What roles does accounting play in the fight against corruption? Insights from a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT

The fight against corruption has become a priority for both international organizations and national governments worldwide. To fight corruption, several strategies have been suggested which enlist accounting because of its natural orientation towards information disclosure, integrity systems, and efficiency. This article presents a comprehensive literature review regarding accounting vis-à-vis corruption in the public sector. The review combines a bibliometric and a qualitative analysis. The findings reveal a highly fragmented field of research, with no consolidated networks of scholars. The conceptual structure of the field consists of five main themes, corresponding to different strategies through which accounting can contribute towards fighting corruption. Accounting assemblages, however, may not fulfil expectations and were found to play a wide spectrum of roles, ranging from an effective prevention of corruption to active complicity with it. These roles are affected by individual, organizational, and external variables. The article concludes by outlining several avenues for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Accounting
• corruption
• public sector
• literature review
• bibliometric analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and the handling Associate Editor for his continued support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Notes

1 Source: United Nations, citing estimates by the World Economic Forum and the World Bank, available at https://press.un.org/en/2018/sc13493.doc.htm

2 International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) 22 is intended to prescribe appropriate “disclosure of financial information about the general government sector”.