Initiative for ASEAN integration: policy brief 4: graduation of all ASEAN member states from less developed country status

ASEAN recognises that concerted efforts are required to narrow development gaps between ASEAN countries to ensure that development and the benefits of economic integration are equitably shared by all member states and their citizens. Narrowing development gaps between member states is a cornerstone of the equitable economic development agenda within ASEAN and forms an important part of the ASEAN Roadmap. This agenda translates primarily to a concern for the relatively low development achievements in the CLMV countries compared to those in the ASEAN-6 group. 

Intellectual property law in Southeast Asia : Recent legislative and institutional developments

Over the last few decades, countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) all had to revise their intellectual property systems. These revisions resulted at first from bilateral pressure of major trading partners such as the US and EU, then from the WTO-TRIPS Agreement and more recently from bilateral Free Trade Agreements. To observe the IP developments in ASEAN over this period is interesting, because this group of countries covers developed (Singapore), developing as well as least developed countries. All countries had to reform their outdated laws from the colonial era in very short time. However, in comparison to the early 1980s, important differences with regards to intellectual property policies have emerged in recent years.

This article will briefly sketch the developments in individual ASEAN countries and after that examine some broader trends in law making, IP administration, enforcement and the court system. It concludes that the ASEAN enlargement process has created a very diverse picture with regards to IP. With the fast pace of the legislative development, countries have been struggling to keep up with the creation of the institutional and administrative framework. Progress in the ASEAN harmonisation process has been limited. Statistics indicate that some of the new laws have been reasonably well received at the domestic level, while the patent sector remains foreign dominated.

Public relations practice in ASEAN nations: local, regional, global visions

 This thesis examines the views, concerns and outlooks of public relations practitioners in six countries of South East Asia, seeking to understand the extent to which their views about their work and their world correspond with those of practitioners in the developed countries of the west. It reveals a range of distinctive issues and concerns requiring greater recognition in international public relations literature.

Security practice: survey evidence from three countries

Computer security is becoming a global problem. Recent surveys show that there increased concern about security risks such as hackers. There is also an increase in the growth of Internet access around the world. This growth of the Internet has resulted in the development of new businesses such as e-commerce and with the new businesses come new associated security risks such as on-line fraud and hacking. Is it fair to assume the security practices are the same all over the world? The paper tries to look at security practices from a number of different countries perspective and tries to show that security practices are not generic and vary from country to country.

Corporate financial disclosure practices in Asian and Middle Eastern countries

This paper investigates the financial disclosure practices of corporate annual reports published in Asian countries including Bangladesh, Indonesian, Malaysia and the Middle East countries including Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The purpose of the study is to measure the financial disclosure diversity in these countries, with a view to developing a classification of their similarities and differences in respect to their compliance with International Accounting Standards (IAS). Annual reports of 126 public companies liisted on the countries' stock exchanges are the central data source, supplemented with other relevant information about financial disclosure practices in each country. A disclosure checklist adopted from all IASs and summarised in 306 individual items of financial disclosures is used as a means of extending an understanding of financial reporting in these countries. Results show the relative degree of conformity with IASs for each of the countries included in this study. 

Accounting professionalism : a cultural perspective of developing countries

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of culture on accounting professionalism in 12 developing countries by applying Gray's 1988 model and Hofstede 1980 cultural study.
Design/methodology/approach – Connecting seven variables introduced within a testable model lead the finding to classify the twelve countries within a range from statutory control to professionalism. The data set was collected from 1996 to 2000 through different sources. Twelve developing countries have been chosen from the Middle East and South East Asia in this study and cluster analysis is used for analysing and classifying the countries.
Findings – The results show while the Gray's hypothesis of statutory control is positively confirmed for Iran, and moderately for Bangladesh, Jordan, Oman, and Qatar, it is negatively rejected for Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Research limitations/implications – One limitation of this study is the improvised nature of the data set caused by the difficulty in collecting an extensive data set from developing countries.
Practical implications – The findings of the study provides a useful source of information about accounting authority in those developing countries in which improve the knowledge and literature about the accounting practice internationally.
Originality/value – The findings of the study are useful in harmonization process of the international accounting practices. Knowledge about important aspects of accounting setting of the countries is essential to realize the impediments of harmonization.

Easy, cheap and true : the case for promoting the Curwen method of teaching choral singing in developing countries

The Curwen method (Tonic Sol-fa) was developed by the Rev. John Cunven in England from the 1840s originally as a means of teaching music reading from staff notation. However, in the 1872 Standard Course, staff notation was dispensed with altogether in favour of Tonic Sol-fa "letter" notation. By the end of the century, Tonic Sol-fa had spread from Britain to many overseas countries. Although aspects were later incorporated into staff-based teaching
systems such as the Kodaly approach and the "New Curwen Method", Tonic Sol-fa in its late nineteenth century ' form has been "extinct" in Britain for several decades. Nevertheless, it is "alive and well", indeed flourishing, in certain African, Asian and Pacific countries. This paper analyses the Tonic Sol-fa system in terms of contemporary pedagogical practice and notational theory. The paper also reports on the use of Tonic Sol-fa in two countries - South Africa and Fiji - where it is now the mainstay of community choral music. It is argued that, particularly for developing countries, the Curwen method and its letter notation should be seriously considered as an alternative to staff notation methods as a highly effective means of promoting school and community choral singing.

A conformity test of corporate financial disclosures in Asian and Middle East countries

This paper investigates the financial disclosure practices of corporate annual reports published in Asian countries including Bangladesh, Indonesian, Malaysia and the Middle East countries including Bahrain, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The purpose of the study is to measure the financial disclosure diversity in these countries, with a view to developing a classification of their similarities and differences in respect to their compliance with International Accounting Standards (IASs). Annual reports of 132 public companies listed on the relevant countries stock exchanges are the central data source, supplemented with other reliable information about financial disclosure practices in each country. A disclosure checklist adopted from all IASs and summarised in 306 individual items of financial disclosures is used as a means of extending an understanding of financial reporting literature. Additionally, it provides an indication of voluntary progress towards harmonisation of international accounting practices in several Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Results show the degree of conformity with IASs from less to high conformity is: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bangladesh, Iran, Bahrain, Jordan, Pakistan, Oman, Turkey, Malaysia, Kuwait and Indonesia.

Corporate governance developments in commonwealth countries

Corporate failures, fraud and rising salaries have directed attention towards the corporate governance mechanisms of companies. A review of governance developments in selected Commonwealth countries is undertaken in order to inform the governance debate and provide an opportunity to discuss governance relating to some countries which may not receive much attention in the debate. The countries covered in this review are the United Kingdom, South Africa, India and Australia. Brief coverage of the respective countries' progressions in the corporate governance debate is provided.

The TRIPS agreement and developing countries: a discussion of the paragraph 6 of the Doha declaration on public health

The Paragraph 6 solution arrived on 30th August 2003 to facilitate export of drugs to the countries which were not able to manufacture said drugs shows the total marginalization of developing countries in international treaty negotiations. A simple proposal by developing counties to use Article 30 of the TRIPS Agreement for such manufacture and export to non-manufacturing countries in order to avoid expensive litigations with the pharmaceutical multinationals took an ugly turn where not only the said proposal was totally rejected but export was added as one of the patenting rights in the TRIPS Agreement with payment of remuneration to patent holders. This introduction of export as one of the patenting rights was surrounded by a thicket of rules on the plea that such products would be diverted to ensure that the needing countries never acquire the requisite drugs. This article analyses the events leading to the establishment of the TRIPS Agreement, the elimination of developing countries from such negotiations through the use of suitably placed officials in the negotiating forums, the role of CEOs of the multinationals and the business NGOs such as International Intellectual Property Alliance and IPC (Intellectual Property Committee), epistemic community consisting of individuals such as Jacques Gorlin and Eric Smith and the subsequent development leading to the finalization of Para 6 Solution, which was an exact replication of events during the TRIPS negotiations. The analysis suggests that developing countries do not have any say in international negotiations and their agreements to such negotiations are essentially to legitimize their colonized existence.