Toward a framework for evaluating the role of accounting and auditing in political markets: The influence of political competition

Abstract

This essay addresses the incentives of elected officials to disclose their actions in the political marketplace. The analysis differs from prior studies of municipal accounting practices in that it presumes that incentives to use these practices derive from relationships between incumbents and their prospective competitors, rather than relationships between incumbents and their constituents. This perspective leads to an alternative interpretation for empirical results reported elsewhere that indicate significant relations between the use of standard accounting and auditing practices and measures of political competition.