PurposeThis article aims to explore the Nigerian government's budgetary response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the economic and social implications of the pandemic response.Design/methodology/approachOur analysis is based on a review of secondary evidence such as Nigerian Federal Government budget documents, policy documents, Central Bank of Nigeria circulars, news media articles, World Bank and International Monetary Fund reports, reports from Big Four accounting firms and policy think-tanks.FindingsThe authors highlight how increased borrowing to fund COVID-19 related economic and social interventions have significantly squeezed Nigeria's fiscal space. The authors also highlight that while some interventions provide short-term economic relief to the poor and small businesses, other interventions and gaps in the policy response have the potential for significant negative impact on businesses, households and unemployment. In addition, the authors highlight the potential for long-term benefits to the health sector and for private sector engagement in corporate responsibility and philanthropy.Originality/valueThe authors present a comprehensive account of the Nigerian government's budgetary response to the COVID 19 pandemic and the economic and social implications of this response.

This study explores the dark side of transparency by problematizing the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) as a transparency, accountability and anticorruption initiative in Nigeria. It does this by interrogating the underlying assumptions that transparency in the form of increased information disclosure inevitably leads to enhanced accountability and reduced corruption. Theoretic insights are drawn from the transparency literature as well as from the International Accounting Standards Board's framework for financial reporting. The findings enable a more nuanced understanding of transparencywhere and when transparency works, and where and when it may lead to unintended outcomes. They show how increased information disclosure conceals and legitimises the weak and corrupt reporting systems and practices of government agencies. They highlight the importance of understandability of information disclosed as a key requirement of transparency. They illustrate that transparency is a complex social process by highlighting the means by which the government tries to gain control of the NEITI organisation and how NEITI's ability to operate effectively is dependent on the political will of the government in power. The findings also demonstrate that the instrument through which transparency is enacted is itself a central actor in the transparency process as historical corruption within the NEITI bureaucracy as well as the opacity of NEITI as an organisation lead to outcomes of distrust, uncertainty and doubt amongst NEITIs target audience. The dark side of transparency: Does the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative help or hinder accountability and corruption control? "Global EITI is held hostage by Nigeriahow can you criticize Nigeria when it is your flagship project? The Revenue Watch guide for civil society on how to do EITI, written by Glodwyn and Chris Nurse, was overflowing with Nigeria EITI stuff. Peter Eigen said the investment climate in Nigeria has improved dramatically, but the problem is that it is not that golden now. EITI should try not to mention Nigeria so much… it's like they are telling other countries 'you should try and be as transparent as Nigeria'. Is that really such a good idea?-Shaxson (2009 pp 41-42) There is an assumption behind EITI as a whole that if you manage your resources in a more transparent way, that will lead to more accountability and that will lead to better governance and more prosperity for the citizens. The assumptions should be interrogated. The linkages are not automatic…. We should be asking ourselves, despite all we have achieved, how much do the people know about this sector and with what they know are they asking the right questions?-Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary,

This study explores how the global transparency norm is localized in the Nigerian extractive industry. Transparency is theorized as a process which can be analyzed in terms of rules, interactions, power games, and context. Nigeria is conceptualized as a “penkelemes”—a concept which denotes how traditions, norms, and practices are intertwined with a system of corruption, kinship, and patronage networks. Three main insights emerge. First, the complex motives and ability of local actors to balance demands for transparency from the international community with participation in the corrupt local political system determines which international norms they adopt. Second, the struggle for power over the transparency process determines the local understanding of transparency. Third, the link between transparency and corruption is paradoxical. Corruption conditions the enactment of transparency but even this corrupted transparency is useful in fighting corruption. Thus, transparency becomes part of the problem as well as part of the solution.

Purpose: This paper aims to develop an understanding of the process through which ideas are translated across disciplines. It does this by focusing on how the idea that people are corporate assets was translated between the accounting and human resource management disciplines. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the interpretation of a historical case study of the travel of ideas between the accounting and human resource management disciplines. Translation is used as an analytical lens as opposed to being the object of the study and is theorised drawing on insights from the Scandinavian Institutionalist School, skopos theory and linguistic translation techniques. Findings: Translation by individual translators involved the translator stepping across disciplinary boundaries. However, translation performed by interdisciplinary teams occurs in the "contact zone" between disciplines. In this zone, both disciplines are, at once source and target. Ideas are translated by editing and fusing them. In both cases, translation is value laden as the motives of the translators determine the translation techniques used. Legitimacy and gravitas of the translator, as well as contextual opportunities, influence the spread of the idea while disciplinary norms limit its ability to become institutionalised. Also, differential application of the same translation rule leads to heterogenous outcomes. Originality/value: This is the first accounting translation study to use the theories of the Scandinavian Institutionalist School or indeed combine these with linguistic translation techniques. It is also the first study in accounting which explores the translation of ideas across disciplines.

This paper seeks to account for how accounting is implicated in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England. It adopts a processual view which instead of conceptualizing neoliberalism as static and 'end-state', views it as a dynamic process of neoliberalization. We draw upon Bourdieu's notions of field, capital and habitus to frame our study. We focus on reform of the regulation of social housing in England during the period 2006-2016. We show that the process of neoliberaliztion of social housing in England was instigated by the state's intervention to change the structure of the field in terms of norms, power relations and positions of players on the field. These changes brought about simultaneous changes in the habitus of the field as well as the structure and habitus of Housing Associations as sub-fields. We demonstrate how these changes create and reproduce a new system of domination where the tenant is the dominated player. We highlight the role accounting played in these changes in terms of being used as a tool by the regulator to achieve social control and drive change within Housing Associations and by the Housing Associations to evidence conformity with the new norms and adaptation.