If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to evaluate management accounting research in developing countries and formulate suggestions for its progression. Design/methodology/approach -This is a desk based study of existing literature analysed through a framework of management control transformation in developing countries derived from the authors' research. Findings -Research is growing, especially on accounting in state-owned and privatised enterprises but more is needed on small and micro enterprises, agriculture, non-governmental organisations, and transnational institutions. Originality/value -This is the first review of this area and thus should help intending and existing scholars.MAS research by country, stage of development, topic, theory and research methods Our definition of MAS embraces processes, structures and information for organisational decisions, governance, control and accountability. ;It is deliberately broad -too narrow and technical definitions deflect attention from historical, social, political and economic factors, and their unanticipated consequences. Rigid boundaries are dangerous as development issues need open, imaginative, problem-based approaches that transgress disciplines and forms of accounting. We excluded financial accounting papers on LDCs, including social and environmental accounting ones (see Gray and Kouhy, 1993) but in retrospect such demarcations may be dangerous, as will be discussed.

PurposeFollowing previous studies the paper seeks to use disclosure scores to examine corporate governance practices of Ghanaian listed firms. The study is motivated by the dearth of literature on corporate governance practices in the developing world despite the increasing interests in the topic in both the developed and the developing world.Design/methodology/approachThe data for the analysis are gathered from 22 listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE representing 95 percent of the Ghanaian market capitalization). The paper also examines the extent to which factors such as ownership structure, dispersion of shareholding, firm size, and leverage influence disclosure practices.FindingsConsistent with findings reported in studies from other developing countries the study finds that the level of disclosure in Ghana is low. Furthermore, ownership structure, dispersion of shareholding, and firm size (measured as total assets and market capitalization) all have significant effect on disclosure. However, the correlation between disclosure and leverage is insignificant.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the research will help policy makers and practitioners in formulating corporate governance policies. However, this research is limited because it focuses on only companies listed on the GSE. The results may therefore not be representative of all companies operating in Ghana.Originality/valueThe study is important because of the recent surge in international capital into the developing world (including Ghana) as a result of the ongoing World Bank and IMF led economic reforms. These reforms have emphasized transparency and accountability. There is therefore the need to understand corporate governance practices in these environments.

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Parent-subsidiary relationships are commonplace nowadays, yet surprisingly there is a paucity of research analysing their dynamics over time. This paper presents a (longitudinal) case study, illuminating the dynamics implicated when a UK chemicals company imposed its systems and rules on a new subsidiary. Drawing on observations from a longitudinal case study (from 1993 to 2001), the study considers: (1) the extent to which a parent imposes its (management accounting) systems, rules and procedures on a subsidiary; (2) the role which (local) political, cultural and institutional factors in a subsidiary play in shaping the dynamics of such change implementation; (3) how new systems and practices become accepted and take root as values and beliefs and how they supplement earlier norms? The study provides insight for the questions above, and draws on institutional theories and a power mobilisation framework to assist in the interpretation of observations. We find that the operations of the subsidiary company are influenced by inter-related forces, both inside and outside the organisation encompassing issues of power, politics and culture. As such, existing institutions in a subsidiary organisation are influenced, sustained, and changed by the socio-economic context in which the subsidiary is located. Organisational practices designed to secure external legitimacy are not however always symbolic and decoupled from internal operations.

Accounting education has come under criticism over the past two decades for failing to meet the demands of the changing business environment. This paper presents the results of a survey of accounting graduates and employers from Ghana on the accounting knowledge and skills required by graduates. We examined both the professional and information technology (IT) skill requirements of the graduates. These skills are relevant to preparing the graduates for careers as professional accountants. Analytical/critical thinking was rated as the most important professional skill by both the employers and the graduates. In terms of IT skills, the use of spreadsheet packages was rated by both groups as the most important skill. The only significant differences between the two groups were the IT skills in word-processing and Windows. The findings of the paper have implications for accounting education in Ghana and in other developing countries.Accounting curriculum change, less developed countries, Ghana,

Management accounting change and the changing roles of management accountants have dominated both the professional and academic accounting literature in recent years. This paper aims to contribute to these debates by providing evidence from a sample of management accountants working in both dependent (group) and independent (non-group) organizations in the U.K. One thousand (qualified) members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), U.K., were randomly selected from the association's database for a postal survey questionnaire. In all, 279 professionally qualified management accountants in both types of organizations responded to a postal survey questionnaire (58 percent from dependent and 42 percent from independent organizations respectively). A Mann-Whitney analysis of the responses indicates that while some significant differences exist between the views of the two groups, these management accountants agree on several of the management accounting practices and the roles of the management accountant investigated. The study provides further insight into MAS and the changing roles of management accountants. It was earlier hypothesized that significant differences would exist in the perceptions between the two groups. However the weak support for the hypotheses could be explained by the influence of other institutional forces apart from the head office control which is focused on in the paper. Thus, it was recognized that other institutional forces are likely to be at play in shaping the perceptions of the management accountants. This is a limitation of the paper and future research to study the impacts of other institutional factors is recommended.

This paper reports on the results of a case study of management controls in an Indonesian family-owned University. The paper attempts to understand the nature and

PurposeAims to examine the changes to budgetary control and performance monitoring in the context of a series of World Bank sponsored public sector reforms.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a longitudinal study of a state enterprise (the Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC)) in which the World Bank‐sponsored reforms were imposed. This paper especially draws on the dialectic of control from structuration theory.FindingsThe paper shows that budgetary practices at the GFDC did not change substantially, with the exception of the reporting practices. Budgeting remained politicised, delayed, directionless and ineffective. Reporting to the monitoring agency did not make any positive changes to accountability and performance and was thereby unable to serve public interests.Research limitations/implicationsWith hindsight, the authors wished they had undertaken more in‐depth investigations of workers' and farmers' roles in whole performance contracting scenarios and public sector reforms at the GFDC. The failure so to do was mainly because of a shortage of time and the difficulty of obtaining relevant data.Practical implicationsThis paper has raised a number of important but neglected issues concerning the public sector reforms in less developed countries (LDCs) for aid agencies and policy makers.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates the usefulness of Giddens' idea of the dialectic of control in the contextual study of management controls, including budgeting and performance in the public sector in LDCs. Also, the paper makes an important contribution highlighting the public interest role of management controls especially in the context of public sector reforms.