Accounting, accountability and governance in emerging economies: a development perspective

Many of the emerging economies have maintained a good economic record over the last decade or so, implicitly lending credibility to the global development discourse. No matter how commendable, this economic progress cloaks the "problems" inherent in the development discourse, thus warranting a critical analysis. Development in emerging economies affects and is in turn affected by accounting, accountability and governance issues at both the local and international level. This chapter therefore seeks to present a critical overview of the accounting, accountability and governance issues in emerging economies in a development context. Our analysis covers three axes of global development: direct foreign investment, non-government organizations (NGOs) and transfer of technical accounting infrastructure from the developed world. We contend that these development modes strengthen the corporations and the NGOs at the expense of governments of emerging economies, thus limiting the abilities of these states to govern and hold corporations/NGOs accountable. This imbalance results in some serious adverse consequences of global development. We recommend "new" accounting measures that correctly calculate the "net" social, environmental and financial benefits of development. We also suggest restoring the balance between the power of the governments of emerging economies and NGOs/corporations to address some of the governance and accountability issues that have arisen from the development discourse.