Functions of accounting in the rulership and rule transplanted from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Keith and Hegnes DixonTe Whare Wānanga o Waitahā
Whalers, copra traders, planters, phoshateers, foresters and farmers
Origins of Accounting
I-MatanglandsPlus
Kiribati andAotearoa New Zealand
Accounting Technology
Were there any accountings in Kiribati and Aotearoa before I-Matang arrived?
Rule and Rulership Today
Kiribati Government 2012 BudgetGovernment of New Zealand Budget 2012
Present-day “Pacific” Institutions – Executive and Legislature
Head of State
House of Representatives
Mwaneaba ni Maungatabu
C(K)abinet
Ministries
Other Crown/Republic Bodies
New Zealand Governance Structure
Treasury, 1989
Kiribati Governance Structure
Secretaries - Ministers
Ministries
Mwaneaba ni Maungatabu
Beretitenti & Kabinet
Citizens of the Republic
Kiribati Constitutional Structure with Accounting emphasised
A udit O ffice
A udito r-G enera l
L eg is la tu re
E conom ic P la nn ing A cco unting R evenue C ollec tion
M in is try o f F ina nce
F ina nce M in is te r P ub lic S erv ice O ffice
S pend ing M in is tr ie s
M in is te rs of V a r ious P or tfo lios
P res iden t
World Governance Bodies
International Monetary Fund
United Nations and its various
offshoots
G8
Various Aid Organisations
OECD
USA Federal Government Agencies
Commonwealth
World Bank
European Union Agencies
Various World Religions
Various Transnational Corporations
Peoples Republic of China Agencies
What is Accounting Technology?
Bookkeeping, financial accounting and reporting, management accounting, information systems, auditing, public finance, taxation, organisational finance
Numerical, monetarized calculation techniques and related practices that mediate relations between individuals, groups, and institutions, including accountability relationships that result from social relations
Plays distributive and ideological roles, includes incentive schemes and financing relations, and conveys knowledge over some distance
Mix of changing knowledge and skills, practices and theories, applied by and to people in various organisations and society
Accounting and related practices within the Executive
•Review of past & present; contemplating & forecasting future•Setting Priorities•Estimating•Budgeting•Issuing Warrants to officials to collect revenues and spend appropriations•Transacting and functioning within the warrants issued•Bookkeeping•To legislature - oral accounts, answering questions, engaging in debates•Publishing reports before, during and after transactions and events•Having audits done of their financial statements•Having audits done of their statements about service performance
Public Finance Act 1989 Section 4 Expenses or capital expenditure
must not be incurred unless in accordance with appropriation or statutory authority
(1) The Crown or an Office of Parliament must not incur expenses or capital expenditure, except as expressly authorised by an appropriation, or other authority, by or under an Act.
Realm of New Zealand
Constitution Act 1986 Parliament and Public Finance
Section 21 Bills appropriating public money — The House of Representatives shall not pass any Bill providing for the appropriation of public money or for the imposition of any charge upon the public revenue unless the making of that appropriation or the imposition of that charge has been recommended to the House of Representatives by the Crown.
Section 22 Parliamentary control of public finance — It shall not be lawful for the Crown, except by or under an Act of Parliament,—(a) To levy a tax; or(b) To borrow money or to receive money borrowed from any person; or.(c) To spend any public money.
Realm of New Zealand
Constitution of Kiribati 1979CHAPTER VIII: FINANCE Taxation106. No taxation shall be imposed or altered except by or under law.Consolidated Fund107. (1) There shall be in and for Kiribati a Consolidated Fund into which . . . shall
be paid all revenues of the Government.Withdrawal of money from the Consolidated Fund108. (1) No money shall be issued from the Consolidated Fund except upon the
authority of a warrant under the hand of the Minister of Finance. (2) No warrant shall be issued by the Minister of Finance for the purpose of meeting any expenditure unless-
(a) the expenditure has been authorised by an Appropriation Act; or (b) the expenditure has been authorised appropos this Constitution:
or (c) it is statutory expenditure.
Potted History of “British-settler” New Zealand Institutions
De facto unicameral parliamentary democracy elected under MMP
Colony superseded by Dominion and then by Realm
Establishment of single, bicameral Parliament for whole NZ Colony
Establishment of settler Provincial Governments in each province
Annexation of New Zealand by Queen Victoria of the UKGBI
Bill of Rights 1688 under King William III and Queen Mary II
Confirmatio Cartarum 1297 (referred to as Magna Carta) under King Edward Longshanks
Magna Carta 1215 under King Jean Sand Terre (John Lackland)
Norman Conquest of England under Duc Guillaume (William) of Normandie
Post-Roman Anglicisation of southern Britain
Potted History of Institutions which I-Kiribati presently occupy
Executive presidency and unicameral parliamentary democracy elected under FPP
Internal Self-Rule Bodies for whole of G(E)I Colony
Indirect Rule by resident commissioner and district officers with island Native Governments
Annexation of Gilbert Islands by Queen Victoria, represented by resident commissioner
Western Pacific High Commission under Queen Victoria of UKGBI, represented by high commissioner, within the General Act of the Conference at Berlin of the Plenipotentiaries
Bill of Rights 1688 under King William III and Queen Mary II
Confirmatio Cartarum 1297 (referred to as Magna Carta) under King Edward Longshanks
Magna Carta 1215 under King Jean Sand Terre (John Lackland)
Norman Conquest of England under Duc Guillaume (William) of Normandie
Post-Roman Anglicisation of southern Britain
Institutions in “Atlantic” “democracies”
Executive – directly elected or
drawn from legislature, plus
appointed officials
Popularly-Elected
Legislature(unicameral or
bicameral)
More geography - the old Atlantic
Original “Norman” Model of Institutions
KingCouncil
For explanation and analysis of this basic model, see Congleton (2001)
Dieu et mon droitMonarchy – Divine Right of the King or Queen to rule over his/her subjects
“King and Council” Change Template(Congleton, 2001)
William (or Guillaume) I
Descended from Norse who colonised Normandy
Pressed claims to English throne after death of Edward the Confessor through military action c. 1065
Known as “the Bastard”, but also “the Conqueror”
Absolute Rule by virtue of Divine Right backed by military and civil governmental apparatus of the feudal system
Commanded preparation of Domesday Book, making possible the levying of feudal dues
Magna Carta (13th Century)
John Lackland andEdward Longshanks
12. Nullum scutagium vel auxilium ponatur in regno nostro, nisi per commune consilium regni nostri, nisi ad corpus nostrum redimendum, et primogenitum filium nostrum militem faciendum, et ad filiam nostram primogenitam semel maritandam, et ad hec non fiat nisi racionabile auxilium; simili modo fiat de auxiliis de civitate Londoniarum. [Articles, c. 32.]. . . . 14. Et ad habendum commune consilium regni de auxilio assidendo aliter quam in tribus casibus predictis, vel de scutagio assidendo, summoneri faciemus archiepiscopos, episcopos, abbates, comites, et majores barones sigillatim per litteras nostras; et preterea faciemus summoneri in generali per vicecomites et ballivos nostros omnes illos qui de nobis tenent in capite ad certum diem, scilicet ad terminum quadraginta dierum ad minus, et ad certum locum; et in omnibus litteris illius summonicionis causam summonicionis exprimemus; et sic facta summonicione negocium ad diem assignatum procedat secundum consilium illorum qui presentes fuerint, quamvis non omnes summoniti venerint
Magna Carta (13th Century)
Imperial enactments in force in New Zealand in 2009
NB the original Magna Carta was c. 1215 but the Confirmatio Cartarum 1297 is the one that has been passed down to England and its colonies and former colonies.
Established that the king may not levy or collect any scutage, save with the consent of his royal council. Path from (Absolute) Monarchy to Aristocracy, and House of Lords Spiritual and Temporal
Bill of Rights 1688
The Heads of Declaration of Lords and Commons, recited.WHEREAS the late King James the Second by the
assistance of diverse evill Councellors Judges and Ministers imployed by him did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the lawes and liberties of this Kingdome.
…Levying Money. By levying money for and to the use of the crown by pretence
of prerogative for other time and in other manner then the same was granted by Parlyament.
…utterly and directly contrary to the knowne lawes and statutes
and freedome of this Realme.
Bill of Rights 1688
The Subject's Rights. And thereupon the said Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons
pursuant to their respective letters and elections being now assembled in a full and free representative of this nation takeing into their most serious consideration the best meanes for attaining the ends aforesaid doe in the first place (as their auncestors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating and asserting their auntient rights and liberties, declare
…Levying money—That levying money for or to the use of the Crowne by
pretence of prerogative without grant of Parlyament for longer time or in other manner then the same is or shall be granted is illegall.
Path toward separation of the Monarch as a person from the office of Monarch, in the
institution of The Crown
No taxation without representation (c. 1765)
The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse that powerful instrument by which we behold, in the history of the British Constitution, an infant and humble representation of the people gradually enlarging the sphere of its activity and importance, and finally reducing, as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government. This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure (Madison, Federalist Papers)
Perspectives on who and what conditioned change
Political domination-legitimation perspective – for explanation and analysis, see Gurr, Jaggers and Moore (1991)
Wealth-accumulation, economic development perspective - for explanation and analysis, see Kiser and Barzel (1991)
Political domination-legitimation
Displacement of Autocracy by Democracy Military, political and related acts by those outside the ruling group, often forcing change
on the ruling group The outsiders demanded rights, including in:
▪ consenting to taxation ▪ going to war
▪ holding the ruler to account politically ▪ selecting the ruler(s)
At various times, the outsiders might have included:
▪ Aristocrats ▪ Ecclesiastics ▪ Property Owners
▪ Non-conformist men ▪ Poor fair-skinned men
▪ Men of other skin colours▪ Women ▪ Young men and women
Types of rule and rulership might have included:
▪ Aristocracy (+theocracy) ▪ Plutocracy (=gerontocracy) ▪ Democracy
The road from Runneymede, birthplace of democracy
Wealth-accumulation, economic development perspective
Kings and subsequent rulers (elites, ruling classes) have always been intent on accumulating wealth
The more successful did this through bargaining with their subjects, including aristocrats, bankers, townspeople, commoners, accountants, the middle classes, etc.
Both parties to the bargains gained economically, politically and socially Some bargains entailed extending the “selectorate” in return for consent to
be taxed Change from Autocracy to Democracy was
incidental to the above and unintended
(some) Residences of the Queen of New Zealand
Democracy and Corpocracy
The 20th Century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance:
the growth of democracy
the growth of corporate power, and
the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy
(Carey 1995, p. ix, cited in Gaffikin, 2008, p. 192)
Democracy and Aidarchy
The 20th Century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance:
decolonisation and independent sovereignty, based on “king and council” model
the growth of bilateral aid
the growth of aid-in-kind and accounting technology as a means of governing and channelling aid
I-Kiribati Polities c.1800
Control as the key to civilisationc. 1900 Colonial Government Structure takes shape under RC Campbell
Men of Imperial Government – resident commissioners, officials
Use existing “native” government bodies to govern within an agency structure, with responsibility accounting
1894-1914 Island Governments as profit centres Island Governments agents for Queen’s (King’s) Tax Cleanliness and good order, regulation of daily life, village
consolidation and other public works via poll and land tax, collected in copra and labour
By 1917, Revenues belong to Colony Government Island Governments are revenue centres and discretionary expense
centres
1890s-1930s Focus on Civilisation without UK aid
Regularity in the submission of all periodical returns to headquarters is vital. These returns summarise statistically the life and condition of the Colony . . . for the preparation of the Colonial Annual Report and for the information of the High Commissioner [in Suva] and Secretary of State [in London] on special subjects.
The keystone of enduring organisation is an efficient system of records. (p. 29)
Grimble and Clarke (1929)
Accounting and colonial governance
Colony is on 180° London is 0°Think governance, control, and distance in days of sailing and steam ships
Lines of Accounting 1930s
Staff of Restored Colony Government – resident commissioners, officials, professional and technical people
Immediate post-war shortages hindered developments Modernisation led by Bernacchi (1952-61) and Andersen
(1962-69) Done “efficiently”, with UK grants and local revenue,
and bearing in mind end of phosphate revenues Centred on Tarawa to contain costs, maintain eyeball
RC control and meet I-Matang needs Set up reserve fund to save for end Government Trade Scheme becomes Wholesale
Society GEIDA emerged by 1970
Republic Government inherits after 13 years of internal self-rule
1940s-1970sFocus on Restoration and Modernisation with some UK
aid
Post Colonial Political Economy
Single I-Kiribati Polity Urban Tarawa and Outer Islands Constitution, democratic republic No taxation without representation Government structure, systems of control,
and employment Taxation, RERF, no phosphate but plenty of
tuna Boboti and Fledgling Government Businesses Aid in kind, advice, guidance, assessment
Fishing Fleet Companies
Staff of Aid Donors, Project Staff and Consultants
Republic discovered by donors and NGOs Aid-in-kind accepted, so increasing size and scope of
government Local windfall revenues keep pace with growth in
recurrent spending Accounting used to plan and implement projects; and
to report to Canberra, Wellington, Brussels, Tokyo, Taiwan, etc.
More infrastructure, public services and people on Tarawa Outer Islands lose much intellectual capacity
1980s-2000s Focus on Modernisation and Millennium Goals
Staff of Postcolonial Agencies – IMF, ADB, WB, OECD
Turning I-Kiribati into private, rational-economic individuals, customers and clients
Structural adjustment policies Privatisation Deregulation New public management, Business model Output budgeting Individualism and competition Monetary not fiscal policy weapons, end of “agricultural”
subsidies Lower taxes, lower public expenditure
Accounting used to plan and implement projects; and to report to Manila, Washington, etc.
1990s-2000s Focus on Neo-Liberalisation
Where’s the paper?This presentation uses materials written up in: Dixon, K., & Gaffikin, M. (2011). Accounting Practices as Social
Technologies of Colonialistic Outreach from London, Washington, &c.. Unpublished manuscript.
and Dixon, K. (2012) Functions of accounting, types of rulership (-
archies) and forms of rule (-[o]cracies). Newcastle, Northumbria: 13th World Congress of Accounting Historians, 17-19 July 2012.
Contact: [email protected] Opening movie clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMuXtQ7UYOM