IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/accfor/v38y2014i2p91-108.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate accountability and human rights disclosures: A case study of Barrick Gold Mine in Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Lauwo, Sarah
  • Otusanya, Olatunde Julius

Abstract

Analysis and debate on the roles of accounting in human rights issues is an emerging topic of research. This study draws attention to certain human rights dilemmas arising from investment initiatives of transnational corporations within the Tanzanian socio-political and economic context. Evidence is provided on how accounting operates in resolving such dilemmas through an examination of foreign direct investment episodes where the state has agreed contracts with transnational corporations in the mining sector of Tanzania. The study finally considers the possibility of corporate governance reforms informed by accounting ideas in order to promote realisation of human rights alongside other interests.

Suggested Citation

  • Lauwo, Sarah & Otusanya, Olatunde Julius, 2014. "Corporate accountability and human rights disclosures: A case study of Barrick Gold Mine in Tanzania," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 91-108.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accfor:v:38:y:2014:i:2:p:91-108
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2013.06.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0155998213000318
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.accfor.2013.06.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Strange,Susan, 1996. "The Retreat of the State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521564298, January.
    2. Michel Aglietta & Antoine Rebérioux, 2005. "Corporate Governance Adrift," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3675.
    3. Lobel, Orly, 2006. "Sustainable capitalism or ethical transnationalism: Offshore production and economic development," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 56-62, February.
    4. repec:bla:devpol:v:22:y:2004:i:1:p:41-48 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ataur Rahman Belal & David L. Owen, 2007. "The views of corporate managers on the current state of, and future prospects for, social reporting in Bangladesh," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(3), pages 472-494, June.
    6. Sonja Gallhofer & Jim Haslam & Elizabeth Monk & Clare Roberts, 2006. "The emancipatory potential of online reporting: The case of counter accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(5), pages 681-718, September.
    7. Frankental, Peter, 2011. "No accounting for human rights," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 762-764.
    8. Strange,Susan, 1996. "The Retreat of the State," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521564403, January.
    9. Crawford Spence, 2007. "Social and environmental reporting and hegemonic discourse," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(6), pages 855-882, October.
    10. Muhammad Islam & Craig Deegan, 2010. "Media pressures and corporate disclosure of social responsibility performance information: A study of two global clothing and sports retail companies," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 131-148.
    11. Glen Whelan & Jeremy Moon & Marc Orlitzky, 2009. "Human Rights, Transnational Corporations and Embedded Liberalism: What Chance Consensus?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(2), pages 367-383, August.
    12. Sikka, Prem, 2011. "Accounting for human rights: The challenge of globalization and foreign investment agreements," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 811-827.
    13. David Detomasi, 2008. "The Political Roots of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(4), pages 807-819, November.
    14. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim & van der Walt, Sibylle, 2011. "Accountability and transparency in relation to human rights: A critical perspective reflecting upon accounting, corporate responsibility and ways forward in the context of globalisation," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 765-780.
    15. World Bank, 2006. "World Development Indicators 2006," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 8151.
    16. Graham Harrison, 1999. "Clean‐ups, conditionality & adjustment: why institutions matter in Mozambique," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(81), pages 323-333.
    17. Noriyuki Suzuki & Sabur Ghayur, 2002. "Making Globalisation Inclusive of People: A Trade Union Prespective," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 41(4), pages 357-387.
    18. Muchlinski, Peter, 2012. "Implementing the New UN Corporate Human Rights Framework: Implications for Corporate Law, Governance, and Regulation," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 145-177, January.
    19. McSweeney, Brendan, 2009. "The roles of financial asset market failure denial and the economic crisis: Reflections on accounting and financial theories and practices," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 835-848, August.
    20. Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Willmott, Hugh & Worthington, Frank, 2008. "Manufacturing shareholder value: The role of accounting in organizational transformation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 107-140.
    21. Cooper, Stuart M. & Owen, David L., 2007. "Corporate social reporting and stakeholder accountability: The missing link," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 649-667.
    22. Tord Andersson & Colin Haslam & Edward Lee & George Katechos & Nick Tsitsianis, 2010. "Corporate strategy financialized: Conjuncture, arbitrage and earnings capacity in the S&P500," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3-4), pages 211-221, September.
    23. Andreas Georg Scherer & Guido Palazzo, 2011. "The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 899-931, June.
    24. Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, 2007. "Corporate Social Responsibility," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12532.
    25. McSweeney, Brendan, 2000. "Looking forward to the past," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 767-786, November.
    26. Jeffrey Unerman & Brendan O'Dwyer, 2010. "Ngo Accountability And Sustainability Issues In The Changing Global Environment," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 475-486, July.
    27. Spence, Crawford, 2009. "Social accounting's emancipatory potential: A Gramscian critique," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 205-227.
    28. Andersson, Tord & Haslam, Colin & Lee, Edward & Katechos, George & Tsitsianis, Nick, 2010. "Corporate strategy financialized: Conjuncture, arbitrage and earnings capacity in the S&P500," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 211-221.
    29. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Indicators 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4373.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lisa Baudot & Zhongwei Huang & Dana Wallace, 2021. "Stakeholder Perceptions of Risk in Mandatory Corporate Responsibility Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 151-174, August.
    2. Hopper, Trevor & Lassou, Philippe & Soobaroyen, Teerooven, 2017. "Globalisation, accounting and developing countries," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 125-148.
    3. Sidney J. Gray & Niclas Hellman & Mariya N. Ivanova, 2019. "Extractive Industries Reporting: A Review of Accounting Challenges and the Research Literature," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 55(1), pages 42-91, March.
    4. Argilés-Bosch, Josep Mª & Ravenda, Diego & Garcia-Blandón, Josep, 2021. "E-commerce and labour tax avoidance," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Perkiss, Stephanie & Bernardi, Cristiana & Dumay, John & Haslam, Jim, 2021. "A sticky chocolate problem: Impression management and counter accounts in the shaping of corporate image," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Muhammad Faisal Majid & Muhammad Meraj & Muhammad Shujaat Mubarik, 2022. "In the Pursuit of Environmental Sustainability: The Role of Environmental Accounting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Sarah Lauwo, 2018. "Challenging Masculinity in CSR Disclosures: Silencing of Women’s Voices in Tanzania’s Mining Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 689-706, May.
    8. Thoradeniya, Prabanga & Lee, Janet & Tan, Rebecca & Ferreira, Aldónio, 2022. "From intention to action on sustainability reporting: The role of individual, organisational and institutional factors during war and post-war periods," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    9. Idemudia, Uwafiokun & Tuokuu, Francis Xavier D. & Essah, Marcellinus, 2022. "The extractive industry and human rights in Africa: Lessons from the past and future directions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Lauwo, Sarah & Kyriacou, Orthodoxia & Julius Otusanya, Olatunde, 2020. "When sorry is not an option: CSR reporting and ‘face work’ in a stigmatised industry – A case study of Barrick (Acacia) gold mine in Tanzania," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Marian Socoliuc & Veronica Grosu & Elena Hlaciuc & Silvius Stanciu, 2018. "Analysis of Social Responsibility and Reporting Methods of Romanian Companies in the Countries of the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-37, December.
    12. Rogerson, Michael & Scarpa, Francesco & Snelson-Powell, Annie, 2024. "Accounting for human rights: Evidence of due diligence in EU-listed firms’ reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    13. Walaa Wahid ElKelish*, 2023. "Accounting for Corporate Human Rights: Literature Review and Future Insights," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(2), pages 203-226, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Islam, Muhammad Azizul & Deegan, Craig & Haque, Shamima, 2021. "Corporate human rights performance and moral power: A study of retail MNCs’ supply chains in Bangladesh," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Walaa Wahid ElKelish*, 2023. "Accounting for Corporate Human Rights: Literature Review and Future Insights," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(2), pages 203-226, June.
    3. David Owen, 2008. "Chronicles of wasted time?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(2), pages 240-267, February.
    4. Grisard, Claudine & Annisette, Marcia & Graham, Cameron, 2020. "Performative agency and incremental change in a CSR context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Frederick Ahen, 2018. "Dystopic Prospects of Global Health and Ecological Governance: Whither the Eco-Centric-Humanistic CSR of Firms?," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 105-126, July.
    6. Khan, Habib Zaman & Bose, Sudipta & Johns, Raechel, 2020. "Regulatory influences on CSR practices within banks in an emerging economy: Do banks merely comply?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    7. Rogerson, Michael & Scarpa, Francesco & Snelson-Powell, Annie, 2024. "Accounting for human rights: Evidence of due diligence in EU-listed firms’ reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    8. Jittima Wichianrak & Tehmina Khan & David Teh & Steven Dellaportas, 2023. "Critical Perspectives of NGOs on Voluntary Corporate Environmental Reporting: Thai Public Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-24, April.
    9. Brown, Judy & Dillard, Jesse, 2013. "Agonizing over engagement: SEA and the “death of environmentalism” debates," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-18.
    10. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim & van der Walt, Sibylle, 2011. "Accountability and transparency in relation to human rights: A critical perspective reflecting upon accounting, corporate responsibility and ways forward in the context of globalisation," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 765-780.
    11. Lopatta, Kerstin & Tideman, Sebastian A. & Scheil, Carolin & Makarem, Naser, 2023. "The current state of corporate human rights disclosure of the global top 500 business enterprises: Measurement and determinants," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    12. John Gerard Ruggie, 2018. "Multinationals as global institution: Power, authority and relative autonomy," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(3), pages 317-333, September.
    13. Judith Schrempf-Stirling, 2018. "State Power: Rethinking the Role of the State in Political Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 1-14, June.
    14. Osman, Mohamed & Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim, 2021. "Contextualising and critically theorising corporate social responsibility reporting: Dynamics of the late Mubarak Era in Egypt," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    15. Ozlem Arikan & Juliane Reinecke & Crawford Spence & Kevin Morrell, 2017. "Signposts or Weathervanes? The Curious Case of Corporate Social Responsibility and Conflict Minerals," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 469-484, December.
    16. Irvine, Helen & Moerman, Lee, 2017. "Gambling with the public sphere: Accounting’s contribution to debate on social issues," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 35-52.
    17. Barkemeyer, Ralf & Preuss, Lutz & Lee, Lindsay, 2015. "On the effectiveness of private transnational governance regimes—Evaluating corporate sustainability reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 312-325.
    18. Karin Buhmann, 2016. "Public Regulators and CSR: The ‘Social Licence to Operate’ in Recent United Nations Instruments on Business and Human Rights and the Juridification of CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(4), pages 699-714, July.
    19. Muhammad Azizul Islam & Craig Deegan & Rob Gray, 2018. "Social compliance audits and multinational corporation supply chain: evidence from a study of the rituals of social audits," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(2), pages 190-224, February.
    20. George, Sendirella & Brown, Judy & Dillard, Jesse, 2023. "Social movement activists’ conceptions of political action and counter-accounting through a critical dialogic accounting and accountability lens," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:accfor:v:38:y:2014:i:2:p:91-108. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/accounting-forum .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.