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The Ambivalence of Accounting and the Struggle for Customary Land in Fiji and PNG

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Managing the Post-Colony: Voices from Aotearoa, Australia and The Pacific

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Abstract

This chapter examines the complex relationship between accounting and customary land in the post-colonial states of Fiji and Papua New Guinea. These two countries represent the two largest economies in the South Pacific and while both share many similarities in terms of history and culture, they also possess significant differences that have shaped their systems of land administration. The chapter is primarily based on my doctoral research that was founded on primary and secondary data sources. I conduct a comparative analysis of the case studies to contribute to the theme of this book by highlighting the vestiges of colonialism in two post-colonial states in the Pacific. I illuminate how accounting has had an ongoing influence in perpetuating the post-colonial condition in the form of new actors such as transnational corporations and new processes that heavily rely on the craft of accounting. While these cases illustrate the ongoing practices of land alienation and the exploitation of Indigenous peoples, the cases also provide some evidence to suggest that Indigenous peoples, especially those with knowledge of accounting and who hold positions of power, can use accounting to enact different forms of resistance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Indigenous Fijians. Literally iTaukei means the owner of something, generally it implies “the owner of the land”.

  2. 2.

    Accountability is a complex concept and in the accounting literature its various definitions have the following two elements: (1) There are usually two parties/groups being the accounter (the one who is doing the accounting) and (2) the accountee (the one who is receiving the account); (2) The account or what is being accounted for (Shenkin and Coulson 2007). Accounting and auditing are thus fundamental to the accountability process. However, this again is a Western concept that has no direct Fijian translation (Rika et al. 2008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania, South Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Glenn Finau

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  1. Glenn Finau
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Correspondence to Glenn Finau .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Gavin Jack

  2. Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Michelle Evans

  3. He Manga Tauhokoko, Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand

    Billie Lythberg

  4. Te Raupapa Waikato Management School, University of Waikato, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

    Jason Mika

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Finau, G. (2024). The Ambivalence of Accounting and the Struggle for Customary Land in Fiji and PNG. In: Jack, G., Evans, M., Lythberg, B., Mika, J. (eds) Managing the Post-Colony: Voices from Aotearoa, Australia and The Pacific. Managing the Post-Colony. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0319-7_6

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