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Since International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are not primarily meant for the accounting needs of Islamic banks, the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) was established to develop specific accounting standards for Shari’ah compliance. The purpose of this paper is to assess the de jure harmonisation between the disclosure requirements of the IFRS-based Malaysian Accounting Standards (MAS) and those of the AAOIFI.

Using Malaysia as a case study, the paper examines the extent of the de jure congruence between the IFRS-based MAS and AAOIFI’s Financial Accounting Standard No 1 (FAS1), which is considered to be one of the key disclosure standards for Islamic banks. We employ leximetrics and content analysis to analyse these accounting standards and the additional guidelines introduced by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) and the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia, BNM) to identify the gaps between different tiers of MAS and FAS1.

The study finds that de jure congruence between the IFRS-based MAS and AAOIFI standards has improved through the introduction of additional accounting guidelines by both the MASB and the banking regulator, BNM. However, some gaps remain between the two standards. These gaps may be difficult to completely eliminate due to differences in the fundamental principles underlying the development of both standards.

While some studies have explored the de facto congruence between AAOIFI accounting standards and others, this paper is the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to examine the de jure congruence between those standards with the IFRS-based MAS.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of income inequality on cooperative propensities, and thus the ability of individuals to resolve collective action dilemmas.

The paper presents a meta-study of 32 developing country lab experiments correlating cooperative behaviour with prevailing Gini coefficients. Furthermore, the paper conducts standard dictator- and public goods game (PGG) experiments with culturally and demographically similar subject pools in two West African countries characterized by high and persistent variation in national income inequality.

The meta-study findings of a significant negative relationship between income inequality and contribution levels in the PGG are corroborated by the own laboratory experimental findings that participants in more unequal Nigeria are significantly less altruistic and exhibit significantly lower propensities to cooperate than their more egalitarian Ghanaian counterparts. Moreover, the latter findings are robust when controlling for personal income levels.

The findings have nontrivial implications for collective action theorists and practitioners seeking to elicit tacit cooperation in developing countries.

The major contributions of this paper are the novel meta-analysis and the first attempt to examine the influence of personal income levels on cooperative behaviour in societies characterized by differential levels of income inequality.

This study aims to explore individual perceptions about how the government, as the main architect of policies and regulations, discharges strategic accountability in Ghana’s oil and gas sector and, in so doing, promotes resource sustainability.

The study reports on a series of interviews with key actors using institutional theory as a lens for discussion and interpretation of results. This approach forms the basis for a number of specific contributions to knowledge regarding strategic accountability around natural resource discoveries.

Whilst many deeply-set problems appear to persist, the paper reports some favourable movement in public perceptions regarding institutional accountability that has not been identified previously. The empirical findings demonstrate how the three elements of institutional theory work together in an emerging country’s natural resource industry to drive a potentially holistic strategic institutional legitimacy, contrary to the existing pervasive picture of detrimental regulative, normative and cognitive institutionalism found within the region.

The findings suggest that, contrary to existing regional evidence regarding institutional financial accountability practices around natural resources, Ghana has made favourable strides in terms of strategic accountability discharge. This discovery implies that with persistence and commitment, a meaningful degree of intelligent strategic accountability can be achieved and, with appropriate empirical methodology, identified and rationalised.

The persistent coercive pressure from the Ghanaian society that caused the government to listen to overtime and take positive steps in the institutionalisation of their strategic accountability process which translated into a holistic institutional legitimacy that has eluded the sub-region for decades, is a glimmer of hope for other societies within the sub-Saharan region that all is not lost.

The paper suggests an empirically driven approach to understanding the institutionalisation of strategic accountability practices and their impact on sustainability around natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa. The focus on the strategic aspect of accountability – rather than the financial as in most prior work – and the consideration of opinions at more than a single point in time permits the identification of novel evidence regarding accountability in emerging economies.

In October 1991, Zambia experienced its first competitive elections in 23 years. These elections for both the presidency and the National Assembly were expected to mark the end of one‐party rule and the beginning of a new regime of multi‐party politics. In the aftermath of the elections, some also expressed the hope or expectation that the transition starting to take place in Zambia would inspire a movement elsewhere in sub‐Saharan Africa away from authoritarian regimes or regimes effectively immune from electoral accountability. In fact, even some Zambians drew hopeful comparisons between what was occurring in Lusaka and the democratic transformations that had begun several years earlier in Central and Eastern Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence regarding the selection procedures for and characteristics of senior officials in supreme audit institutions (SIAs).

This study follows a quantitative approach using original data collected for presidential elections of SIAs in the 16 federal states in Germany. A fractional logit model is calculated to test different theoretical assumptions in relation to structural, political and individual factors.

The descriptive results confirm the findings of prior research that presidential candidates are elected with very high approval rates. The main determinants are the vote share of the ruling coalition and the executive experience of the presidential candidate.

This study focuses on 16 federal states in Germany, but an international comparative perspective covering subnational levels would further augment analysis through the variance of selection procedures and electoral outcomes.

Independence of auditors is a fundamental issue for the control of the executive, but it seems that there are inevitable trade-offs therein, such as between knowledge of the auditing objects or the politicization of the election process and the independence of the auditor.

This study provides novel empirical insights into the election and selection procedures for senior SIA officials at the subnational level, and shows that the executive exerts strong, but functionally reasonable, influence on candidate selection.

By making the explicit connections between the processes of urban-suburban racial transitions and Wilson and Kelling’s broken windows theory, this chapter proposes the linkage between concern for crime/disorder and anti-Blackness.

The contention is supported by recounting and highlighting key historical dynamics and their congruency with the original broken windows treatise; bringing in relevant research regarding racial coding and assumptions; surveys on residential mobility; and theoretical frameworks on colorblind racism.

The enduring popularity of broken windows theory is likely more due to its colorblind explanations of the suburbanization of urban Whites than to the explanatory merit of the theory. To explain the origin of such (problematic) concepts as “urban decay” and “crime-ridden communities,” the theory deflects concerns for determinative processes such as deindustrialization, integration, overpolicing, and historical anti-Blackness and provides a parable regarding a lack of vigilance in support of community norms, which in White communities have traditionally been segregationist. The moral of the parable is that “urban decay” is the result of Whites allowing desegregation to proceed after Brown v. Board.

This chapter provides a macro-discursive explanation for the popularity of broken windows theory and helps explain its centrality to the ongoing discussions regarding race, territorial and disorder policing, and practices such as stop-and-frisk.

A case study was conducted to identify and to dispel the current stereotypes in the workplace regarding Generation X and Baby Boomers. For the purpose of the study Generation X consisted of those born between 1961 and 1981, while Baby Boomers consisted of those born between 1943 and 1960. The purpose of this article was to use a custom designed survey based on the literature as the foundation to test congruence or lack of it, to address six commonly held myths presented by Paul and Townsend (1993). Furthermore it was intended to test empirical research gathered by a literature review of the stereotypes in the workplace, to better understand the profiles and factors that motivate the Baby Boomers and Generation X, in conjunction with the following independent variables: age, productivity, motivation, training, mentoring and job satisfaction. The hypothesis tested suggested that Generation Xers are more productive, more motivated, and easily trainable and exhibit higher job satisfaction levels as compared to Baby Boomers. It is important for or ganizations to recognize the limitations that stereotypes create in the workplace. As was demonstrated by the survey, Baby Boomers and Generation Xers are not dissimilar as employees; they possess more similarities than differences. Organizations need to foster an environment of respect/equity for both groups to create synergies between them to build and maintain a productive workforce.

How are we to make sense of the attitudes of Social Democratic parties towards decentralisation? What do they think about what is a legitimate territorial allocation of power? What factors shapes this view? And what makes Social Democratic parties change their minds? This article addresses these questions by way of competing ideological traditions, the external strategic incentives and internal constraints. Empirically, the article presents a comparative case-study analysis of Social Democratic parties in four countries (Belgium, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom). On the basis of this analysis, I argue that the positioning of Social Democratic parties on decentralisation is influenced by strategic incentives created by the structure of political competition, whereas the policy shifts are more often produced by factors that are internal to the party. A decentralist policy shift is always associated with the capacity of regionalist parties to set the agenda by exerting pressures on Social Democratic parties. In addition, Social Democratic parties tend to shift their policy while in opposition to distinguish themselves from their centralist mainstream rival in government. The dominant mechanism found across four countries was one in which regional branches persuade the central party leadership to adopt a pro-decentralist position. This chapter illustrates how Social Democratic parties have an instinct for ‘adaptation and control’ in the face of social-structural changes, and it demonstrates that the prevalence of different ideological traditions will vary according to external strategic incentives and, crucially, by the party's internal ability to follow those incentives.

Explores the implications of Midland Bank’s attempts in the mid‐1980s to adopt an endorsed corporate identity strategy and to brand its personal financial services. Sets out the reasons why banks have traditionally applied monolithic identity systems and eschewed explicit branding, and presents Midland’s reasons for challenging that paradigm ‐ chiefly the nature of its group structure and its desire to segment its personal market more effectively. While the Midland approach was not a commercial success, it provides some general lessons which help to inform corporate identity theory in general and financial sector identity and branding theory in particular. These include the need for identity to be contingent on strategy, the importance of “soft” as well as “hard” identity features, the conflicts between different identity systems (e.g. firm‐specific versus industry‐generic) and the problems of applying branding theory to products which are in essence no more than contracts.