Evolution of Accounting System in Rwanda

Abstract

Accounting history, as a field of research, has gone through major transmutations. One of the breakthroughs was to situate accounting research in the context in which it operates and therefore broaden its scope. We capitalize on this widened scope of accounting to review the development of accounting history in Rwanda, which has experienced a turbulent context towards its current status. To achieve the objective of the study, qualitative research which uses both content and thematic analysis was used. Primary data was collected through the use of interviews while the secondary data was collected using a documentary review. The study population included 15 interviewees from the different sectors that steer the accounting profession and practice in the country. Content and thematic analyses were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the accounting history in Rwanda was marked respectively by its colonial legacy, the attempts by fresh independent African States to have their accounting standards, the disintegration of the maiden accounting system initiatives for African independent states, by political context; along-standing conflict as an illustration, by social context like the meet of Rwandans from different countries with different accounting traditions, by the economic context like meeting donor’s requirements and most importantly International Accounting Standards being foregrounded by the Government of Rwanda (GoR) as s strategy to spur its economic development. The accounting development in Rwanda has also proven how bi-directional the relationship between accounting and the environment in which it operates is. Though the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) intervened amid conjoined pressures from accounting practitioners at loggerheads and institutional pressures coming from regional and international organizations, it served at the same time as a conflict preventer and resolver, as a mechanism for the equity promotion among citizens and as a strategy towards the achievement of economic development.