VAT was introduced in Bangladesh in 1991 and replaced the outdated excise duty and sales tax. This shift was motivated by the arguments that, as compared to sales tax, VAT has a higher revenue-raising potential and that its collection and administration are more economic, efficient and expedient. Despite its limitations, VAT has become the single largest source of government revenue in Bangladesh. In this article, the authors describe the key features of the VAT system, including some of the most important problems and possible solutions to overcome them.
This study is about the exploration of accountability systems in the context of New Public Management initiatives. A government department in the Australian Capital Territory has been adopted as a field for investigation. The focus of this research is to study in depth of a particular phenomena i.e., accountability systems. Qualitative research methodology was chosen and case-based research method was used in this study. Data collection involved a triangulation approach using three sources as organizational documents, interviews and observation. The research demonstrated that accountability systems in the selected researched organization are the functions of public sector reforms linked to the key areas of financial management and service delivery. These findings are consistent with the view that changes to the Australian public sector promoted managerial accountability and a culture of performance. The research undertaken was in-depth, using a case study and though generalization is not possible from this single case study, the findings are expected to add knowledge to existing literature and provide some important lessons for the public sector entities in other countries who are interested in adopting these accountability systems as their control devices.
In today’s complex business environment, both raising and application of fund becomes so costly. Thus, business needs to take a wise decision of investing funds in fixed facilities, which at one side consumes a lot of costly fund and on the other, set the value of the business. Net present value (NPV), pay back period (PBP), internal rate of return (IRR) are some widely used and customary tools in such situation most of which are based on projected revenues. In this paper, we have tried to use life cycle costing as a strong alternative, which considers every cost category throughout the life of the assets, from cradle to grave, to represent the effective use of funds in its totality. The theoretical foundation of LCC as a tool comes from literature review but the application of LCC in alternative choosing areas are the development of the authors. The use of mathematical tools and equations is an exemplary one that may be changed or modified to fit it with the typical context, if necessary. The paper can be a guideline which finally concludes that the use of life cycle costing as an alternative selection tool results a better cost structure analysis than others.
This study examines the notion of governance while corruption and polity act in a negotiated approach. It adopts a theory synthesis approach to design the research paradigm and brings renewed attention to governance from a national perspective. This study argues that corruption and polity collectively define the state of governance in a particular country, which might offer some new insights to the remaining parts of the world. The principal aim of the study is to bring relevant evidence from the literature to develop a solid foundation on governance from a macro perspective. Deploying a qualitative approach, this study highlights available literature on corruption, polity, and their connections to define the state of governance. From this specific target, we have initiated this study deploying a conceptual fashion in exploring governance which is shaped by the interplay between two loosely connected themes: polity and corruption. The outcome of this synthesis is to renew our understanding on governance to strengthen the governance mechanism whereby corruption could be checked through sound polity in action. The arguments presented in the paper are expected to be useful for regulators and policymakers as they prepare governance-related rules, acts, or directives in their respective countries.
This paper contributes to the study of financial management in public sector organization in the context of New Public Management (NPM). It deploys an earnest attempt to explore the financial delegation system in the context of NPM initiatives in Australia. A government department in the Australian Capital Territory has been adopted as the field for investigation. The nature of the present research is explorative and the focus of this research is to study in depth of a particular phenomena. Qualitative research methodology was chosen to obtain a better understanding of the phenomena. Case-based research method was used in developing a fuller understanding of the relative role of financial delegation system in the management of organisational performance. In this study, data collection involved a triangulation approach and the three sources were archival records, interviews and observation. As financial delegation system is socially constructed, Giddens’ structuration theory was adopted in this research to obtain a better understanding of human actions and to explore how these control devices are implicated in the wider social context through time. Empirical evidence from the field supported that the selected researched organisation has adopted a wide range of financial delegation mechanisms within the organization. The research also demonstrated that the implementation of financial delegation system in the selected organization is the function of NPM in the key areas of financial management. These findings are consistent with the view that NPM promotes a culture of performance in Australian public sector.
This study attempts to explore the factors that may lead to the choice behind sophisticated management accounting practices (SMAP) in an emerging economy, Bangladesh. A semi-structured questionnaire has been developed to capture the market data and different descriptive and inferential statistical tools have been used to test relevant hypotheses. The findings of the study are helpful for the management accounting practitioners, academics, and researchers to understand the current state of management accounting practices in an emerging market. In addition, the study brings an extension to existing literature by exploring potential causal relationship between sophistication in applying management accounting tools and satisfaction of management accounting practitioners. This study confirms that there is a missing link between practitioners’ satisfaction and SMAP. It gives a signal to the market that the critical decision-making process is not supported by tactical exercises and market lacks professionalism greatly which may act as an obstacle to develop a competitive business environment.
Management accounting practice follows contingency framework characterized by factors from theenvironment where the firm operates, firm specific factors, practitioners’ perception and ownermanager’s requirements. It is always critical and observes a compromised demonstration in its diffusion. This paper tries to propose a generic model named as PERAPPGAP Model to quantify the gap that exists between the perception on and application of different management accounting tools based on a semi-structured questionnaire survey. It also highlights some relationships between the gap scores and firm specific factors to bring inferential dimension and some extra merit in analysis.
Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is widely used to assess the investment criteria where cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is not economically feasible to apply. CBA is generally used where there is a commercial motive whereas CEA is used where service motive is prioritized. Thus, it is mainly applicable to evaluate social projects where the beneficiaries are scattered in any area or the society at large. The paper works as a background paper highlighting those issues with greater detail so that a stranger can use the tool confidently. The steps required for such application and the potential areas where CEA will produce significant results are also highlighted here to limit the scope of the paper. The methodology used here is basically descriptive to keep it simple and easy to comprehend, with the practical insights of using such tool in a real life social project. The use of CEA is outlined here in a World Bank funded Arsenic Water Supply Project in Bangladesh.
Investment in productive sector is the precondition for achieving the economic growth from a country perspective. Capital formation positively supports this investment function. Once a satisfactory level of capital is formed, the option of sound investment comes that ultimately leads to flow additional capital in future. The financial institutions, mainly banks, do these functions. In countries like ours, investment leakage in the form of non-functionalities poses a great threat on the sound running of this ‘capital formation – investment – capital formation’ process. This paper deals with non performing loan situations, basically the causes and consequences of this economic devil that is very much embedded in current economic structure. The possible steps are also pointed out to handle such situation.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is an embracing issue today that becomes the social perspective of accounting and reporting. Still, the international standard setters are lagging behind to bring this issue within the legal framework of accounting and reporting. As there is a huge demand from the stakeholders for such information, it becomes a common area of voluntary disclosure at the time of reporting. The paper targets to highlight
the improvement of CSR reporting in Bangladesh over a period of six (6)
years through the content analysis of financial statements of DSE 20 companies.
Content analysis has helped us to identify a couple of common categories
where most of the firms do social reporting. The analysis was based on secondary
sources of information; i.e., published financial statements of DSE 20
companies for the year 2000 and 2006. Different descriptive statistics were
used to organize and analyze the findings of the study. It concluded that the
pattern of such reporting was far away from expectation; still, there was a
positive indication that the volume and quality of reporting was increasing.
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