Accounting History 18(3) 293–315 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1032373213491473 ach.sagepub.com Accounting History Accounting in Cyprus during the last four decades of British Rule: Post-World War I to independence (1918–1960) Peter Clarke University College Dublin, Ireland Andrekos Varnava Flinders University, Australia Abstract Compared to other countries, little has been written about the accounting history of Cyprus. This omission is surprising given the rich history of the island, today a Commonwealth and European Union member, with its own local accountancy body. This article aims to partly fill this vacuum. Despite Cyprus’s links to both Greece and Turkey, it was the experience of British rule that significantly influenced the development of accounting practice in Cyprus. Consequently, this article concentrates on the four decades immediately after the First World War until Cypriot independence in 1960, since this is the era in which the most notable developments in accounting practice occurred. This article traces these developments and their significant influences during that period. Like other country studies on the history of accounting, this article argues that the development of accounting evolved over time in response to the contingent political, economic, institutional and social factors, both at domestic and at international level. Keywords Accounting history, British rule, Cyprus, economic development Introduction Compared to other developed and English-speaking countries little has been written about account- ing history in Cyprus. This lack of attention is curious given the rich history of the island, in which the first signs of civilisation and commercial activity date back to the ninth millennium BC. At the time of writing, only two articles of relevance have been published (in English) relating specifi- cally to accounting history in Cyprus. Recently, Clarke (2011) provided an overview of some of the main accounting changes but his article covered a lengthy period rather than focusing on a specific Corresponding author: Peter Clarke, Department of Accountancy, Quinn School of Business, University College, Dublin, Belfield Campus, Dublin 4, Ireland. Email: peter.clarke@ucd.ie 491473ACH 18 3 10.1177/1032373213491473Accounting HistoryClarke and Varnava 2013 Article