Abstract
Purpose - This paper examines how the actions of the accounting profession, the state,
universities and accounting academics have inhibited the development of South African
accounting research.
Design/methodology/approach - A multiple history approach of traditional archival material
and oral history is used.
Findings - Since the late nineteenth century, a network of human and non-human (including
regulation and transformation) ‘actants’ ensured that accounting education retained a technical
focus. By prescribing and detailing the accounting syllabi required for accreditation, the South
African Institute of Chartered Accountants and its predecessors exercise direct control over
accounting education. While the professional body claims to support accounting research, this
is conditional on it meeting the professional body’s particular view of scholarship.
Research limitations/implications – The limitations associated with this research is that it
focuses on one particular professional body in one jurisdiction. However, the South African
situation provides a cautionary tale of how universities, particularly those in developing
countries, should take care not to abdicate their responsibilities for setting of syllabi or course
content to professional bodies. Accounting academics, particularly those in a developing
country that is experiencing major social, political and economic problems, are in a prime
position to engage in research that will benefit society as a whole.
Originality – Although Actor Network Theory has been widely used in accounting research
and in particular to explain accounting knowledge creation the use of this particular theoretical
lens to examine the construction of professional knowledge is limited. This study draws on
Callon’s (1986) four moments to explain how various human actors including: the accounting
profession; the state; universities; accounting academics, and non-human actors including:
accreditation; regulation; and transformation, have brought about South African academic
disengagement with the discipline.