Labour force intensity. Employees and/or unions (i.e. its labour force) may
influence managers to avoid potential political costs. For example, strikes such as
those by Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL) and National Microfinance Bank (NMB)
employees in the year 2008 over demands for higher wages and salaries (with
the employees claiming that the companies were generating a lot of income yet their
earnings remained low) are kept to a minimum. The goal of maximising employee
wealth generally takes the form of wage demands associated with the companies’
economic rents. Given that economic rent is generally correlated with the companies’
profits (Elias, 1990; Liberty and Zimmerman, 1986), employees are likely to focus on
reported earnings. Wage increases can result in a substantially reduced shareholder
wealth. This provides managers with the incentive to limit the intensity of wage
demand (and thus the intensity of conflicts) by selecting accounting methods which
delay the reporting of income.