Institutionalisation of control and accounting for bonded labour in colonial plantations: A historical analysis

Chandana Alawattage and Danture Wickramasinghe

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, 2009, vol. 20, issue 6, 701-715

Abstract: This paper offers a historical analysis of control and accounting for bonded labour relations in the 19th century colonial plantations in British Ceylon. The case illustrates the institutional evolution of colonial accountability and control systems, and the forms of accounting embedded therein. The notion of historical institutionalism is used to illuminate (1) how control systems were constructed in a path-dependent manner, (2) what particular accounting practices were institutionalised and (3) what roles they played in such circumstances. As the case reports, accounting practices in this context tended to be idiosyncratic due to historically specific and path-dependent material circumstances.

Keywords: Accounting; Control; Accountability; Bonded labour relations; Post-colonialism; Historical institutionalism; Historical materialism; Institutional paternalism; Labour control; Sri Lankan tea plantations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:20:y:2009:i:6:p:701-715

DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2009.02.001

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