Contractual Limitations on the Auditor's Liability: An Uneasy Combination of Law and Accounting

Operative as from 6 April 2008, sections 532–538 of the Companies Act 2006 create a new liability limitation regime in contractual relationships between audit firms and companies in relation to the statutory audit function which overturns an almost eighty years old fundamental principle of company law. This new regime is the product of continuing pressure by the audit profession for liability reform and concern by Government regarding the market structure for audit services. This commentary critically evaluates the regime from law and accounting perspectives. It concludes by reflecting on its longer term implications for audit quality, perceptions of the audit profession and the evolution of a future research agenda.     

Drug trafficking, corruption, and violence in Mexico: mapping the linkages

Drug trafficking, drug-related violence and drug-related corruption have come to dominate Mexican politics in the late 2000s. Most consider corruption central to both the illicit trade and to the government’s war on it. But such relationships have yet to be fully examined and raise a number of questions. This paper explores the links among these variables. The opening section grapples with the theoretical puzzle. It lays out the different types of drug-related corruption and violence and explores in detail the three binary relationships with particular attention to plomo o plata and the possible inverse connection between corruption and violence. Noting that corruption was once associated with relatively peaceful drug trafficking under the PRI but today is tied to violence, the second section addresses the historical puzzle and asks how the complex relationship among these variables has changed in recent years. The final section explores the various dynamic linkages between drug-trafficking violence and corruption. The theoretical discussion is supplemented by examples from Mexico during the current period.     

Ethnic minority development in Vietnam

This study examines the disparities in living standards between and among the different ethnic groups in Vietnam. Using data from the Vietnam Living Standards Surveys and 1999 Census, we show that ‘majority’ Kinh and Hoa households have substantially higher living standards than ‘minority’ households from Vietnam's 52 other ethnic groups. While the Kinh, Hoa, Khmer and Northern Highland Minorities benefited from economic growth in the 1990s, the position of the Central Highland Minorities stagnated. Decompositions show that even if minority households had the same endowments as Kinh households, this would close no more than a third of the gap in their per capita expenditures. While some ethnic minorities seem to be doing well out of a strategy of assimilating with the Kinh-Hoa majority, others groups are attempting to integrate economically while retaining distinct cultural identities, and a third group is largely being left behind by the growth process.     

Crisis,containment and development: the role of the landmine impact survey

This article sets out to explain the Landmine Impact Survey, implemented by the Survey Action Center (sac), which is led by a consortium of mine action organisations. The primary rationale of the survey lies in the need to root mine action priority decisions in a firm understanding of the impact that landmines have upon communities. Data from four countries in which impact surveys have been completed indicate that only a small share of communities—perhaps as few as 10%—can be categorised as high impact, another 25% as medium impact, and the remaining 65% as low impact. This has implications for the prioritisation of scarce mine action resources, but it also makes broad elimination of the impact of landmines within the dates specified by the Landmines Convention appear more realistic, even though total clearance may appear unrealistic. The article places the impact survey initiative in the context of the evolution of a humanitarian response to landmines, from an emerging realisation of the threat in the 1970s and 1980s to the present-day landmine response capacity working with other reconstruction and development initiatives. The success of the sector ultimately hinges on the availability of solid and systematic data on impact.