The Development of Accounting Regulations for Foreign Invested Firms in China: The Role of Chinese Characteristics

Abstract

Drawing on actor network theory (ANT), this paper analyses the role of Chinese characteristics in the emergence of three accounting regulations for foreign invested firms (FIFs) as part of China’s recent transformation to become part of the “world order”. The paper examines how international accounting standards (IAS) and existing Chinese accounting were translated into new regulations for FIFs, and how these translations were shaped by malleable interpretations of Chinese characteristics. Chinese characteristics were a discursive obligatory passage point (OPP) rendered malleable through cognition and the sanctions of political authority to suit the interests of actors seeking to produce new accounting regulations. Chinese characteristics were a signifier that carved out a space for local networks to attain their identity and retain some measure of independence from global networks, shaped the construction of each accounting regulation for FIFs into an attractive package, and influenced the adaptation and transformation of those elements of Western accounting that arrived into China. In turn, IAS became part of the discursive field on accounting regulation that helped mediate the shifts in the interpretation of Chinese characteristics over time.