Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative - Critical 采掘业透明度行动计划的关键.doc

PAGE 1 Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative: A Utopia in Oil and Mining Industry in Developing Countries by Olatunde Julius Otusanya Department of Accounting University of Lagos, Sarah Lauwo Essex Business School University of Essex, UK Owolabi M. Bakre School of Business and Management Queen Mary, University of London, UK Correspondence Address Department of Accounting Faculty of Business Administration University P. O. Box 354, Unilag, Akoka, Yaba Lagos State E-mail: jotusanya@.ng or sanyaoj@yahoo.co.uk Tel: +234 (0) 7051827072 or (0)Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative: A Utopia in Oil and Mining Industry in Developing Countries Abstract Transparency has emerged as a key principle in the global business regulation and governance in the contemporary global economy. It is often suggested that providing stakeholders with more information on companies’ activities can enhance transparency and accountability. However, within the global capitalist economy, ‘transparency’ has remained a contestable concept. Although proponents of transparency claim that it opens the channel of communication and allows scrutiny, this study argues that transparency has been rather used to legitimise the actions of large transnational corporations. Yet, the bourgeoning literature in accounting has paid relatively little attention to the dilemma of ‘transparency’, especially the transparency initiatives in developing countries. This study, therefore, seeks to explore the contradiction inherent within the neo-liberalism global regulatory framework on transparency initiatives in developing countries. Building upon the recent literature and theory of crony capitalism and neo-liberalism, the study describes Multinational Companies (MNCs) as an externality-making machine and argues that transparency initiative does not change the nature of corporation, nor does it give the stakeholders any enforceable rights, it only legitimises the corporate image and Weste