A Virtual Profession in the American Empire

The Philippines instituted an accounting law in 1923.
I see this as the first step in the Philippine
professionalisation project. The case of the
Philippines enables us to reconsider our theoretical
understanding of the professionalisation of
accounting. Specifically, this book investigates the emergence of a virtual accounting profession. It is
virtual because (a) the Filipino project did not
emerge from any pathway heretofore identified in the
literature and, (b) because when the 1923 accounting
law was passed there was no institutionalised or
strongly recognised accounting profession in place at
all. Secondly, this book adds to our understanding of
professionalisation projects in the context of
colonial relations, as these are played out in
non-settler colonies. In investigating the Philippine
professionalisation project, we are able to challenge
an existing representation of a non-settler colony as
a weak periphery dominated by an imperial state and
professionalisation projects as mere , and by
implication, inferior reproductions of the imperial
country s model.