Financial Accountability Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This study aims at examining the impacts of internal control practices on financial accountability in Islamic non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Malaysia. Thus, this study applies an explanatory case study method to analyze intervention of life events which form the internal control practices. For data collection, this study used a shorter case study interview with interview protocol questions developed from the literature review. For reporting, this study adopted a multiple-case study format combining all three cases into a single report. As a result, this study identified significant interrelation impacts between internal control practices and financial accountability by Islamic NPOs in Malaysia under three aspects: (i) financial accountability 'for what'-internal control as part of financial accountability process; (ii) financial accountability 'on how'-internal control discharged financial accountability through financial disclosure; and (iii) financial accountability 'to whom'-internal control supports Islamic NPOs to gain both power (khilāfah) and trust (amānah) from stakeholders. Therefore, this study is among the few studies that examine the internal control practices especially their impacts on financial accountability of Islamic NPOs in Malaysia.

This paper contributes to the emerging body of literature on accounting in churches. Basing on grounded theory it aims to construct the régime of accountability in different two contexts: the French and the Swedish territories. Whilst most works of that emerging research interest take for granted the sacred/secular divide, this paper will not. The comparison of two régimes of accountability in France and in Sweden pruports do discuss cultural issues at the territorial level. From the cultural point of view, whether nationality nor national belonging are central in the construction of the environment.

- by Vassili JOANNIDES de LAUTOUR
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- Management, Nonprofit, France, Sweden
- by Per Lægreid
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- Financial Accountability, Public Administration and Policy
- by Tony Wall
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- Economics, Content Analysis, Financial Reporting, Financial Services

Encouraging organizations to be more open has been a key issue in contemporary debates over nonprofit accountability. However, our understanding of what motivates organizations to the disclosure decision is weak. We aim to enhance our understanding of this critical issue by developing and testing a model of the determinants of voluntary disclosure decision-making, using data gathered on the population of not-for-profit medical institutions in Taiwan during a period where the government encouraged—but did not require—disclosure on a centralized website. As a result, we are able conduct a “natural experiment” of the voluntary disclosure behavior of an important population of non-donor-dependent organizations. We find voluntary disclosure is more likely in organizations that are smaller, have lower debt/asset ratios, and are run by larger boards with more inside members. Our data suggest that, from a policy perspective, voluntary disclosure regimes are not an especially effective means of promoting public accountability.

- by Gregory D Saxton
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- Finance, Nonprofit Studies, Accounting, Financial Accounting

This study aims to present an integrated Islamic financial accountability model, which is different from previous accountability models and frameworks. In this case, all three accountability aspects which are: (i) accountability to whom (accountability groups); (ii) accountability for what (accountability dimensions); and (iii) accountability on how (accountability tools and processes) were integrated into a single model. By using these three accountability aspects, this model is specifically focused on financial accountability area with additional Islamic elements that suits Islamic Social Enterprise (ISE). In order to develop this model, this study applies the comparison method on previous accountability and Islamic accountability models with additional literature inputs from financial accountability aspects and Islamic accountability perspectives. Based on the findings, this study introduces an integrated Islamic financial accountability model specifically for ISE, one of the emerging institution types under the non-profit sector. It is hoped that the integrated Islamic financial accountability model developed in this study will be implemented by the management of ISE in order to discharge their accountability especially to donors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

- by Sunday Effiong
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- Business, Management, Finance, Accounting

This paper examines the use of service-wide-vote (Nigeria's contingency budget) for national development. Documentary pieces of evidence have shown that the Federal government of Nigeria through its MDAs has grossly short-changed Nigerians through the year-in-year-out mismanagement of the service-wide-vote. The objective of this study is therefore, to evaluate the extent to which Federal MDAs in Nigeria have been able to use the service-wide-vote to achieve national developmental objectives. To what extent has the service-wide-vote been used to develop the Nigerian Nation? In order to provide an answer to the foregoing question, primary sources, scholarly journals and reputable online and library sources were used to obtain research materials. The study revealed that federal MDAs and even the EFCC abused the service-wide-vote to the tune of over N4.17 trillion between 2004 and 2018 due to non-compliance with rules governing the use of the vote and this made it difficult for the national developmental objectives of the vote to be achieved. The following recommendations were therefore, suggested by the paper: allocation of 5 percent of the annual budget to service-wide-vote, regular replenishment of releases from the service-wide-vote, obtaining approval from the National Assembly before releasing funds from the vote, roll over of unspent funds, prosecution of corrupt MDA officials and avoiding those sharp practices that will make the use of the service-wide-vote ineffective in achieving national developmental objectives.

- by Istemi Demirag
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- PFI, New Public Management, Private Finance Initiative, Value for money
- by Rachel Baskerville
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- Financial Reporting, Case Study, New Zealand, Process Analysis

They are grateful to the State Mail Service of New South Wales, Australia, for allowing them to conduct field investigation for this study. They also thank the managers and employees of the State Mail Service who generously provided their time and insights and also wish to thank participants at the Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference at Madrid, as well as the two anonymous referees for their insightful comments.

- by Monir Mir
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- Political Science, Public sector, Narrative Analysis, Financial Accountability

This study explores the effects of governance structure and contracting out on municipal audit costs. There is economy of scale, asymmetric information and human asset specificity in municipal auditing. As a consequence, both unified governance and market contracting could result in high total audit costs for municipalities. According to Oliver Williamson, relational contracting has been a neglected issue in transaction costs analysis (TCA). We studied 47 municipalities in Finland and 298 municipalities in Norway using multivariate analysis. The municipal audit fees per capita were highest in Norway where the municipal audit market was regulated and had virtually no market contracting. The audit fees per capita increased most in Finland, possibly due to lowballing after the Finnish market was deregulated in 1997. The municipalities in both Finland and Norway predominantly used audit in relational contracting even though the audit fees per capita were relatively high. Relational contracting could be efficient when production, transaction and political costs are taken into account. The findings corroborated several core TCA propositions.

- by Åge Johnsen
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- Management, Multivariate Analysis, Public Sector Reform, Financial

This special issue of FAM sets out to explore whether there is a distinct Scandinavian -or more correctly, Nordic -perspective on public sector performance management. Historically, the Scandinavian countries consist of Denmark, Norway... more

- by Sandra Tillema and +1
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- Public sector, Financial Accountability, Public Administration and Policy

INTRODUCTION Public sector benchmarking is of increasing importance.1 Organizations within certain branches of the public sector such as police districts, municipal social services and local tax offices compare their performances to... more

This special issue of FAM is based on a selection of papers from the EIASM research workshop on the Challenges of Managing the Third Sector which was held at the International University of Venice on San Servolo island on March 12-14, 2007. In previous research workshops in this series, there has been debate on the positioning of different disciplines which are deployed in the investigation of the challenges facing charitable organisations. These considerations have shown the debt owed to both economic and sociological thinking in past studies and the emergence of a more managerial perspective in understanding these distinctive organisations . Previous research workshops have also discussed the vitality of the Third Sector, as evidenced by the emergence of charitable organisations in new areas of activity such as credit unions, certain persistent challenges such as the forms of information necessary for monitoring charities and for prospective donors, the use of resources by charities, and the adoption of more professional management techniques . Underlying the distinctive nature of charities and charitable giving are fundamental challenges of the quantum of funds available to increasing numbers of charities and the dangers this poses for their continued existence , as further evidenced by a longitudinal study of Irish voluntary hospitals .

- by Bernd Helmig
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- Financial Accountability, Public Administration and Policy
- by Donal McKillop and +1
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- Content Analysis, Financial Reporting, Financial Services, User needs
- by Stuart Tooley
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- Public sector, Developing Country, Interest Groups, Decode-And-Forward
- by Sunday Effiong
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- Business, Management, Finance, Accounting

A HISTORY OF REGULATION IN THE UK: THE COVERT REVIEW The UK government began a programme of privatisation in the early 1980s. Ogden and Anderson (1995) contend that it has been one of the most important and controversial government policies of recent times. Privatisation was an integral part of the enterprise culture (Keat and Abercrombie, 1991), which was championed by the successive Conservative Governments (1979^1997). The element of this policy which attracted most attention has been the privatisation of the utilities: industries which are considered to contain elements which are natural monopolies. Due to the monopolistic structure of the utility industries on privatisation regulation was required to protect other stakeholder groups, most notably consumers, from monopolistic abuses. Price-cap regulation, which is now commonly recognised by the formula RPI^X, was preferred as it was felt to give the strongest efficiency motives (Beesley and Littlechild, 1983). This regulation was not intended as a longterm solution, but rather to`hold the fort' until competition arrives, and was considered inappropriate if competition was not expected in the industry. This point appears to have been ignored in the Water Industry. This method of regulation sets the privatised company a target price movement for it's goods and services over a specified future period (normally five years in the UK), thereby introducing a regulatory lag. The incentive then to the companies is to improve efficiency by more than is implied in the price-cap formula and hence improve profits. Helm (1994) suggests that the regulatory lag is the key distinguishing feature to this form of regulation. It must be sufficient for the privatised companies to be able to make efficiency gains. Vickers and Yarrow (1988) argue that this lag allows the firm to appropriate the benefits of improved cost efficiency until the next review occurs but that this is offset by the desire to influence the forthcoming review. This is because the level of costs at the time of a review is anticipated to be directly related to the prices the firm will be allowed to charge in the next period. Assuming companies

- by Stuart Cooper
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- Semiology, Financial Accountability, Public Administration and Policy
- by Istemi Demirag
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- PFI, New Public Management, Private Finance Initiative, Value for money

Objective: Providing a model for financial control according to the legal basis and environmental characteristics of activities in metropolitan municipalities of Iran is the main purpose of this study. Developing a model of financial control in the municipalities provides the necessary basis for evaluating the receipt and consumption of resources based on the approved goals and in the anticipated destinations.

- by Accounting and Auditing Review and +1
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- Financial Accountability
- by Lasse Oulasvirta
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- Management, Multivariate Analysis, Public Sector Reform, Financial

This note explores the regulatory process of UK privatised utilities through the periodic review of prices. It provides a brief history of the privatisation programme in the UK and the theoretical arguments for the price-cap regulation that has been used. It argues that regulatory process appears to involve a covert dialogue and exchange of information between the regulator and regulated and also a second separate review process that consists of an overt dialogue. Using a semiotic analysis the authors suggest that the unfolding of each of these overt reviews follows a very similar pattern that is constantly being re-enacted. It is concluded that further research is required into the relative importance of the two separate review processes in the setting of the price-cap.

- by David Crowther
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- Semiology, Financial Accountability, Public Administration and Policy

Nonprofit organizations are held to high ethical standards due to their charitable missions serving the common good. Incidents of fiscal mismanagement within the nonprofit sector make it relevant to assay the ethical principles of employees. This study examines the level of Machiavellian propensities of US nonprofit employees. Results indicate Machiavellian propensities do exist in certain nonprofit employees and these employees agree with questionable behavior. Policy makers and oversight agencies may find these results useful in developing corporate governance and accountability measures for nonprofit organizations. Furthermore, board of director members may use these results to monitor employee actions and address management training.

- by Hanne Nørreklit and +2
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- Performance Management, Financial Accountability, Public Administration and Policy
- by Colin Glass and +1
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- Financial Accountability, Public Administration and Policy, Productivity Growth