Political, economic, social and imperial influences on the establishment of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants in India post independence

•Establishment of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India in 1959.•Social and political influences on development of management and cost accounting profession in India.•Influence of imperialism on process of professionalisation in post independence India.

Recently, there has been considerable interest in the professionalisation of accounting. However, within this literature, most of the focus has been on the chartered accounting profession and the development of the cost and management accounting profession has been paid less attention. This paper traces the establishment of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India in the period 1954 to 1959, focusing on the political, economic, social and imperial influences on the development of cost accounting at this time, the role of the Government in promoting cost accounting in India and the interactions of the more established Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in the process used to establish the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. The paper also compares the trajectory of professionalisation with that seen in other colonies.