Corruption in the Public Sector: Insights from Nepal

Drawing on Bourdieu's triad, this paper examines the incidence of corruption in the Nepalese public sector from an accounting perspective. Corruption is historically rooted in Nepal. However, there has been a democratisation of corruption in the country in recent years making it a structured habitus. Two subfields within Nepalese government accounting have been identified for the purpose of the study on the basis of the scale of corruption taking place in the country. While government accountants have held a dominant position in the micro-field in the articulation of petty corruption, they are the dominated actors in the macro-field, helping politicians and their corrupt networks to articulate grand corruption in areas such as procurements, purchasing, contracts, and construction. In addition, a form of symbolic violence is envisaged in that the country is being deceived in the name of foreign aid and support. This paper emphasises the importance of considering the field-specific realities of emerging economies and the structured habitus for the success of anti-corruption activities and strategies.