ABSTRACT
Historical institutional analysis reflecting the social, economic and political contexts in Brazil shows that new accounting practices have often been introduced because of prevailing government ideologies (especially of corporatism) and policies that have sought to modernise society and expand commercial activity. Due to the more complex requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards, from 2004 the Brazilian accounting profession has required a university degree as a pre-requisite for entry to the accounting profession. Two current challenges are: to improve the quality of higher education institutions offering accounting education; and to expand and improve the limited development of academic research in accounting.
