NCJ Number
209959
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2005 Pages: 316-339
Date Published
May 2005
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This paper explores the workings of financial governance or “forensic accounting and corporate investigation (FACI) industry” in capitalist economies.
Abstract
To date, little research attention has been given to private or non-state forms of regulation and security within a financial context which are modes of governance that are both decentered and distinguished from the physicality of more conventional security concern. With that in mind, this paper examines the role of private agencies in the governance of neo-liberal market economies, specifically the growth and evolution of the “forensic accounting and corporate investigation (FACI) industry” as a provider of investigative and adjudicative services in cases of economic crime. In addition, it explores the impact of this growth for the policing division of labor in the financial field. By analyzing the divergence of public and private modes of governance, two key assumptions are drawn into questions: (1) despite the persistence of functional, legal, spatial, and sectoral variations, public and private forms of policing are geared toward a common set of governing logics, interests, and objectives and (2) power is a function of visibility. This research challenges the common theme that contemporary forms of governance are marked by the convergence of public and private within multi-nodal networks of risk and security. References