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

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.