Reluctant ally: The development of statutory regulation of the accountancy profession in South Africa, 1904–1951

Abstract

Accountants in South Africa established professional organizations to protect and promote the profession in the rapidly growing business environment after the discovery of diamonds and gold in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This article investigates the development of the statutory regulatory environment of the accounting profession, which gradually emerged alongside the profession’s own structures. The growth of the South African economy created a rising demand for professional accountants, and large numbers of accountants from Britain emigrated to South Africa (or to the former colonies under British control, which later formed the Union of South Africa in 1910). Professional regulation remained a professional concern until the 1951 Act which established the Public Accountants and Auditors Board. The article extends the existing literature on the state–profession nexus by explaining the circumstances leading to proactive intervention of the state and the intersection of the state’s public interest responsibility and the closure attempts of the profession.