Commercialization of Microfinance: Is the sector losing its identity by evading its original 'social service' responsibility?
The primary mission behind the inception of the microfinance sector was to enable the poor to have access to cheaper financial services because the mainstream financial institutions would not serve them and the alternative sources of finance, such as informal money lenders, would exploit them by charging them exorbitantly high interest rate. With the paradigm shift in the sector during the early 1990s, when the donor community started emphasizing self-sustainability and profitability on the part of microfinance organizations (MFOs), the main focus of these organizations underwent a drastic shift from following a social service objective to chasing profitability in operations. In Laughlin's (1991) terminology this was an internal change in the basic coherence of these organizations, which rendered other organizational elements incompatible with their primary objectives. MFOs could not cope with their dual responsibility of ensuring their operational and financial self-sufficiency as well as serving the poor while keeping their existing organizational structure intact. This case study provides empirical evidence as to the evasion of social responsibility by MFOs after responding to the paradigm shift in the sector.
Culture-Specific Forensic Accounting Conceptual Framework: A Skills Set Theoretical Analysis
Forensic accounting, given its peculiar investigative stance, requires a specific skillset on the part of the forensic accountant, that integrates accounting, auditing and investigative skills. The Jordanian Anti-Corruption Commission's (JACC) struggle to investigate Maward's, a Jordanian state-own company, suspected corruption has raised serious concerns regarding the weak state of forensic accounting in Jordan, and the need for its adaptation to suit the country's peculiar context, to successfully institutionalize at the wider societal level and benefit the state in its aim for ensuring efficient utilization of the scarce resources at its disposal. This study is an attempt to deduce a country-specific conceptual framework for forensic accounting, which can be replicated,with suitable adaptations, to other countries with similar cultural backgrounds, and put forth some theory-supported suggestions to help guide future research in the area.