IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/hur/ijaraf/v2y2012i1p25-35.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Local Authority Public Accounts Committee in Botswana. An appraisal

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuel Botlhale

    (University of Botswana)

Abstract

This paper discusses the Local Authority Public Accounts Committee (LAPAC) that was established in 1999 but started operational work in August 2000 and, therefore, produced its first report in March 2002. Prior to its formation, financial accountability in Local Authorities; being, district/urban councils and land boards, was neglected. Hence, even though the Local Authorities were given subventions by the central government, the money was not followed. However, this state of affairs changed with the formation of LAPAC in 1999. Ten years after its first report, the organisation still encounters varied and many problems; e.g., disregard of financial procedures, late submission of annual accounts to the Auditor General and loss of accounting documents. Even though there have been some improvements since 2002, some problems are endemic, particularly, disregard of financial procedures. Other key problems are insufficient secretarial staff at LAPAC and budget, lack of appreciation of financial accountability by many Local Authorities and lack of capacity on their part. However, given the important job that LAPAC does, it is very imperative that there be favourable conditions to facilitate its work. This is particularly important because good financial husbandry is highly sought after due to expenditure cuts that are expected in 2012.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel Botlhale, 2012. "Local Authority Public Accounts Committee in Botswana. An appraisal," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 2(1), pages 25-35, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:hur:ijaraf:v:2:y:2012:i:1:p:25-35
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/637.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/637.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bird,Richard M. & Vaillancourt,François (ed.), 1999. "Fiscal Decentralization in Developing Countries," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521641432, September.
    2. Sinclair, Amanda, 1995. "The chameleon of accountability: Forms and discourses," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 219-237.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Scobie, Matthew & Lee, Bill & Smyth, Stewart, 2023. "Grounded accountability and Indigenous self-determination," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Manuel E. Lago & Santiago Lago-Peñas & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2024. "On the effects of intergovernmental grants: a survey," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(3), pages 856-908, June.
    3. Jensen, Mads Langballe & Agyemang, Gloria & Lehman, Cheryl R., 2021. "Accountabilities, invisibilities and silences in a Danish slave trading company on the Gold Coast in the early 18th century," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Md. Mahmudul Alam & Jamaliah Said & Mohamad Azizal Abd Aziz, 2018. "Role of integrity system, internal control system and leadership practices on the accountability practices in the public sectors of Malaysia," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(7), pages 955-976, December.
    5. Muhittin Acar & Chao Guo & Kaifeng Yang, 2012. "Accountability in Voluntary Partnerships: To Whom and for What?," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 157-174, June.
    6. Victoria Pagan & Kathryn Haynes & Stefanie Reissner, 2023. "Accountable Selves and Responsibility Within a Global Forum," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 255-270, October.
    7. Heli Hookana, 2011. "Measurement of Effectiveness, Efficiency and Quality in Public Sector Services: Interventionist Empirical Investigations," MIC 2011: Managing Sustainability? Proceedings of the 12th International Conference, Portorož, 23–26 November 2011 [Selected Papers],, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper.
    8. Mutiganda, Jean Claude, 2013. "Budgetary governance and accountability in public sector organisations: An institutional and critical realism approach," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 518-531.
    9. Bay, Charlotta, 2018. "Makeover accounting: Investigating the meaning-making practices of financial accounts," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 44-54.
    10. Laurence Ferry & Peter Eckersley, 2015. "Budgeting and governing for deficit reduction in the UK public sector: act three 'accountability and audit arrangements'," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(3), pages 203-210, May.
    11. ter Bogt, Henk & Tillema, Sandra, 2016. "Accounting for trust and control: Public sector partnerships in the arts," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 5-23.
    12. Lai Ken Tan & Matthew Egan, 2018. "The Public Accountability Value of a Triple Bottom Line Approach to Performance Reporting in the Water Sector," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 28(2), pages 235-250, June.
    13. Ohlsson, Östen & Selander, Martin & Eriksson-Zetterquist, Ulla & Hansson, Henrik & Löfström, Mikael, 2002. "The Dilemma with ICT in Educational organisations," FE rapport 2002-394, University of Gothenburg, Department of Business Administration.
    14. Stone, Dan N., 2001. "Accountant's tales," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(4-5), pages 461-470.
    15. Gibbon, Jane, 2012. "Understandings of accountability: an autoethnographic account using metaphor," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 201-212.
    16. Gilbert, Christine & Everett, Jeff & de Castro Casa Nova, Silvia Pereira, 2024. "Patriarchy, capitalism, and accounting: A herstory," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    17. Kelum Jayasinghe & Teerooven Soobaroyen, 2009. "Religious “spirit” and peoples' perceptions of accountability in Hindu and Buddhist religious organizations," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(7), pages 997-1028, September.
    18. Cuckston, Thomas, 2022. "Accounts of NGO performance as calculative spaces: Wild Animals, wildlife restoration and strategic agency," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    19. Elisa Bonollo & Costanza Di Fabio & Lorenzo Leto & Paola Ramassa, 2024. "La rendicontazione economico-finanziaria degli Uffici giudiziari: un?analisi esplorativa," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2024(2), pages 115-139.
    20. Jørgensen, Brian & Messner, Martin, 2010. "Accounting and strategising: A case study from new product development," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 184-204, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal accountability; local authorities; Local Authority Public Accounts Committee; Botswana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hur:ijaraf:v:2:y:2012:i:1:p:25-35. 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: Hassan Danial Aslam (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://hrmars.com/index.php/pages/detail/Accounting-Finance-Journal .

    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.