There is some scanty, albeit growing, literature that explores the role of accounting in political governance processes
within the African continent. The majority of the studies in this segment of the critical accounting literature largely focus
on the role of accounting in the perpetuation of racial discriminatory practices in apartheid South Africa. For example,
Catchpowle and Cooper (1999) studied the “ideological, linguistic and material changes in South Africa” in the immediate
post-apartheid years and the extent to which technologies of accounting informed policy choices and implementation
processes. In particular, Catchpowle and Cooper (1999) focus on the role of the South African accounting profession in
privatization policy debates and the ensuing “productive struggle” between various classes. The South African context
has a huge potential for accounting history studies and research in this area should most certainly be encouraged. Other
African countries, however, also present unique political histories, such as the dictatorships and long-serving governments
in Uganda, Togo, and the former Zaire, that would be interesting for accounting history research. How did accounting and
other financial technologies facilitate these regimes and to what extent did these same technologies contribute to the demise
of these dictatorships?