New public management and accounting in a Fiji telecommunications company

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate tension between the implementation of new public management and associated accounting technologies in the Fiji telecommunication sector and the indigenous Fijian culture and political structure. In doing so, the article contrasts the economic-based reforms of the telecommunications sector (from 1990), with the traditional social relations that were exercised post-independence (1970 onwards). This research aim is achieved by focusing on archival documents and interviews with those involved in Fiji telecommunications. We illustrate how the use of new public management concepts replaced traditional social relations with the disciplinary technologies of modern capitalism but were also altered as a result of these social relations. In the Fiji Telecommunications company, the cultural conflicts and political influences led to the new public management process being resisted and modified to reduce the tension between economic and social relations.

Public sector management accounting in emerging economies: A literature review

“…The influence of culture and politics on NPM-driven MA has featured in many studies (see Ashraf & Uddin, 2013;Sharma et al, 2012). A number of studies conducted on the African continent has discussed the impact of political interventions on MA practices, despite reforms (see also Marwata & Alam, 2006;Sulle, 2010).…”

“…Hence, more research is needed on how political processes intertwine with management and accounting controls in the public sector. Traditional cultural orientations have so far been identified by only a few studies (Cuenca Botey & Célérier, 2015;Sharma et al, 2012;Wickramasinghe & Hopper, 2005) as key issues in implementing private-sector-style management in the public sector. We would call for a deeper understanding of culture, combining historical legacy, religious orientations, ethnicity, modes of production, and so on.…”

“…This requires in-depth studies with solid theoretical foundations to provide better explanations of MA changes in the context of NPM reforms (Sharma et al, 2012). 6 In an ethnographic study, Uddin and…”

Accounting and Accountability in Fiji: A Review and Synthesis

“…Sharma et al. () investigate tension between the implementation of new public management and associated accounting technologies in the Fiji telecommunications sector and the indigenous Fijian culture and political structure. In the Fiji telecommunications company that is the focus of the study, cultural conflicts and political influences led to the new public management process being resisted and modified to reduce the tension between economic and social relations.…”

Power and Discipline: The Role of Accounting in the Monte di Pietà of Ravenna between 18th and 19th Centuries

“…Examining this perspective may illuminate the significance of accounting in that context. investigated here through the concepts of governmentality and disciplinary power (Foucault, 1991), already used by other authors (Sharma et al 2012) within the accounting history field. Some accounting researchers (Miller and Rose 1990;Miller and Napier 1993) have already used these concepts in their analyses, arguing that accounting makes people more knowledgeable, calculable and governable, thus emphasising accounting's non-neutral nature (Miller and O'Leary 1987;Napier 2006).…”