IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/aaajpp/v21y2008i7p955-977.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate governance: what about the workers?

Author

Listed:
  • Prem Sikka

Abstract

Purpose - To stimulate debates about the creation of corporate governance mechanisms and processes which would help to secure an equitable distribution of income and wealth for workers. Design/methodology/approach - The paper builds on a political economy of income and wealth inequalities. It argues that corporate governance mechanisms and processes are rooted in particular politics and histories. The state is a key actor. It provides a brief history of the UK corporate governance debates relating to income distribution, industrial democracy and disclosures. It provides social data about the extent of income inequalities. Findings - The paper shows that the UK lacks institutional structures and processes and mechanisms to enable workers to secure a higher share of the firm's income. Research limitations/implications - The study primarily focuses on some aspects of the corporate governance structures, practices and income/wealth inequalities in the UK. Its implications could also be relevant to market‐oriented liberal states with “consensus” or “majoritarian” electoral systems. Practical implications - To encourage debates, the paper puts forward a number of suggestions for changing electoral and corporate governance practices together with disclosures that could give visibility to income and wealth inequalities. Originality/value - The paper links corporate governance debates to broader political choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Prem Sikka, 2008. "Corporate governance: what about the workers?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(7), pages 955-977, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:21:y:2008:i:7:p:955-977
    DOI: 10.1108/09513570810907438
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513570810907438/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09513570810907438/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/09513570810907438?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony G., 1985. "Accounting in its social context: Towards a history of value added in the United Kingdom," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 381-413, October.
    2. Barreiros, Lídia., 1985. "Towards social accounting," ILO Working Papers 992431063402676, International Labour Organization.
    3. Prem Sikka & Mark P. Hampton, 2005. "The role of accountancy firms in tax avoidance: Some evidence and issues," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 325-343, September.
    4. John Christensen & Richard Murphy, 2004. "The Social Irresponsibility of Corporate Tax Avoidance: Taking CSR to the bottom line," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 47(3), pages 37-44, September.
    5. Jean-Marc Burniaux & Flavio Padrini & Nicola Brandt, 2006. "Labour Market Performance, Income Inequality and Poverty in OECD countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 500, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christopher, Joe, 2010. "Corporate governance—A multi-theoretical approach to recognizing the wider influencing forces impacting on organizations," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(8), pages 683-695.
    2. Josiah, J. & Gough, O. & Haslam, J. & Shah, N., 2014. "Corporate reporting implication in migrating from defined benefit to defined contribution pension schemes: A focus on the UK," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 18-37.
    3. Sarah Boateng, 2016. "Information Disclosure And Bank Stability; Evidence From Sub-Saharan Africa," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 4206600, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    4. Niamh M. Brennan & Jill Solomon, 2008. "Corporate governance, accountability and mechanisms of accountability: an overview," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(7), pages 885-906, September.
    5. Sikka, Prem, 2015. "The hand of accounting and accountancy firms in deepening income and wealth inequalities and the economic crisis: Some evidence," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 46-62.
    6. Anis Ben Amar & Islem Turki, 2022. "Temporal Evidence on Threshold Hierarchy Based on Accruals and Real Earnings Management: Evidence from France And The US," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 373-396, September.
    7. David Collison & Colin Dey & Gwen Hannah & Lorna Stevenson, 2010. "Anglo‐American capitalism: the role and potential role of social accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(8), pages 956-981, October.
    8. Cooper, Christine & Coulson, Andrea & Taylor, Phil, 2011. "Accounting for human rights: Doxic health and safety practices – The accounting lesson from ICL," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 738-758.
    9. Joe Christopher & Philomena Leung & Shane Leong, 2017. "Can Employees Be Used to Overcome Independent Audit Limitations?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 27(4), pages 442-456, December.
    10. Aila VIRTANEN & Tuomo TAKALA, 2016. "Accountability Of Corporate Boards In Finland," Management Research and Practice, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 8(1), pages 5-24, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miller, Peter, 1997. "The multiplying machine," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 22(3-4), pages 355-364.
    2. Matias Laine, 2009. "Ensuring legitimacy through rhetorical changes?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(7), pages 1029-1054, September.
    3. Lambert Jerman, 2013. "La juste valeur : une comptabilité actuarielle pour les marchés … ou les comptables ?," Post-Print hal-00991877, HAL.
    4. Maran, Laura & Bracci, Enrico & Funnell, Warwick, 2016. "Accounting and the management of power: Napoleon’s occupation of the commune of Ferrara (1796–1799)," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 60-78.
    5. AnnMarie Bennett & Breda Murphy, 2017. "The Tax Profession: Tax Avoidance and the Public Interest," Economics Department Working Paper Series n286-17.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    6. Ejiogu, Amanze & Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Ejiogu, Chibuzo, 2021. "Accounting for accounting’s role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England: A Bourdieusian perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Richardson, Alan J. & Kilfoyle, Eksa, 2016. "Accounting institutions as truce: The emergence of accounting in the governance of transnational mail flows," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 32-47.
    8. Carlotta del Sordo & Massimo Fornasari & Rebecca L. Orelli, 2021. "Power and Discipline: The Role of Accounting in the Monte di Pietà of Ravenna between 18th and 19th Centuries," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(7), pages 1-93, July.
    9. Elaine Doyle & Jane Hughes & Keith Glaister, 2009. "Linking Ethics and Risk Management in Taxation: Evidence from an Exploratory Study in Ireland and the UK," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 177-198, May.
    10. Suzuki, Tomo, 2007. "Accountics: Impacts of internationally standardized accounting on the Japanese socio-economy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 263-301, April.
    11. Mennicken, Andrea, 2008. "Connecting worlds: the translation of international auditing standards into post-Soviet audit practice," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 27070, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Clinton Free & Vaughan Radcliffe & Brent White, 2013. "Crisis, Committees and Consultants: The Rise of Value-For-Money Auditing in the Federal Public Sector in Canada," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 441-459, March.
    13. Mohamed Ali Dakkam, 2018. "qui et à quoi sert la comptabilité ? Un état de l'art et quelques réflexions théoriques pour dépasser le déterminisme des différents paradigmes," Post-Print hal-01907865, HAL.
    14. David Collison & Stuart Cross & John Ferguson & David Power & Lorna Stevenson, 2012. "Legal Determinants of External Finance Revisited: The Inverse Relationship Between Investor Protection and Societal Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 393-410, July.
    15. Shapiro, B. P., 1998. "Toward a normative model of rational argumentation for critical accounting discussions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(7), pages 641-663, October.
    16. McPhail, Ken, 2011. "A review of the emergence of post-secular critical accounting and a provocation from radical orthodoxy," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 516-528.
    17. Nhu Tuyên Le, 2009. "Liens Entre Comptabilite Et Systeme Economique : La Transition Vietnamienne," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) halshs-00460227, HAL.
    18. Hooks, Jill & Stewart, Ross, 2015. "The changing role of accounting: From consumers to shareholders," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 86-101.
    19. Himick, Darlene, 2011. "Relative performance evaluation and pension investment management: A challenge for ESG investing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 158-171.
    20. Faouzi Bensebaa & Amina Béji-Becheur, 2007. "Institutionnalisation et rationalisation des pratiques de RSE," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 10(2), pages 63-95, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:21:y:2008:i:7:p:955-977. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.