Globalization and the Accounting Profession in Emergent Economies: Restructuring the Profession and the increasing Role of the "Big Four" international Audit Firms: the Case of Egypt and Lebanon

During the last twenty years, in the Arab countries as elsewhere in the world - though probably even more in emergent economies - the accounting profession has undergone significant changes. Liberalization policies, privatization of state corporate companies, increasing foreign investment and stock market activity, new tax regulations have stimulated the demand for accountancy, audit, and financial services. Laws on accounting standards systems are progressively replaced by the adoption of international accountancy and audit standards. The activities of international audit firms have developed with the expansion of transnational corporation, the multiplication of joint ventures, and franchised companies. The consequences of these changes have taken different forms in different contexts. In Egypt, where the economy had been for several decades under the control of the state, they result in ferocious battles between an elite internationalized segment of the profession and the rank and file of accountants, whereas in Lebanon they are more subtle, as the competition inside the profession are determined by a mix of complex professional, social and political factors. The paper will present and discuss the place and role of the big audit firms on the market of accountancy services in Egypt and Lebanon, and in the recent developments of the professional field of accountancy. Through these two specific cases, we hope to contribute to the understanding of how professional work is embedded in global political economy issues.Durant les 20 dernières années, dans le monde arabe comme ailleurs, la profession comptable a connu d'importants changements. Les politiques de libéralisation ont stimulé la demande de services comptables et financiers. Les normes internationales ont remplacé les systèmes comptables nationaux. Les activités des grands cabinets d'audit internationaux se sont développés avec l'expansion des firmes transnationales. les conséquences de ces changements ont été diverses selon les pays. Le papier présente et discute le rôle et la place des cabinets d'audit internationaux sur le marché des services comptables en Egypte et au Liban et les récents développements dans le champ professionnel de la comptabilit