IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ajaafi/v1y2012i1p25-39.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An African critical interpretation of the positive theory of accounting of Watts and Zimmerman (1978, 1980, 1986)

Author

Listed:
  • Louis Ndjetcheu

Abstract

The positive theory of accountancy is not new in research in accountancy in developed countries. In fact, it started from the 1960s (Jensen, 1976; Watts and Zimmerman, 1978) and regularly comes up to the scene due to numerous financial scandals of managers nowadays. However, this cannot constitute unanimity. Assumptions at the base of this theory are quickly limited when transposing models to sub-Saharan African countries. In this respect, the objective of this article is to show the difficulties of transposition of the models elaborated in the contexts of developed countries into African countries with different environmental specificities. It is a question of seeking, in a context marked by a strong presence of companies with capital concentrated in the hands of an individual or a family on the one hand and by near absence of money market if not of an embryonic money market, new assumptions that can explain administration options of managers in Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis Ndjetcheu, 2012. "An African critical interpretation of the positive theory of accounting of Watts and Zimmerman (1978, 1980, 1986)," African Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(1), pages 25-39.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ajaafi:v:1:y:2012:i:1:p:25-39
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=46125
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    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. Tinker, Anthony M. & Merino, Barbara D. & Neimark, Marilyn Dale, 1982. "The normative origins of positive theories: Ideology and accounting thought," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 167-200, April.
    2. Freeman, R. Edward, 1994. "The Politics of Stakeholder Theory: Some Future Directions1," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 409-421, October.
    3. Williams, Paul F., 1989. "The logic of positive accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 14(5-6), pages 455-468, October.
    4. Gérard Charreaux & Philippe Desbrières, 1998. "Gouvernance des entreprises:valeur partenariale contre valeur actionnariale," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 1(2), pages 57-88, June.
    5. Jean-François Casta & Olivier J. Ramond, 2009. "Politique comptable des entreprises," Post-Print halshs-00679562, HAL.
    6. Gérard Charreaux, 1999. "Gouvernement d'entreprise et comptabilité," Working Papers CREGO 0990601, Université de Bourgogne - CREGO EA7317 Centre de recherches en gestion des organisations.
    7. Reed, Darryl, 1999. "Stakeholder Management Theory: A Critical Theory Perspective," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 453-483, July.
    8. Harcourt,G. C., 2022. "Some Cambridge Controversies in the Theory of Capital," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781009158152, September.
    9. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    10. Langtry, Bruce, 1994. "Stakeholders and the Moral Responsibilities of Business," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 431-443, October.
    11. Healy, Paul M., 1985. "The effect of bonus schemes on accounting decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1-3), pages 85-107, April.
    12. Wicks, Andrew C. & Gilbert, Daniel R. & Freeman, R. Edward, 1994. "A Feminist Reinterpretation of The Stakeholder Concept," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 475-497, October.
    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. Samantha Miles, 2012. "Stakeholder: Essentially Contested or Just Confused?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 285-298, July.
    2. Ravenscroft, Sue & Williams, Paul F., 2009. "Making imaginary worlds real: The case of expensing employee stock options," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 770-786, August.
    3. Samantha Miles, 2017. "Stakeholder Theory Classification: A Theoretical and Empirical Evaluation of Definitions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 437-459, May.
    4. Cedric Dawkins, 2014. "The Principle of Good Faith: Toward Substantive Stakeholder Engagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(2), pages 283-295, May.
    5. Yafet Yosafet Wilben Rissy, 2021. "The stakeholder model: its relevance, concept, and application in the Indonesian banking sector," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 219-231, September.
    6. Ali, Tanweer, 2015. "Beyond shareholders versus stakeholders: Towards a Rawlsian concept of the firm," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 126-141.
    7. Rodríguez Fernández, José Miguel, 2006. "La responsabilidad social de la empresa: ¿un medio o un fin?," Revista de Dirección y Administración de Empresas, Universidad del País Vasco - Escuela Universitaria de Estudios Empresariales de San Sebastián.
    8. Pierre-Yves Gomez, 2003. "Jalons pour une histoire des théories du gouvernement des entreprises," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 6(4), pages 183-208, December.
    9. Silke Machold & Pervaiz Ahmed & Stuart Farquhar, 2008. "Corporate Governance and Ethics: A Feminist Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 665-678, September.
    10. Céline Chatelin, 2003. "Privatization and Stakeholder Governance:Theoretical and Methodological issues;Privatisation et gouvernance partenariale enjeux théoriques et méthodologiques," Working Papers CREGO 1030101, Université de Bourgogne - CREGO EA7317 Centre de recherches en gestion des organisations.
    11. Rajaa Mtanios & Mathieu Paquerot, 1999. "Structure de propriété et sous-performance des firmes:une étude empirique sur le marché au comptant, le règlement mensuel et le second marché," Working Papers CREGO 0991202, Université de Bourgogne - CREGO EA7317 Centre de recherches en gestion des organisations.
    12. Lauren Purnell & R. Freeman, 2012. "Stakeholder Theory, Fact/Value Dichotomy, and the Normative Core: How Wall Street Stops the Ethics Conversation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(1), pages 109-116, August.
    13. Sang Cheol Lee & Mooweon Rhee & Jongchul Yoon, 2018. "Foreign Monitoring and Audit Quality: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, September.
    14. DEGEORGE, François & DING, Yuan & JEANJEAN, Thomas & STOLOWY, Hervé, 2005. "Does Analyst Following Curb Earnings Management?," HEC Research Papers Series 810, HEC Paris.
    15. Mara Del Baldo, 2012. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance in Italian SMEs: the experience of some “spirited businesses”," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(1), pages 1-36, February.
    16. Richardson, Grant & Taylor, Grantley & Lanis, Roman, 2015. "The impact of financial distress on corporate tax avoidance spanning the global financial crisis: Evidence from Australia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 44-53.
    17. Xin Qu & Majella Percy & Fang Hu & Jenny Stewart, 2022. "Can CEO equity‐based compensation limit investment‐related agency problems?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2579-2614, June.
    18. Ronelle Burger & Canh Thien Dang & Trudy Owens, 2017. "Better performing NGOs do report more accurately: Evidence from investigating Ugandan NGO financial accounts," Discussion Papers 2017-10, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    19. Hu, Juncheng, 2021. "Do facilitation payments affect earnings management? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    20. Alain Gilles FOKA TAGNE & Prince Dubois KENFACK HIKOUATCHA & Joséphine Florentine MBADUET & Joseph NDASSI YEPGNOU, 2018. "Qualité d’audit, concentration de l’actionnariat et reporting financier," Journal of Academic Finance, RED research unit, university of Gabes, Tunisia, vol. 9(1), pages 27-54, June.

    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:ids:ajaafi:v:1:y:2012:i:1:p:25-39. 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: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=383 .

    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.