An account of accounting regulation within Africa's global dependencies: A polycentric interpretation of accounting interfaces in Western Francophone Africa

This article analyses Côte d’Ivoire's evolving accounting architecture. Drawing on archival documents, oral histories, and interviews with regulatory and professional actors, it examines how successive interactions between local institutions and external forces shaped accounting standards. The lenses of accounting infrastructure and polycentricity are used to explore how local, regional, and international actors negotiated authority over standard-setting processes. The findings highlight both the endurance of externally shaped frameworks and the development of locally adapted alternatives responsive to economic, legal, and institutional realities. This layered structure – visible in Côte d’Ivoire's selective adoption, modification, and resistance – reflects a pragmatic calibration rather than outright compliance or rejection. The study advances African accounting historiography by offering a rare Francophone case study and demonstrating how standard setting is embedded within complex governance arenas. It invites future comparative research on how diverse African states respond to regional integration and global harmonisation pressures in constructing their accounting regimes.