Enhancing financial reporting quality in village-owned enterprises: The role of organizational competencies

The authors contend that accountability and integrity in public affairs are best preserved through enhancement of an integral system of legal prescripts, law, institutional policies and protocols. In the post-apartheid, South African public officials and political office bearers have been continuously criticized for allegedly transgressing ethical codes. Democracy has been tested due to violations of accountability, integrity and misconducts in the South African public service. However, this study argues that integrity can be enhanced when the society and those that are governing can preserve through specialized institutions legislation where law-makers are working with civil society to instill the culture of integrity.It is imperative to balance what is required for public officials’ conduct and what is done through parliamentary controls and certain caveats of highest honor. The value of accountability and integrity in public affairs can enjoy a resurgence in the last and present decade as the arrangements for public officials to operate in an environment that promotes good governance. This study reveals some concerns over the lack of commitment to preserve existing structures that could serve as mechanisms to promote good governance. A qualitative document analysis is employed to draw data from literature review. This paper’s findings contribute towards ethics and good governance in public administration.

Public sector accounting reforms have resulted in crucial changes in accounting reporting by the government, namely the adoption of accrual accounting in the public sector. This study looks into the social factors that led to the Indonesian central government implementing accrual accounting reform. This study adopted a quantitative approach using purposive sampling. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with PLS version 3.0 was used to analyze the data. The information for this study was gathered using a Google Form, which was used to send 70 questionnaires to government finance officials, chief accountants and auditors, and heads of accounting and auditing divisions in the Ministry of Finance. Seeing these social factors is expected to increase the effectiveness of the administration of accrual accounting implementation. The results showed that pressure from donors, pressure from the National Board of Accountants and Auditors (NBAA), political will, and audit process had an impact on the effectiveness of accrual accounting application (AAA). However, management change, regulatory matters, and a culture of transparency have no effect. In addition, the effective administration of AAA affects managerial accountability. This study implies that the effective application of accrual accounting depends on human-related concerns and culture. It is important to note that accrual accounting is more of a management reform that entails changes to bigger areas of institutional and accountability systems than merely adopting a new accounting technology.

The roles of external auditors have been under the spotlight due to the strategic positions they occupy to ensure accountability by public sector managers. This study examines the role of the external auditors in the accountability regime of the Ghanaian local governance structure. The study analyzed the annual reports of the Auditor General (AG) on all the metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana from 2010 to 2018 through a content analysis method. The analysis revealed that Ghanaian audit activities had mainly focused on internal control effectiveness, cash management, contract management, revenue management, expenditure management, payroll management, and procurement management. However, the study found that the focus of the external auditors kept expanding as the years progressed. The evidence showed that the auditors excluded performance audits in their scope of work. The findings of the study further revealed that the MMDAs had recurring, repetitive, and common audit queries, comprising cash; procurement and stores; contract and tax irregularities. Besides, the audit recommendations were in response to the specific audit queries on the various financial and operational irregularities. Based on the analysis, the study concludes that the external auditing in Ghana has marginally contributed to accountability in the MMDAs. The study recommends that the scope of the external audit should include performance auditing.