Profiting from destruction: The Iraq reconstruction, auditing and the management of fraud

Michele Chwastiak

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, 2013, vol. 24, issue 1, 32-43

Abstract: While several US corporations have benefited tremendously from the Iraq reconstruction, the Iraqis and US taxpayers have not done as well. This paper argues that the Bush Administration's neoliberal agenda in Iraq created a corrupt, lawless environment in which corporations could reap huge profits through what would normally be called malfeasance. It further demonstrates how the audit reports produced by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction helped to manage the impact of this massive fraud by giving the perception that the laissez-faire policies of the Bush administration were innocent mistakes, making the failures appear to be independent of one another, reconstructing corporate malfeasance as waste while criminalizing low level employees, and blaming the government agencies, the war and the Iraqis for the fraud.

Keywords: Accountability; Critical; Public Interest; Fraud; Corruption; Auditing; Neoliberalism; Iraq; Redevabilité; Responsabilité; Critique; Intérêt public; Corruption; Fraude; 问责; 批判性; 公共利益; 腐败; 欺诈; Rendición de cuentas; Crítica; Interés Público; Corrupción; Fraude (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:24:y:2013:i:1:p:32-43

DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2011.11.009

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