market of Greece. These results show that asset returns of banks are highly correlated positively, especially, after the outbreak of the financial crisis of 2007.

Corporate governance practices as a reflection of the institutions, economics and political environment in Sub-Saharan Africa Anglophone countries

This paper reviews the historical background of corporate governance, emerging issues in the development and practice of corporate governance in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. It compared the corporate governance institutions, politics, corruption and economics of each country. We find that in Ghana there are lacks of institutional shareholders, while in Nigeria and South Africa there are institutional shareholders. However, shareholders association in Ghana and South Africa are not active compared with that of Nigeria. In addition, South Africa have a stronger institutional framework than Ghana and Nigeria, this really provide an evidence to show that corporate governance practices in South Africa seems to be better than Ghana and Nigeria. Generally, we find that corruption and bribery, politics, economics influence effective corporate governance practice in each country. We recommend that the socio-political and economic culture in Sub-Saharan Africa Anglophone in particular Nigeria and Ghana requires need for urgent re-orientation in order to restructure the National Institutions of each of the country. As a result, corporate governance guideline should be tailor towards the political economic and cultural environment of those countries.

Critical theory: Immanuel Kant's critics of philosophy-critical accounting

This paper attempts to provide a definition of critical accounting using the methodology used by Kant in modern philosophy. The article attempts to show that critical theory can be applied to various disciplines. The paper argues that markets studies research failed to conduct a proper search for the truths and that critical accounting is the branch of accounting and business that has attempted to investigate the financial crises in capitalism. The article provides a discussion on the role of auditors and corporate governance, the financial crisis of 2008 and the various capital markets regulations and laws in the USA from President Roosevelt to President Obama.