This study provides evidence on the nature and extent of downward accountability rendered by key government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to victims during the extended period of recovery from Australia's 2009 'Black Saturday' bushfires disaster. It questions whether the concept of downward accountability loses meaningfulness when applied to both the reporting motives and the direct deeds-based activities of the five organizations leading the recovery effort. Document analysis is undertaken on the traits of downward accountability displayed in the text and images published in the special-purpose disaster recovery reports of each organization. These traits include readability by, closeness to and empowerment of beneficiaries. Interviews with senior financial and communications executives of these organizations were also conducted. Results reveal strong downward accountability traits in the recovery reports, but a dominant motivation for the preparation of these reports is to account upwardly to donors and to have concern for accountability internally to the organization's own mission and values. These findings have implications concerning the problematization of downward accountability. The appearance of downward accountability in formal organizational reports appears to be an artefact of the motivation for upward and internal accountability. Moreover, downward accountability through the mode of charitable deeds-based recovery actions seems to be devoid of principal-agent expectations. For these reasons, in the context of a natural disaster, downward accountability does not sit well, conceptually, in a stakeholder-oriented accountability typology framework.

Downward accountability for a natural disaster recovery effort: Evidence and issues from Australia's Black Saturday

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a humanitarian disaster as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) shapes the working approach of accountants This research is motivated by the call for more in-depth analyses of how COVID-19 affects the work, role and human condition of accountants The study aims to discover the contingent effects, based on the contingency theory, on accountants' work due to a disaster like COVID-19 Design/methodology/approach: This is a qualitative study with an action research approach The research relies on semi-structured interviews and the active participation of a co-author in a professional organisation under investigation Data collected are analysed using thematic analysis through an inductive interpretative approach Findings: The contingent shock embodies both a reactive and adaptive approach in the accountants' professional work From a theoretical perspective, this study identifies nine contingent phases related to shock The accountants' experience helps to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic contingently shapes the working approach of accountants with both short- and long-term organisational implications Originality/value: Based on the literature survey, this is the first study to adopt an action research approach to engage with the complex dynamics involved in the social context of COVID-19 by discovering the effective actions, reactions, changes and solutions to problems experienced by professional accountants This approach helps to build knowledge that enhances professional, and community practises by answering the call for multidisciplinary contributions in accounting to address the global COVID-19 crisis, its impacts and opportunities for future research © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

/pdf/the-impact-of-a-humanitarian-disaster-on-the-working-3fljuy6y0e.pdf

The impact of a humanitarian disaster on the working approach of accountants: a study of contingent effects

Purpose: This paper explores the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in the financial and parliamentary accountability mechanisms of public-private partnership (PPP) “City Hospitals” in Turkey Diverse and changing accountability mechanisms are explored regarding budgetary, affordability and emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic Design/methodology/approach: This is a case study of City Hospitals in Turkey Empirical data are collected and analyzed qualitatively from publicly available government and related sources, Turkish National Audit reports (Sayistay), strategic healthcare investment plans, relevant laws, decrees and NGO reports and news articles Findings: Existing accountability mechanisms for arranging and/or delivering value-for-money (VfM) in Turkish PPP hospitals are weak This provided policy makers with more flexibility to manage expectations of its citizens in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic Political decision makers, through PPPs, created political capital for themselves by engaging in emotional accountability at the expense of better financial and parliamentary accountability Originality/value: This article contributes to the literature by articulating how roles of accountability change in crisis and introduces the concept of emotional accountability during a period of heavy infrastructure investments in City Hospitals in Turkey © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

/pdf/managing-expectations-with-emotional-accountability-making-vh1dwl93ic.pdf

Managing expectations with emotional accountability: making City Hospitals accountable during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey

Accounting in Bhopal: Making catastrophe

Purpose: Using Dean's (2010) analytics of government, this research explores how regimes of governing practices are linked to the underlying policy rationalities in dealing with the UK government's COVID-19 testing policies as a strategy for governing at a distance, including how targets were set and operationalized Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on the UK government's policy documents, other official publications (plans) and parliamentary discourse, together with publicly available media information related to its COVID-19 policies Findings: This research reveals that, with respect to the governance of COVID-19 in the UK, testing has the dual role of inscription for the government's performance and classification for the pandemic risks The analysis illustrates that the central role of testing is as a technology for classification for identifying and monitoring the virus-related risks Moreover, our discourse analysis suggests that initially COVID-19 testing was used by the UK government more for performance communication, with the classificatory role of testing and its performativity as a strategic device evolving and only being acknowledged by government gradually as the underlying testing infrastructure was developed Research limitations/implications: This paper is based upon publicly available reports and other information of a single country's attempts to control COVID-19 over a relatively short period of time Originality/value: This paper provides a critical understanding of the role of (accounting) numbers in developing an effective government policy for governing COVID-19 © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

/pdf/testing-times-governing-a-pandemic-with-numbers-4xiy7mp97n.pdf

Testing times: governing a pandemic with numbers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate disaster accountability process, and it seeks to advocate for involvement of victims as salient stakeholders in the accountability process.,The authors adopt a case study of the 3rd June, 2015 flood disaster and fire that occurred in Accra, Ghana and draw mainly on interviews, as well as observations and a review of publicly available documents.,Several actors are involved in disaster management in Ghana. These actors play several roles as part of the disaster management process. Coordination is observed among some governmental actors. However, there is a little collaboration among these actors. There are, therefore, no clear accountability relationships between the actors. Moreover, the forms of accountability process are largely upward and internal. So, although we find the victims as salient stakeholders, their perspectives are not prioritised as part of the accountability process.,As a result of less engagement with victims in the accountability process, a central accountability concern, outcomes, namely, benefits for victims in terms of changes in their knowledge, status, attitudes, values, skills, behaviours or conditions were not promoted. Downward accountability should be encouraged to promote better outcomes.,Although some studies on accounting for disasters have been undertaken, there is none in our local context, and also this study has been able to uncover under-representation of victims in the accountability process using adaptive accountability lens.

Accounting for disasters Evidence of under-representation of victims in the accountability process

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Accounting for disasters Evidence of under-representation of victims in the accountability process