Colonialism and accounting education in developing countries: The experiences of Singapore and Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the nature of accounting education in Singapore and Sri Lanka. Both these countries were British colonies for nearly one hundred and fifty years and inherited their accounting education systems from the British. After fifty years of independence, Sri Lanka is still following the colonial system to produce its accountants. Singapore, however, moved away from the colonial system within four years of independence. This paper indicates that if a developing country continues to depend heavily on foreign education programs and accounting bodies to produce accountants locally, the consequences can be less than desireable.