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Accountability Failures in an iTaukei corporation: The case for a Fiji provincial company

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conference contribution
posted on 2024-11-18, 09:17 authored by Masilina Tuiloa, Michael White
Purpose - The purpose of this study is to obtain insights into the systems of accountability within a company set up by the Lau provincial council in Fiji. It is the only company set up by any of the fourteen provincial councils in Fiji to be consistently profitable. Yet the study reveals poor accountability has prevailed within the company and by the company to its shareholders. This has led to the company generating fewer benefits to its shareholders and the province of Lau in general than would have been obtained with appropriate accountabilities in place. Design/methodology/approach – The paper explicates the system of accountability by case studying a Fiji provincial company. An in-depth case study was undertaken on the Lau provincial company, in order to analyse its system of accountability. Data was collected through content analysis of the annual reports and other information available in the public domain. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the company executives and other stakeholders of the company. Findings - The study provides insights into the systems of accountability practised by the Lau provincial company and provided to the grassroots provincial population. Analysis of the entity studied revealed accountability has been influenced by the power distance in society, high levels of trust placed on those in authority, the culture of respect and silence, and the lack of attention to detail and planning. This has resulted in weak accountabilities being provided to the provincial population and hence, the need to consider exploring ‘intelligent’ forms of accountability (Roberts, 2009) for the provincial population.

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University of Wollongong, Wollongong Campus

Language

English

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