Tom Nguyen

Law and Banking Development in a South Pacific Island Economy: The Case of Fiji, 1970-2006

This paper examines the applicability of the prominent law–finance theory to banking development in Fiji, a representative island economy in the South Pacific region. Secondary and primary data are used to assess legal institutions and the level of development in the banking sector in Fiji (and, where possible, in other South Pacific island economies) in comparison with up to 53 other countries, both developed and developing. The paper also re-examines the question of a possible law–banking development connection internationally, in light of newly available data and a newly proposed composite index of banking development. While the results are broadly consistent with previous findings of a direct relationship between law enforcement quality and banking development, they also suggest that the legal rules codifying creditor rights may not be as influential as had been thought previously. The latter result accords with the experience of Fiji, where very weak legal rules combined with average law enforcement quality (and high accounting standards) yield a reasonable performance in terms of banking development over the 1970–2006 period. The paper also points out some possible policy implications of these results.

Western management accounting practices in Vietnamese enterprises: Adoption and perceived benefits

Purpose – This study aims to examine the experiences of Vietnamese enterprises with respect to the adoption and benefits of Western management accounting practices (MAPs) during a period when the economy was in transition toward a more market‐oriented system.Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire responses were obtained from the head or vice‐head of the accounting department in 181 enterprises, and follow‐up interviews conducted with 20 of the respondents. The responses were analysed with simple statistical tests and ANOVA.Findings – Two of the key findings are in line with results reported previously for other countries: adoption rates for “traditional” Western MAPs are higher than for “contemporary” ones; and state‐owned enterprises tend to exhibit lower adoption rates than other enterprises. A third key finding represents new insight, but it may be applicable to only Vietnam (and possibly a limited number of other transition economies). This third finding arises from our identification of a group ...

Vietnam's SCIC: a gradualist approach to sovereign wealth funds

Vietnams State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) was established in 2005, with the primary goal of helping the authorities to make, under market conditions, the most of state capital investments in business enterprises. To date, SCIC has had to grapple mainly with facilitating the ‘equitization’ (that is privatization) of large numbers of state-owned enterprises. As yet it is still too early to make a firm assessment of SCICs performance with regard to either of the above objectives. Nevertheless, a discernable picture has begun to emerge, in which SCIC appears to have been a typical example of Vietnams gradualist approach in transitioning to a more market-oriented economic system: the pace of change may have been slow and uneven, but there are clear indications of movements toward the end goal.