Professionalisation, Power and Empire: Accountancy in British India, 1913–1932

IF 8.3 2区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE Critical Perspectives on Accounting Pub Date : 2025-01-23 DOI:10.1016/j.cpa.2024.102783

Shraddha Verma , Suki Sian

{"title":"Professionalisation, Power and Empire: Accountancy in British India, 1913–1932","authors":"Shraddha Verma , Suki Sian","doi":"10.1016/j.cpa.2024.102783","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In most non-white British colonies, the professionalisation process did not begin until political independence had been achieved and a path established to accomplish the indigenisation of national institutions. However, the case of India stands out as the only such colony in which Indian accountants were already in practice and the professionalisation process was already in train well before independence was achieved in 1947. This study examines key developments in the professionalisation of accountancy in British India from 1913 to 1932. Through the examination of archival data, the study explores the complexity of engagement between actors in the accounting field in this period in relation to the promulgation of audit legislation. Drawing on Bourdieu’s work, the study focusses on what was at stake for each group in the accounting field and draws attention to the power differentials that contributed to the acquiescence of Indian practitioners as they navigated the new regulations for auditors imposed by the British Government of India.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48078,"journal":{"name":"Critical Perspectives on Accounting","volume":"101 ","pages":"Article 102783"},"PeriodicalIF":8.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Critical Perspectives on Accounting","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235424000820","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

In most non-white British colonies, the professionalisation process did not begin until political independence had been achieved and a path established to accomplish the indigenisation of national institutions. However, the case of India stands out as the only such colony in which Indian accountants were already in practice and the professionalisation process was already in train well before independence was achieved in 1947. This study examines key developments in the professionalisation of accountancy in British India from 1913 to 1932. Through the examination of archival data, the study explores the complexity of engagement between actors in the accounting field in this period in relation to the promulgation of audit legislation. Drawing on Bourdieu’s work, the study focusses on what was at stake for each group in the accounting field and draws attention to the power differentials that contributed to the acquiescence of Indian practitioners as they navigated the new regulations for auditors imposed by the British Government of India.

查看原文

微信好友朋友圈 QQ好友复制链接

本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文去求助

来源期刊

Critical Perspectives on Accounting BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

9.40

自引率

7.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Critical Perspectives on Accounting aims to provide a forum for the growing number of accounting researchers and practitioners who realize that conventional theory and practice is ill-suited to the challenges of the modern environment, and that accounting practices and corporate behavior are inextricably connected with many allocative, distributive, social, and ecological problems of our era. From such concerns, a new literature is emerging that seeks to reformulate corporate, social, and political activity, and the theoretical and practical means by which we apprehend and affect that activity. Research Areas Include: • Studies involving the political economy of accounting, critical accounting, radical accounting, and accounting''s implication in the exercise of power • Financial accounting''s role in the processes of international capital formation, including its impact on stock market stability and international banking activities • Management accounting''s role in organizing the labor process • The relationship between accounting and the state in various social formations • Studies of accounting''s historical role, as a means of "remembering" the subject''s social and conflictual character • The role of accounting in establishing "real" democracy at work and other domains of life • Accounting''s adjudicative function in international exchanges, such as that of the Third World debt • Antagonisms between the social and private character of accounting, such as conflicts of interest in the audit process • The identification of new constituencies for radical and critical accounting information • Accounting''s involvement in gender and class conflicts in the workplace • The interplay between accounting, social conflict, industrialization, bureaucracy, and technocracy • Reappraisals of the role of accounting as a science and technology • Critical reviews of "useful" scientific knowledge about organizations