ABSTRACT
This chapter traces how development policies since the 1950s when decolonisation gained momentum have evolved. It analyses when and how accounting is integral to successive development policies, their repercussions, the actors and constituencies with influence and the problems and potential of current policies for development and accounting. The chapter focusses primarily on lower income countries. Government accounting, particularly new public management (NPM), was a major focus. Emergent approaches to development provide a sharp reminder to accounting researchers and practitioners generally that their remit should extend to constituencies beyond businesses and the state to civil society. Undemocratic tendencies and poor government were seen as liabilities given a more globalised economy wrought by reduced transportation and communication costs; and the erosion of artificial barriers to flows of goods, services, capital, knowledge and, to some extent, people. Micro-finance refers to a range of different financial services provided in small or micro amounts to people who form the lower-income bracket of society.
