Transnational Diffusional Patterns of Professional Accounting Certification Schemes in Africa. Evidence from Ghana

Abstract

The idea of accountancy certification as opposed to certification in other transnational fields have been constructed around professional behaviour as compared to products, services and markets in the context of Information Technology, forestry products, business services. To be certified, on must undergo several years of examinations and training in order to obtain the “Certified Accountant” designation. This process of certification differ from country to country and this differentiation can be quite significant even among countries of close neighbours. Transnational diffusion studies have paid very little or no attention to the path ways through accountancy certification schemes have diffused from developed countries into developing countries. This paper examines the transnational pathways and channels of diffused accountancy certification programs from developed countries into least developed countries. It contrast two continental set of developing countries as recipients of diffused certification schemes and show the distinctive patterns of diffusion in both cases. It then draws on a case study of Ghana in West Africa and demonstrate how accountancy certification schemes emerged and developed over time. The paper finds that, whereas the often taken for granted colonial legacies between colonisers and the colonised has been used as a proxy for diffusion of institutions to occur, this is not often the case when looking at professional accountancy certification schemes. In some less developed countries, colonial legacies a dominated by market forces and yet in others, it may be seen as significant precondition for the diffusion of accountancy certification schemes to occur.