Andrew Goddard

Accounting and navigating legitimacy in Tanzanian NGOs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of accounting in non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It seeks to understand accounting processes and reporting practices in NGOs and the conditions that sustain those processes and practices. NGOs have become important institutions in world affairs but accounting research has not developed significant interest in their operations. Design/methodology/approach – The research executes a grounded theory strategy as the principal methodology for the inquiry. Fieldwork was undertaken in three Tanzanian NGOs. Findings – The research established the importance of accounting in the process of navigating organisational legitimacy. This was achieved due to its important role in symbolising organisational competence. Two principal strategies were employed by organisations in navigating legitimacy – building credibility and bargaining for change. Originality/value – The paper makes a contribution to the limited empirical research into accounting in NGOs in developing countries and to grounded theory, accounting research. The principal finding, that in the NGOs studied the primary purpose of accounting was its symbolic use in navigating legitimacy and that it has a minimal role to play in internal decision making, is an important finding for practice as well as for understanding and knowledge. Finally, the paper sheds light on accountability in NGOs by narrating how the phenomenon is constructed and perceived by organisations and stakeholders. Future research should extend our understanding of these phenomena across a broader range of NGOs to incorporate differences in geographical location, religious affiliation and also include Northern donor organisations.

An Interpretive Inquiry of Accounting Practices in Religious Organisations

This paper reports the study of accounting practices as embedded in two religious organisations in Malaysia. The research is an attempt to study accounting practices in a cultural setting that has not been the subject of previous interpretive accounting research. The study also makes a contribution towards the need for accounting research to become more explanatory of accounting as social practice wherein theory is both informed, and is developed by observation. This is achieved by developing grounded theory from the data and is in accordance with recent calls for case studies in accounting research to be more concerned with producing social theories of accounting practice.

Audit committees, Cadbury Code and audit fees: an empirical analysis of UK companies

Audit committees have become more important and prevalent in recent years but there is a relative paucity of empirical research concerning their value. This paper contributes to this research by reporting an analysis of the relationship between the size of the audit fee and the existence of an audit committee. The analysis builds on previous research in this area in several ways. First, it uses more recent data than previous research which may have been influenced by transitional problems. The data in this paper were collected from financial reports for the years ending in 1994 and 1995. Second, it investigates the effect on audit fees of audit committee adherence to the Cadbury Committee Report recommendations of 1992. Finally, the analysis is set within a theoretical framework developed from agency theory. The results suggest that audit committees have been through a transitional phase comprising changes to the general audit environment and a learning phase for the establishment and operation of committees. By 1995 there is no evidence that audit committees, whether adhering to the Cadbury Code or not, have any overall effect on audit fees. The only effect found was a reduction in fees due to improved internal controls in the presence of auditee complexity. There was evidence that size was the main determinant of the presence of an audit committee.

Development of the accounting profession and practices in the public sector - a hegemonic analysis

This paper uses Gramsci’s theory of hegemony to analyse the development of the public sector accounting profession and accounting practices in the UK since the nineteenth‐century. Three periods of hegemony and accounting development are identified and the relationship between the two phenomena is discussed. The analysis emphasises the non‐teleological development of the public sector accounting profession and accounting techniques and clearly places them within an ideological framework which is itself the outcome of a complex interrelation between economic crises, class interests and the state. The paper concludes that the public sector accounting professional body in the UK has played an important hegemonic role in constituting and reflecting ideologies and in reflecting the coercive and consensual approaches adopted by the state. The paper also sets an agenda for a research programme which looks at specific crises and hegemonies in more depth.

Activity-Based Costing and Central Overhead Cost Allocation in Universities: A Case Study

This article examines the development of ABC in university accounting and assesses the contribution it might make to solving the problems associated with central overhead cost allocation systems. A case study using an ABC methodology was developed and applied to library services at the University of Southampton. The results showed substantial differences in the allocation of the central overhead costs as between academic faculties using the model and the existing system. The authors argue that although the ABC approach may overcome some of the problems of overhead allocation and improve the economic efficiency of organizations, there are significant problems with its practical application.

Accountability and Accounting: Using Naturalistic Methodology to Enhance Organizational Control – A Case Study

Reports a case study investigating the use of naturalistic methodology to enhance the accountability of strategic decision making in a community health service. Discovers the possibilities and problems of stakeholders′ evaluation to improve accounting information. The study involved a district health psychogeriatric service in southern England over the period 1988‐1992.

Performance, Strategy and Accounting in Local Government and Higher Education in the UK

This article discusses the importance of organizational management of performance measures. The authors use a grounded theory methodology to explore the relationship between strategic planning, accounting and performance measurement systems in local government and higher education. Only by understanding how and why performance management works will it be possible to improve the delivery of our public services.

Organizational culture and budget related behavior: A comparative contingency study of three local government organizations

Abstract The study attempts to establish the contingent relationship between culture and budget related behavior. Multiple aspects of culture were investigated including national, corporate, professional, and hierarchical components. The paper is the fourth in a series investigating the relationship in three local government organizations in the United Kingdom, British Canada, and French Canada. This paper hypothesises the influence of each of the sub cultures on budget related behavior. Results indicate that corporate and hierarchical cultures are a major influence, professional cultures are a lesser influence, and that national culture appears to have little or no influence.

Culture and drama

This paper is an investigation of the interrelationship between organisational culture and financial control systems (FCS). A comparison is made between three local government organisations using an interpretive research methodology. Several researchers have advocated the adoption of an interpretive approach, among others, to accounting research. The first part of the paper discusses the relevant literature and outlines the research framework used to analyse the empirical data. This framework is based on the approach to studying organisational culture developed by Whipp et al. in 1989 which views culture in terms of a set of core beliefs and four modes of expression of these beliefs. Further, the framework acknowledges the dynamic nature of culture and uses the concept of social dramas to study the interrelationship between culture and the FCS. The second part describes the cultures and the financial control systems of the three organisations and discusses the interrelationship between them using the research framework. The final part summarises the findings, discusses a general model of the interrelationships and suggests some directions for more research in this area.

Reform as regulation - accounting, governance and accountability in UK local government

This paper is an attempt to theorise the recent changes to accounting practices in local government in the UK. The principal theory used is regulation theory, which incorporates aspects of hegemony theory and governance. Regulation theory attempts to explain major changes in national economic structures by examining underlying systems of capital accumulation, regulation and hegemony. Central to these structures and systems are the role and operation of the state and its institutions. Changes in economic structures will result in conditions, which favour different governance structures for these institutions; comprising markets, hierarchies, civil society, and heterarchic combinations. Several researchers in these areas have characterised “traditional” institutional practices as Fordist and are associated with a particular approach to regulation. However, the underlying economic structure is seen to be in crisis and a new Post‐Fordist regime may be emerging. Post‐Fordism is associated with new institutional practices, particularly decentralised management, contracting out of public services, extended use of public private partnerships and concerns for value for money, charters and league tables. The introduction of such practices may therefore be explained by the changes in underlying structures rather than as a teleological development of accounting. Moreover, some researchers have characterised such changes as representing a fundamental shift from government to governance. The very nature of the relationship between governance, accountability and accounting may therefore have also changed. These issues are explored in the paper.