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Drawing on Bourdieu's triad, i.e. field, habitus and capital, the paper aims at unfolding the practice of participatory budgeting (PB) in one Sri Lankan urban council, which we have referred to as the "Costal Urban Council (CUC)", and in this process explores how such practice is framed and constrained by the structural and relational aspects of various forms of capital. The PB practice in the CUC has failed to achieve its fundamental objective -public participation in a manner of equality, justice, and transparency, or at least best partial success in some areas such as rates collection. We have demonstrated how PB has become a practice of power and domination rather than a means of fostering political emancipation in the CUC.The field-specific organisation of various forms of capital has allowed the chairman of the CUC to become dominant and take control of the whole budgeting process and PB, which is aimed at impeding such political practices, has become dominated by the same political dynamics. We argue that PB in the specific field of less-developed countries can have far greater effects than simply revitalising local democracy, including providing personal gains and potentially posing a threat to democracy.

Drawing on diffusion theory, this study investigates the implementation of public sector accounting reforms in three emerging economies-Egypt, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Data for the paper are derived through document analysis and semi structured interviews with public administrators, government accountants and members of professional accountancy bodies. The paper brings out the factors, including the bundling process, pro-innovation biases, informal and interpersonal networks, a boundary spanning process, organisational communication, power disparity, and dominance, all of which have either individually or collectively stifled the diffusion trajectory of public sector accounting reforms in Egypt, Nepal and Sri Lanka at the implementation phase. As a result, public sector accounting reforms have resulted in resistance, internal conflicts and unintended consequences, including the fabrication of results, in all three countries without any evidence of yielding better results for public sector governance and accountability. Points for practitioners Public sector accounting practitioners should realise the importance of considering the specific contexts of emerging economies, including the power structures, communication channels, informal networks and communication flows prior to the diffusion of reforms. When such contextual elements are deemphasised, reforms would tend to encounter delay and resistance, ongoing reforms in Egypt, Nepal and Sri Lanka serving as examples. Also, instead of delegating power to professional accountants and expert groups, they can be employed as boundary spanners to facilitate communication with government accountants, administrators and other stakeholders about the technical complexities of public sector accounting reforms. This may help establish an efficient communication network and strengthen interpersonal and informal networks enabling reforms to pass through the diffusion trajectory without being stifled at the implementation phase.

PurposeA review of papers on public sector accounting in emerging economies, as published in the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies' (JAEE) first decade.Design/methodology/approachA reflection on the issues covered and achievements made in the reviewed papers in the context of extant knowledge in this domain.FindingsA majority of the research in JAEE is dominated by accounting reforms inspired by New Public Management (NPM). Performance management, budgeting and accrual accounting are the main topics in the reviewed research. NPM claims, which can range from usability and use of a new accounting repertoire to desirable impacts on efficiency and service delivery, are often not fulfilled. Many papers attempt to explain failing accounting innovations by the local context in which they are embedded, including political instability, poor governance and a lack of capabilities.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper reviews research in a niche journal, but the findings are related to wider public sector accounting literature.Practical implicationsPublic sector practitioners, but also researchers, need to move away from a focus on public sector reforms due to contextual circumstances leading to built-in failures and concentrate instead on understanding how the accounting repertoire works in practice, including routes for improvements therein.Originality/valueAn original framework for analysing public sector accounting research in emerging economies is proposed, which, among others, distinguishes between various ambition levels for achieving NPM reforms.

Purpose This study aims to unravel characteristics of performance audit (PA) reports and official responses to them, associated critiques and alleged unintended consequences. Design/methodology/approach This archival research study has centered on PA reports and associated newspaper articles, books and reports, identified through database searches and the snowball approach. Mixed analysis approaches included content analysis, discourse analysis and informal analysis. Findings Auditees tend to oppose perceived unfair or inappropriate methods and process dimensions of the PAs more than the amount of criticism they face. The blame avoidance concept is therefore more accurate than the blame gaming one. The total amount of critical wording could still matter, as the media may disproportionally enlarge the significance of PA reports. Disclosure and interpretation of PA reports, and the associated media debates, could yield diametrical repercussions. Research limitations/implications The research results may lack generalizability. Future studies could extend this work by covering a longer time period or being comparative in nature. Practical implications To achieve (more) effective and legitimate PAs, it is necessary to adequately understand, balance and display accountability perceptions of those held accountable. The choice of auditing methods and incorporation of auditees’ views seem paramount to the way auditees respond to PAs and ought therefore to be carefully selected, alongside specific wording. Originality/value Juxtaposition of critical wording with other characteristics of PA reports and how ministries respond to them gives insight into key sources of criticism and debate circumstancing accountability.

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ChatGPT, a language-learning model chatbot, has garnered considerable attention for its ability to respond to users’ questions. Using data from 14 countries and 186 institutions, we compare ChatGPT and student performance for 28,085 questions from accounting assessments and textbook test banks. As of January 2023, ChatGPT provides correct answers for 56.5 percent of questions and partially correct answers for an additional 9.4 percent of questions. When considering point values for questions, students significantly outperform ChatGPT with a 76.7 percent average on assessments compared to 47.5 percent for ChatGPT if no partial credit is awarded and 56.5 percent if partial credit is awarded. Still, ChatGPT performs better than the student average for 15.8 percent of assessments when we include partial credit. We provide evidence of how ChatGPT performs on different question types, accounting topics, class levels, open/closed assessments, and test bank questions. We also discuss implications for accounting education and research.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore elites' prevalence in the process of participatory budgeting (PB) in a Ukrainian municipality.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on the elite control and capture literature to examine the occurrence of unintended consequences resulting from the process of PB. Data for this case study are derived from document analysis and semi-structured interviews.FindingsThis study demonstrates how the involvement of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) promoted PB in a Ukrainian municipality. In the process of orienting politicians and administrators to PB, its normative benefits tend to be prioritised, whilst very little attention has been paid to making inhabitants aware of their role in the process of participatory decision-making. Although PB is intended to propagate good governance and accountability, it has in fact turned out to be a means of promoting corruption and furthering the personal interests of rent-seeking actors.Practical implicationsThe paper demonstrates how elites can capture and control PB in the context of emerging economies, thereby preventing its propagated benefits of ensuring equality, justice and emancipation in local communities from being realised.Originality/valueExploring PB in Ukraine, the authors urge that caution should be exercised with regard to the wholesale adoption of externally/NGO-propagated ideas. Each emerging economy context is distinct, and an appreciation of this uniqueness is key to the success of PB reforms in different countries.