The interplay between caste and the emergent accounting profession in India
- Authors: Sidhu, Jasvinder , West, Brian
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 2011 Afaanz Conference Melbourne 2nd-5th July, 2011 p. 1-23
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- Description: This paper examines the interplay between caste and the organised accounting profession in India following the formation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAl) in 1949. The distinctive Indian caste system divides Hindu society into a hierarchy of four "varnas". As well as being traditional markers of social status, these "varnas" have also been identified with particular occupational categories. Using the earliest available membership list of the ICAl (being 1953, just four years after formation), a comprehensive classification of the caste status of the Hindu members of the ICAI was undertaken. This revealed that, relative to the general population, the Brahman upper caste was significantly over-represented in the membership of the ICAl. In this way, the formation of the ICAl predominantly benefitted an already privileged social stratum and contributed to perpetuating traditional caste hierarchies within the context of the modern occupation of professional accounting.
- Description: 2003009025
The emergence of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India: An upper-caste profession
- Authors: Sidhu, Jasvinder , West, Brian
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 13th World Congress of Accounting Historians Conference
- Full Text: false
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- Description: E1
The emergent Institute of Chartered Accountants of India: An upper-caste profession
- Authors: Sidhu, Jasvinder , West, Brian
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Accounting History Vol. 19, no. 2 (2014), p.115-132
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- Description: The distinctive Indian caste system divides Hindu society into a hierarchy of four varnas, each of which also has a traditional association with particular categories of occupations. This exploratory study examines the interplay between varna and the emergent organised accounting profession in India. Using the earliest available membership list of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) – being 1953, just four years after the organisation’s formation – a comprehensive classification of the caste status of the Hindu membership was undertaken. Among other findings, this revealed a significant over-representation of the Brahman upper caste relative to this caste’s presence in the general population. This Brahman presence is posited as having endowed a status to the accounting occupation that aided the replication in India of the British model of professional organisation. However, it also meant that the formation of the ICAI would predominantly benefit an already privileged social stratum and contribute to perpetuating traditional caste hierarchies within the modern occupation of professional accounting.
Australia's divided accounting profession : the 1969 merger attempt and its legacy
- Authors: Sidhu, Jasvinder , Carnegie, Garry , West, Brian
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Accounting Review Vol. 53, no. 3 (2021), p.
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- Description: The Australian accounting environment is dominated by two competing brands – Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified Practising Accountant (CPA) – which signal that the profession has been unable to achieve full unification. Focussed on 1969, this dual theory-informed, in-depth study examines the first of four unsuccessful attempts to merge the two professional accounting associations from which the two brands originate: The Australian Society of Accountants (the Society) and The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (the Institute). Primary data from public archives and oral history interviews, combined with secondary sources, are drawn upon to explain the failure of this proposed merger and to consider its legacy. The complementary theoretical perspectives of “boundary-work” and “institutional work” are applied. Amidst other challenges, corporate collapses during the 1960s precipitated a legitimacy crisis for the profession and raised the prospect of there being sufficient commonality of purpose to enable a merger. While there was overwhelming support from Society members, the merger proposal was defeated by a comprehensive “no” vote from Institute members. This pattern of voting was repeated in three subsequent merger attempts, leading to the persistence of the curious binary structure of the Australian accounting profession and associated ongoing differences and tensions. © 2021 British Accounting Association