PUBLIC ACCOUNTING IN CHINA: DECADES OF UNCERTAINTY

Abstract

Although accounting in China can be traced back three thousand years, the country’s public accounting profession is less than one hundred years old. As this paper visits various periods of the profession’s development, it is clear that the continued existence of public accounting in China was, at times, uncertain. During the twentieth century, the profession faced several significant challenges and setbacks. Each time, however, the Chinese public accounting profession was able to fend off its permanent extinction. Resurgence of the profession after the many trials and tribulations of the mid-twentieth century demonstrates the necessity of public accounting in China’s developing economy. Chinese public accounting continues to evolve to meet the country’s ever-changing needs.