The milieu of reporting of Nacamaki and Nabuna villages of Koro Island

Abstract

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the milieu of reporting in two villages operating on Koro Island, Republic of Fiji Islands. It aims to analyse how both western‐narrow and traditional reporting offers rural villages extensive opportunities to discharge responsibilities of stewardship, accountability and accounts of the activities of farmers and stores in an agrarian setting, whether the activities are subsistence‐ or cash‐based.Design/methodology/approachFieldwork was conducted in two villages of Koro Island, Nacamaki and Nabuna, to ascertain the milieu of reporting, and open‐ended interviews were conducted with villagers from both villages. The “view from the centre” is adopted here, rather than the “view from the periphery”.FindingsThe study shows that people of both Nacamaki and Nabuna villages have adapted their specific reporting styles according to the circumstances facing them. Despite being only 5 km apart, two sharply contrasting village reporting milieux emerge. One relies greatly on the use of both Traditional oral and Western‐narrow hand‐written reports to fulfil accounts of entities (co‐operative and individual farmers) operating in the village. The other prefers oral communication to any form of written communication to raise accounts of villagers' collectivist and independently charged, agrarian‐based activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe study raises three sets of policy issues that are central to the development of reporting in Eastern Fijian villages. Numerous resources are unnecessary in presenting a western‐narrow account of transactions when the accounts are supplemented by a traditional reporting mien. Western‐narrow reporting appears to be well received by co‐operative members and individually oriented farmers. In the absence of Western‐narrow reporting, Traditional reporting seems to serve the needs of both communally oriented and individualistically inclined villagers. The results of the study underlie both the complexity of village life in determining systems of reporting and the fragility of written reporting in Eastern Fijian outer island villages.Practical implicationsThe study shows the way in which Eastern Fijian villages resolve subsistence and cash exchanges at the social level, taking into account local conventions, customs, laws, rituals and values.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper rests in considering villagers' own reporting through internal points of reference, providing space for interrelations between traditional Fijian values, the island landscape and the cultural geography.

Development of accounting in Fiji, 1801–2016

“…These new credit unions have supplemented the long-standing cooperative movement (Qalo, 2016; Singh, 1962), which is somewhat neglected in the accounting literature. This neglect is despite its importance to the traditional economy, particularly as it is essential to the retailing of goods through koro or other village stores, and the corresponding collection and onward transportation of small-scale cash crops from subsistence-based communities (Brown, 2009; cf. Dixon and Gaffikin, 2014).…”

“…With the Fijian accounting literature having expanded in recent years (see Alam et al, 2004;Chand and Patel, 2008;Davie, 2000aDavie, , 2000bDavie, , 2005Irvine and Deo, 2006;Rika et al, 2016;Sharma et al, 2010Sharma et al, , 2012, it is timely to present a history of the development of accounting in the country. As accounting research in the context of less developed countries in general (see, for example, Alwattage et al, 2007;Hopper et al, 2009), and the Pacific Islands in particular, is limited (exceptions include Brown, 2009;Dixon and Gaffikin, 2014), this article makes a specific contribution to this literature. Through the lead taken in this study, researchers may be motivated to consider undertaking more detailed studies into various areas of accounting as well as in more condensed time frames.…”

“… 8. The communal village life of indigenous Fijians (see Brown, 2009), their lack of integration in the school system and their dominance of the military all contributed to increased racial tensions after the 1987 coup (Nandan and Alam, 2005). …”

Accounting and Accountability in Fiji: A Review and Synthesis

“…Brown () examines the internal village reporting that has taken place in the Nacamaki and Nabuna villages’ co‐operatives in Fiji. The Nabuna village has adopted an oral communications style for reporting while the Nacamaki village makes use of a combination of traditional oral and western‐style handwritten reports.…”

Scholarship funding through strategic reporting: the case of Koro Island

“…Koro Island is one of seven volcanic islands in or near the Koro Sea and contains 14 villages called koro that ring around the coast of the island (Brown, ). Most of these villages contain primary schools.…”