AN EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTING IN THE SELECTED AFRICAN COUNTRIES: A LITERATURE REVIEW

The history of accounting is essential in both the academic and corporate environments as this would enable the society to know the origin of accounting and how it has been developed in the past and the continuation of its development. This is important as the successful running of a business organization depends on proper record keeping. The objective of this study is to give the historical background of the evolution and development of accounting in selected African countries. The study reviewed relevant literature on the evolution and development of accounting with emphasis on the selected African countries, namely Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa. The exploratory research design was employed in the study. The relevant journal publications and textbooks were reviewed and this enables the researcher to trace the evolution and development of accounting in the pre- and post- civilization and industrial revolution in selected countries in Africa. The review of literature indicated that the selected African countries have their own methods of recording business activities before civilization and the industrial revolution. The business activities of a nation normally determined the evolution and development of accounting system of the nation. As a result, the accounting in Africa countries was not fully developed in the ancient period due to the subsistence economic activities that were prevalent during this period. Though, the review of the literature indicated that there were evidences of records keeping of the business transactions in many African countries with the ancient Egypt in the forefront of better keeping of the business transactions. The study concluded that African countries had their own methods of accounting for the business transactions before the civilization and industrial revolution, but they were later influenced by their colonial masters.