Browsing by Author "Mzenzi, Siasa I"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Accounting Practices in Tanzanian Local Government Authorities: Towards a Grounded Theory of Manipulating Legitimacy
    (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2015) Goddard, Andrew; Mzenzi, Siasa I
    Purpose-This paper examines accounting practices and legitimacy in Tanzanian Local Government Authorities (LGAs). Methodology/approach-It uses data from multiple sources, including interviews, observations and documents, to provide theoretical and practical understanding on how accounting has been practiced and the conditions which sustain its undertaking. It applies a grounded theory method to develop a theory systematically from the raw data. Findings-The principal research findings from the data concern the central phenomenon of ‘manipulating legitimacy’. This involved the purposeful and deliberate use of accounting techniques to influence and control (and sometimes even to falsify) the perceived reasonableness of the Councils’ operations. The paper revealed that the effective operations of the Tanzanian LGAs were highly constrained by their context. This had forced the LGAs’ officials to use important accounting practices such as budgeting, financial reporting, auditing and performance measurement, to manipulate the organisational legitimacy, a process which ensured the availability of resources to both LGAs and the individual officials. Research limitations/implications-The main limitation of the research is that the data was collected from a limited number of local authorities in just one developing country. It is hoped that future research in other developing countries will be undertaken to broaden and deepen our understanding.
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    Adoption and Implementation of Epicor Accounting System in the Two Tanzanian Local Government Authorities: A New Institutional Sociology Perspective
    (2015) Mzenzi, Siasa I
    This is one of the series of papers emanating from the study of accounting practices in the Tanzanian Local Government Authorities (LGAs). In particular, it traces the adoption and implementation of EPICOR accounting system in the two Tanzanian LGAs. The paper theorises the adoption process and subsequent implementation of the system to the studied organizations using data from multiple sources, including interviews, observations, and documents. The paper finds that the adoption and implementation of EPICOR accounting system was mainly influenced by the Government and donors. This was mainly motivated by an attempt to integrate public financial management systems and to enhance budgetary and financial controls at the LGAs. However, lack of supporting environment and limited functions of the system had forced LGAs’ officials to maintain it in a loosely coupling state. In the light of New Institutional Sociology (NIS), the findings support Oliver’s (1991) assertion that actors are not passive adopters of the institutional pressure. Therefore, in order to ensure effective implementation of the adopted structures and systems in the institutionalized organizations like the studied LGAs, contextual factors and their related consequences need to be considered and modeled accordingly.
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    Appeal for Pragmatic Research in Emerging Economies: Findings from an Analysis of the Business Management Review (BMR) Journal Articles, 1993-2014
    (University of Dar es Salaam Business School, 2015-01) Mzenzi, Siasa I
    This paper reports the findings stemming from a review of 97 articles published in the Business Management Review (BMR), a journal hosted by the University of Dar es Salaam Business School (UDBS) of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Tanzania. The overall aim of the review is to present the status of the published papers and their research implications in the context of emerging economies. The papers were classified and analysed according to research discipline, research settings, theoretical approach, nature of research, methodological approach, research methods, research location, residency (institutional affiliation), and number of authors. As part of corroborative evidence, semi-structured interviews with the chief editors, members of the editorial board, the journal administrator, and selected authors were conducted. The findings show that papers from three disciplines—economics finance, and entrepreneurship have higher representation in the journal than other disciplines. Also, a sizeable number of the papers reviewed focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, very few papers extensively discuss theoretical issues underpinning a study under consideration. The review further shows that most of the reviewed papers are quantitative in nature and used questionnaires as the main data collection method. On the basis of these findings, the paper suggests embracing and fostering paradigmatic research in the context of emerging economies, using a broad set of theories, methodologies, methods, and research topics. In terms of resource dependency theory, the findings partly suggest that research and its dissemination in the emerging economies is dependent upon the influence of international research funding agencies. Thus, to enhance paradigmatic research in the emerging economies it is equally important for local institutions to spearhead research initiatives.
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    External Auditing and Accountability in the Tanzanian Local Government Authorities
    (Managerial Auditing Journal, Volume 30, Issue 6/7, 2015, pp. 681-702, 2015) Mzenzi, Siasa I; Gaspar, Abeid F
    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of external auditing to accountability in the Tanzanian local government authorities (LGAs). Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses content analysis of the external audit reports of the LGAs for the past ten years. Corroborative evidence was gathered through interviews with external auditors, councillors, Parliamentary Committee members and selected internal auditors of the LGAs. Findings – The study finds that external auditing had marginally contributed to the enhancement of accountability within the LGAs. This is mainly attributed to the limited scope and failure of the responsible officials to address audit recommendations. In the light of agency theory, the findings suggest that external auditing has not sufficiently enabled the stakeholders to hold LGAs’ officials accountable. Practical implications – The findings indicate that external auditing can enhance accountability when the scope is widened to provide relevant information and also when audit recommendations are implemented by responsible officials. Originality/value – Most studies of external auditing and accountability have focussed on thedeveloped countries; this is one of the few papers which explores the phenomenon in the context of emerging economies. Keywords Tanzania, Accountability, Agency theory, Audit, Local governments Paper type Research paper
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    The two publics and institutional theory – A study of public sector accounting in Tanzania
    (Elsevier, 2016) Goddard, Andrew; Assad, Mussa Juma; Mzenzi, Siasa I; Malagila, John; Mkasiwa, Tausi A
    This paper summarises, and attempts to theorise, the findings of a series of research projects investigating accounting practices across the public sector in Tanzania. Data was collected principally by interviewing participants in central and local government and in a number of NGO’s. Analysis was undertaken using grounded theory methods, alongside a theoretical framework. This framework comprised the work of the post-colonial theorist Ekeh (1975, 1992, 1994a, 1994b) and the concepts of legitimacy, loose coupling and isomorphism from institutional theory. Legitimacy and loose coupling were central concerns in all the institutions and played a significant role in understanding their accounting practices. However, there were significant differences between the settings’ responses. These can be partly explained as responses to different isomorphistic pressures. Differences between institutions can be further explained using Ekeh’s concepts of the primordial and the civic publics. Gaming and corruption were evident in central government, associated more with the civic public. Accountability and a sense of moral responsibility appeared to be stronger in NGOs, which were more closely associated with the primordial public. In contrast to the central government, which was associated more with the civic public, accounting was extremely problematic resulting in many dysfunctional practices. However gaming and corruption were most evident in local government where participants were subject to a conflict between the two publics’ moralities.