Actors, agency and accounting: From colonialism to global neo-liberalism

This article presents an analysis of how the accounting profession evolves and develops in relation to analytical postures of colonialism and globalisation. Whilst these postures have been addressed in the literature as complementary, this article analyses them as two separate periods, whereby the influence of globalisation took over the influence of colonialism. The article investigates the agential possibility of local actors in instituting a change in the local accounting profession across the two periods. By empirically examining the case of the accounting profession in Lebanon, an Asian, Middle Eastern, and former French colony, this article aims to rethink the essence of the colonial legacy, provide an alternative understanding of the coloniser–colonised relationships and investigate how global neo-liberalism took the upper hand in influencing the local accounting profession. This marks a transition from a diminishing colonial influence towards a dominating global neo-liberal influence.