‘The Future belongs to Leaders.’ A history of Henry Benson's contribution to the development of professional accounting services in Africa

Introduction: Towards a profession

Professions develop in response to opportunities in society, emerging demand for specialist services, the specialisation of capabilities and cohort association (Abbott, 1988; Macdonald, 1995). Individuals practising as accountants in late nineteenth-century England were aware of social scepticism about their skills; they were aware of a lack of organisation and professional cohesion. One leading member of the profession noted in the years before the establishment of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) that persons working as accountants were unorganised, depriving them of co-operation with fellow practitioners; they had no examinations or credentials to confirm standards and expert knowledge or resources such as a library or newspapers to affirm their expertise (Benson, 1958). Recognition of a profession and its distinct expert knowledge base depended on professionalisation and organisation. This understanding of the role of accounting organisations is still upheld by the International Federation of Accountants, IFAC: ‘The main function of all professional organizations is to further knowledge, skills and abilities of aspiring professionals to ensure up-to-date knowledge among those currently in practice’ (IFAC, 2013: 8). In mid-nineteenth century England, the business of limited liability joint-stock companies and bankruptcies opened market opportunities for accountants (Cooper Brothers & Co, 1954). Those conditions also resulted in competition between contesting professionals in financial services (Howitt, 1984; ICAEW, 1966).

The gradual development of an organised formal accountants’ profession in Britain had an impact only much later in Africa. Formal colonisation after the Conference of Berlin in 1884/85 was at first uncoordinated, followed by the establishment of official colonies (Chamberlain, 2014; Hopkins, 1993; Packenham, 2015; Wickins, 1981). Knowledge from the metropole gradually penetrated the colonised society as officials and settlers established a presence in administration and business. It was during formal twentieth-century colonisation that business enterprises from the metropole (British, German, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and Belgian) took on a more permanent presence in Africa. This early twentieth-century business expansion introduced their accounting practices, which were unfamiliar to the local societies. Under colonial control from the 1890s to decolonisation since the 1950s, British record-keeping and private businesses’ accounting practices applied to British enterprises operating in areas under British control. It was during this period that young Africans were employed as administrative and accounting assistants in European enterprises. That was the context in which the African population was introduced to accounting practices from the metropole. These encounters resulted in the transfer of metropolitan-based accounting and management knowledge and business practices to the new African staff. With decolonisation since the 1950s, the dynamics of the balance of power between former colonisers and the newly independent former ‘colonised’ changed. During the last half of the twentieth century, social interaction and knowledge flows between the metropolitan business context and Africa moulded the exchange of knowledge, skills, attitudes, business practices and professional accounting infrastructure. The dominant metropolitan accounting technology prevailed in this professional relationship, but local African social dynamics gradually shaped the organisation of the local accounting profession as African accountants sought to shape the accounting profession and infrastructure in the newly independent states. It is important to acknowledge the bidirectional flow of knowledge between colonised societies and colonising European societies. This ‘knowledge’ was not only technical accounting knowledge but also knowledge about social organisation, hierarchy, social dynamics and ambition. Bidirectionality also does not imply equal proportions of knowledge flows but dynamically varying flows at different temporal intersections. A growing body of literature points towards knowledge flowing in different spheres in both directions: from European societies to the colonised society and from the local indigenous society to European societies (Chilisa, 2017; Lengwiler et al., 2017). One potential area of knowledge exchange is the field of accountancy. The research question here is: How has an accounting leader used a network to enable accounting knowledge to flow into Africa? What was the outcome of such a network agency? The primary objective of this article is to explore the role of an accountant applying his personal agency to develop professional accounting and audit knowledge in Africa through establishing networks to facilitate such knowledge flows. In this research, the agency of Henry Alexander Benson, a partner in the London-based accounting and audit firm Cooper Brothers & Co., is the case in point. No literature exists on Benson's agency nor on the agency of any other individual accountant from outside Africa seeking to promote and support the development of professional accounting and auditing in Africa during the twentieth century.

This article offers a case of how a London-based accounting and audit firm, Cooper Brothers & Co., through the personal agency and ambition of one of its partners, Henry Benson, may be understood in the discourse of bidirectional flow of knowledge through his endeavour to build professional accounting and audit capacity in Africa, utilising network theory. The historical period relevant here is the second half of the twentieth century, the era of decolonisation in Africa. This article focuses solely on the role of one individual in facilitating knowledge flows, professional development and organisation in Africa, having had the benefit of professional organisation and an established accounting and audit firm in England. This article investigates the shaping of future leadership in the institutionalised accounting profession through the forward-looking action and leadership of one individual seeking to nurture new local leadership in Africa, who, irrespective of any categorisation (creed, ethnicity, language, class, race or culture), was able to take on opportunities incumbent on them to grow an emerging accounting profession in Africa. This is relevant for the post-decolonisation era in Africa. Those accepting a learning opportunity were empowered to step into leadership roles and build a future suited to their newly emerging professional societies. This article shows that the endeavours of one individual served to deliver professional development opportunities to all young Africans seeking to develop a career as professional accountants. Such endeavours ultimately assisted, on a very personal level, the development of accounting societies able to create and mould the profession in different countries to serve the needs of the respective states’ contexts. This bidirectionality shaped the understanding of different contexts, social values and organisational and distinct local identities, assimilating new professional knowledge. Bidirectionality is not necessarily balanced or in equal measure in both directions but constitutes a lengthy, nuanced process of two distinct cultures acquainting themselves with each other and learning from each other to pave the way for the emergence of new professional landscapes, in this case, the accounting and audit profession in Africa. This article is a case study on the agency of an individual about whom no scholarly work has been undertaken.

This article uses a case study of an individual accountant engaging with the development of accountancy and accountants in Africa, using the theory of networks, to investigate the dynamics of the bidirectional flow of knowledge that occurred around the case of Henry Benson. The publications on Benson after his passing afforded more attention to his accounting leadership in Britain, in the ICAEW, in developing international standards and to his public work in Britain ¹ (American Accounting Association, 1995; Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, 1995; Parker, 1980). There is no scholarly reflection on his personal role in promoting and mentoring new accounting leaders in Africa, or on his mentorship to young partners in Africa. This article is the first to attend to this contribution. The article approaches the question about the spreading of formalised European accounting technology in Africa, using the following structure: first, the article explains the methodology used for this historical study. Section two addresses the relevant literature, considering first the literature on the histories of accounting development in Africa. Following, the literature review explores the literature about the bidirectional process of information flows between African and European knowledge. Thirdly, the article considers the theory of networks and how it may be useful in understanding the dynamics of a person's agency in developing accountancy and the accounting profession in Africa. The fourth section offers a brief biography of Henry Benson. This explains his connection to Africa as well as his standing in Britain. This section alludes to personal traits and ambitions that suited his agency to develop a professional accounting fraternity in Africa. The article then considers the entry and agency of Henry Benson, followed by an identification of the network responses from African accounting societies. Finally, the article assesses Benson as an agent extending his network of European accounting knowledge into a new African network.

Methodology

The article uses the historical method grounded in qualitative critical source analysis. The most significant sources were documents accessed from the PwC archives in London, both primary and secondary. These sources included documents compiled by Henry Benson himself and original letters of the accounting and auditing firm Cooper Brothers & Co, with its offices in Africa. Sources on the policies of the firm, the relationship between Benson and other partners in the firm and reports of operations in Africa were sourced from these archives. The PwC archives are not a public archive, open to researchers. I submitted a written request to PwC to access the archives of Henry Benson. Permission was granted. PwC is a partnership. It has no obligation to open any of its internal documentation to the public for research or otherwise. Bona fide researchers may follow the same path to pursue research in the private archive of any of the major accounting firms. Secondary publications on Benson's life and work and his leadership in British accountancy (ICAEW) contributed to an understanding of the context of Benson's work. The London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) facilitated access to minute books of the ICAEW's Development Committee. These were useful in explaining the relationship between the ICAEW and other British accounting associations, inter alia, in Africa. The ICAEW in London was helpful in allowing access to its library to consult secondary sources on the history of the ICAEW. The ICAEW has no personal records of Henry Benson. The ICAEW has deposited the bulk of its primary records with the LMA. Interviews were conducted with three individuals: Benson's son, Peter, who followed his father into the firm, and two past partners, former senior accounting leaders in Africa who had experienced Benson's leadership as partners in Cooper Brothers & Co. Benson had retired from Cooper Brothers & Co in 1975. By 1975, the current accounting leadership in Africa was the predecessor leaders to the accounting profession of today. In 2021, when this research began, the African accounting leadership who had known Benson and engaged in his network initiatives had been retired for more than a decade. It was therefore extremely difficult to locate living African accounting leaders who had personal recollections of their engagement with him. The interviews with accounting leaders who had benefited directly from Benson's programme were based on an interview protocol attached in the Appendix to the article (The verbatim questions are attached in the Appendix). All interviewees granted permission to use the interview material for this research. The interview with Peter Benson, the son of Henry Benson, was conducted at the PwC offices in London in June 2022. The interviews with the past partners were conducted at locations mutually agreed on at times convenient to the interviewees between January 2022 and December 2022. Both interviews were conducted in person. Interviewees were allowed to expand on questions and bring other topics and insights to bear on the interview. The responses were recorded and transcribed but are not public documents due to confidentiality considerations. The interviewees are referenced as HAB1 and HAB2. Establishing communication with former African accounting leaders who had engaged in Benson's initiatives located two retirees. There are two reasons for not identifying local African sources on this topic. First, hardly any accounting body in Africa has an archive or any repository like the private archives of PwC as an accounting and audit partnership accessible to researchers. Several email messages to professional accounting bodies and individuals were simply unanswered or met with a response stating inability to assist in accessing primary documents of their organisations, such as minutes of meetings. The second reason is that the professional associations in several African countries were not willing to facilitate contact with former accounting leaders, claiming confidentiality of membership information. Two former accountants and partners in Cooper Brothers & Co., who developed their careers under the mentorship of Benson, were able and willing to collaborate through interviews.

The literature on the development of accounting in Africa

The research is not interested in the antiquarian micro-histories of eighteenth-century travellers (e.g., John Pringle) working for British corporations (e.g., The English East India Company), inter alia, also in the Cape. Pringle disseminated his own version of accounting technology wherever he worked (Samkin, 2010). Pringle was not engaged in professional development. This article also does not engage with the nineteenth-century pioneers roaming the British colonies, suggesting formal accounting practices before the accounting profession was organised and institutionalised in Britain, such as the case of William Yaldwyn (Carnegie and Parker, 1996). This literature covers activities prior to actions to develop the accounting profession in Africa.

Africa has emerged in the accounting literature as scholars have incorporated critical research findings emphasising the bidirectional flow of knowledge, insights and culture between African societies and countries from the northern hemisphere (Lengwiler and Penn, 2017; Seny Kan et al., 2021; Waweru et al., 2023). The long engagement with people outside the European metropole, in this case Africa, exposed scientists from outside Africa to knowledge about Africa that finally reflected on European knowledge and institutions. This was conceptualised as the confluence of knowledge (Dreijer, 2019). In disciplines such as anthropology, religion and medicine, Western scholars and practitioners gradually came to learn about African indigenous knowledge, social values, hierarchies and institutions. Science and expert knowledge at academic institutions and knowledge-based bureaucratic institutions, both in Europe and Africa, gradually shaped, adapted and redefined the knowledge encounters. A more polycentric perspective of mechanisms of connecting worlds gradually developed the knowledge produced in this manner (Lengwiler and Penn, 2017). There is no doubt that the distinction between primitive and modern knowledge remained prevalent for a long time, even through to the 1960s, but Thomas Kuhn's notion of scientific revolutions explained gradual paradigmatic change. This change is nuanced, not an outright 180-degree reversal but a confluence of knowledge into new constructs. Science gradually came to be considered not homogeneous as assumed and could certainly not be reduced to an instrumental role, since that ‘underestimated the specific logic of scientific activities and inventions and the partially detached relations between scientists and colonial authorities’ (Beinart et al., 2009: 424). In certain fields such as veterinary science, medicine, botany, zoology and so on, polycentric knowledge engagement converged into new science for new contexts. As Tilley observed: ‘Knowledge may be situated, but it is designed to travel’ (Tilley, 2011: 15). In a more subtle manner, the dynamics of cultural transmission of knowledge about indigenous societies, values, hierarchies and structure shaped the integration of more explicit technology, such as accounting technology. The notion of bidirectionality is nuanced and seldom in absolute balanced strength. Different sciences, people and experts from different cultures often engaged in asymmetrical and hierarchical engagements that initiated processes of transculturation over time (Lengwiler and Penn, 2017).

A reassessment of the significance of accounting for development policy and strategy in developing countries (Alawattage et al., 2007, 2018; Hopper et al., 2017; Moses and Hopper, 2022) gave rise to a critical analysis of indigenous African accounting technologies in development studies (Alawattage et al., 2018). Seny Kan et al. (2021) found complex systems that impact the current accounting landscape in Africa. Other critical literature claims the pre-existence of indigenous systems of calculation, ascribing value, measurement and exchange before Western accounting systems encountered Africa. These constituted the accounting traditions of Africa's indigenous peoples and the Babylonians (Ackers, 2018; Ezzamel, 2009; Sy and Tinker, 2006). This discourse is yet to uncover accounting technology that has infused accounting practice in Africa.

Two broad streams of literature on accounting development in Africa populate the discipline. The first is historical and addresses the influence of imperialism and professionalisation strategies on the development of accounting associations in Africa. It revisits British accounting technology and professional organisation, and the tension between British-based professionalism, credentialism and access to the profession. This literature explored accounting professionalisation, claiming it was part of the project to legitimise the empire and institutionalise race, gender and sexuality through professional closure to the marginalisation and exclusion of indigenous peoples (Annisette, 2000, 2003; Chua and Poullaos, 2002; Dyball et al., 2007; Poullaos, 1993; Poullaos and Sian, 2010; Poullaos and Uche, 2012; Sian, 2006, 2011; Uche, 2002, 2007; Ukwatte et al., 2015). ² In this literature, scholars argue that the values and morals of the British accountancy profession established social, cultural, racial and institutional superiority in a context where the local accountants faced almost insurmountable entry barriers. In South Africa, British accountants secured a South African designation at an early stage, excluding British credentialled accountants, but the accounting profession was still embedded in the British model (Verhoef, 2011, 2013, 2014; Verhoef and Samkin, 2017). Yapa (2022) noted that studies on developing countries generally mirror the issues relating to the tensions, pressures and animosity created during the colonial period between colonists and the colonised.

The second strand of literature addresses the field of management accounting and its development in Africa, emphasising the sustained impact of Western neo-liberal values and policies in post-colonial Africa, despite decolonisation and independence. This literature aligns with the call for a stronger focus on indigenous and/or Africa-based accounting technology and policy to devise development strategies more suitable for the African continent (Alawattage et al., 2007, 2018; Alawattage and Wickramasinghe, 2012; Hopper et al., 2009; Lassou and Hopper, 2016; Lassou et al., 2021; Wickramasinghe et al., 2021). A core agenda this literature proposes is the alignment of local knowledge with Africa's social, economic and development needs, rather than ‘reproducing ideologies that developed or developing countries alike experience, especially capitalism, globalisation or (neo)liberalism’ (Seny Kan et al., 2021: 2; see also Hopper et al., 2017, 2012). This research agenda was very productive in identifying the community's characteristics and ‘traditions and institutions by which authority in a society is exercised’ (Seny Kan et al., 2021: 5). The open research agenda on exactly how management accounting technologies should be adapted to secure better governance, transparency, enterprise success and positive development outcomes, is a work in progress. This aspirational research agenda nevertheless suffers from what Waweru et al. stated:

‘We find no studies examining the rich history of Francophone countries and little on African accounting in pre-colonial times, for example, when trade flourished in Timbuktu (now Mali) between the 12th and 18th centuries, and whether this still influences accounting practice there’. (Waweru et al., 2023: 31)

Theory of networks

The theory of networks and the establishment and operation of networks are useful in adding new insights into aspects of the bidirectional flow of knowledge. The theory of networks assists in understanding social interaction in Africa at a time when the different African communities embarked on newly independent states seeking to establish new identities – socially, politically and economically.

This approach is interested in exploring relationships, capacity building and network collaboration between accountants before and after decolonisation. It is acknowledged that the British accounting technology disseminated by Cooper Brothers & Co. was considered superior to indigenous accounting technology practised in Africa, to the extent that the former was systematised. It is indeed the case that Cooper Brothers & Co sought to spread British accounting and audit knowledge to the societies in which it did business. The Cooper Brothers & Co. clients were businesses from Western markets having to submit financial reports to shareholders in the home country. Cooper Brothers & Co. needed accountants in the different African markets able to assist the firm in recording and reporting on those businesses first, before engaging in indigenous accounting demands in their own markets. The interesting observation is that some emerging accountants were interested in acquiring the British-sourced accounting knowledge and participated in the network of emerging accountants that Benson was instrumental in mentoring. The research testifies that there was a demand for the accounting knowledge Cooper Brothers & Co. was disseminating.

Social networks have become popular in historical studies seeking to understand development dynamics. This study uses the theory of social networks (which is different from ‘social network analysis’ theory) applied to the results of qualitative document analysis and oral testimony, as is characteristic of critical historical methodology. The value of the study on the agency of Benson lies in the simple explanation of networks following Granovetter's identification of the significance of weak ties. The theory of networks explains the processes that determine why networks are structured in the way they are. This reflects on the kind of ties members of the network have with other members of the network, who might be central in the network and what characterises the network. Different definitions of networks are in use, but this article aligns itself with the definition by Borgatti and Halgin as a network that consists of a set of actors or nodes along with a set of ties of a specific type. These ties connect through shared endpoints, establishing paths to link nodes not directly connected. The pattern of those ties gives a structure to the ties, and the nodes occupy positions within those structures (Borgatti and Halgin, 2011: 2). In researching the formation of networks, the researcher chooses the ‘boundaries’ of the network, that is, who will be part of the network and who will be outside the network. This research will explicitly seek to identify the process of inclusion into a network and how the composition of the network changes over time. There is a dynamic in networks. Networks are not always harmonious or connected, but can be disjointed, disconnected or less than optimally functional. This characteristic of networks allows the researcher to track the evolution of networks over time and observe the dynamics of all actors engaging with each other or disengaging with each other. In this respect, Granovetter's (1973) theory of the ‘strength of weak ties’ may be useful in understanding the impact of Henry Benson in the development of accounting in Africa.

Granovetter (1973) observed that when people have strong ties in a network, it is assumed that those members of the network move in a social environment where there is considerable overlap, that is, members will have ties with the same third parties. The reason for this is that people are homophilous – this means people typically associate or establish ties with people similar to them. The chances that new knowledge or information will emanate from such strong ties are limited, due to the considerable overlap of contexts. This, Granovetter (1973) calls limited transitivity: people acquainted with each other are less likely to induce innovation. The paths of connection between people with strong ties are established and strong or a close-knit network. Links between non-acquaintances are loosely knit ties and are called bridges. These bridges are weak ties and have different characteristics. The more direct contacts, or strong ties, a person has, the more encapsulated such a person is in terms of knowledge of the world beyond his/her friendship circle. Bridging weak ties is important in extending the network and acquiring new knowledge. He argues:

‘One may surmise that since the resistance to a risky or deviant activity is greater than to a safe or normal one, a larger number of people will have to be exposed to it and adopt it, in the early stages, before it will spread in a chain reaction. Individuals with many weak ties are, by my arguments, best placed to diffuse such a difficult innovation, since some of those ties will be local bridges’. (Granovetter, 1973: 1367)

Network theory has been applied in many disciplines. ³ An interesting application in entrepreneurship studies is the use of Bourdieu's concept of habitus, which is a place or platform where actions display regularity, coherence and order, enabling persons in that space. This space is a socially constructed operating space, bounded by shared values, aspirations and mutual understanding (Anderson et al., 2010) and facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and skills.

The internal dynamics of behaviour in such networks are useful for this study. In networks, there are undeniable power relations operating on two levels. The first is the network-making power of some seeking to create a network to achieve certain goals, such as establishing a profession. These persons may be called the programmers of the network. Then there are the switchers, those seeking to change the configuration of the network. The latter, the switchers, are often connected to political power, economic agents, security agents and so on. Castells observed that no unified power elite is capable of keeping the programming and switching operations of important networks under its control. This is the reason why more subtle, complex and negotiated systems of power need to be established (Castells, 2011: 777–779).

These insights into the theory of networks offer a lens through which the role of Benson in the development of accountancy in Africa may be explained. Three useful aspects are relevant here: First, the process of inclusion into a network follows from weak ties and offers transitivity benefits. Second, the network established operates as a habitus of regularity, cohesion and order, but, thirdly, is subject to dynamic power relations. The history of Benson's engagement with accountancy in Africa exposes a legacy of enabling but also the assumption of agency by members of that network to reconstitute the habitus. In these newly established networks, bidirectionality is at work: the new members learned from each other, introduced their different contexts to each other and, as switchers do, created a new habitus.

Henry Alexander Benson: His world

This biographical sketch of Benson places him in the context of accountancy, the Cooper Brothers & Co. sphere and accounting in Africa. He was born in South Africa in 1909 and became an accountant. Born to Alexander Stanley Benson and Florence Mary Cooper, the daughter of Francis Cooper, one of the four Cooper brothers ⁴ who established Cooper Brothers & Co as an accounting and audit firm in London in 1854, Benson grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father, Alexander Benson, graduated from Cambridge and took up a teaching position in Johannesburg, but after the South African War, he entered into legal clerkship to Judge Bristowe, ultimately practising as a lawyer. He ingrained in Henry a passionate belief in the proper use and elocution of the English language. Benson's primary school education was at St John's College, where Miss Thomas instilled in him a firm belief in the Christian faith and discipline to accept nothing but the best. Benson completed matric at a public high school in Johannesburg, Parktown Boys High School, at the age of 16. He went to London in October 1926, where he entered articles of clerkship at Cooper Brothers & Co. He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1932. He worked with other articled clerks, on weekdays and Saturday mornings, studying correspondence courses toward passing the professional qualifying examinations, for which they paid themselves. Benson enjoyed the privilege of the family connection at different levels of his early career – he was admitted to articles of clerkship at Cooper Brothers & Co., he was exempted from paying the training premium, and his first salary scale was higher than that of other newly qualified accountants. Benson's father passed away in 1931. His mother's brother, D’Arcy Cooper, son of Francis Cooper, took him under his wing. On 1 October 1934, Benson was made a salaried partner at Cooper Brothers & Co. in London. He was just 25 years old. This privileged experience alerted Benson to the value of opportunity – he benefited from kinship ties, which were a strong network tie. It made him realise that those without such privileged connections may need other avenues into the network of accountants (American Accounting Association, 1995; Benson, 1989; Parker et al., 2013).

Benson admitted to the fortune of family ties. He was inspired to share those privileges with aspiring accountants in Africa. He conducted himself through relentless work and professional discipline to facilitate the advancement of young accountants’ careers through Cooper Brothers & Co. Once moulded through family ties, professional education and work ethic, his was a life of giving back. As a young partner, Benson had the benefit of the mentorship of D’Arcy Cooper. Cooper Brothers & Co. became the accountants to Lever Brothers in 1887 (Benson, 1989), and D’Arcy Cooper performed several specialist audit review and business restructuring functions. As Lever Brothers entered a low ebb of operation and industrial prospects towards the mid-1920s, D’Arcy reluctantly joined the Lever Brothers Board of Directors. On the passing of William Hesketh Lever (later Viscount Leverhulme) in 1925 (Rowan, 2003). D’Arcy became the Chairman of Lever Brothers and oversaw business restructuring, from which Benson learnt a great deal. D’Arcy was a natural leader of men, of whom Benson admitted:

‘His commanding presence, business acumen, integrity, common sense and humour combined to make a man who inspired respect and affection. I admired him as much as any person I have ever met and count myself lucky to have been so close to him and to have benefitted from watching his character and powers of leadership’. (Benson, 1989: 13)

In 1934, Henry Benson was a good deal younger than the entire cohort of partners, except John Pears, who was nine years Benson's senior. ⁵ Cooper Brothers & Co. offered a supportive environment to mentor young partners and grow their capacity and experience. Exposure to operations of clients on the Benguela Railway in Central Africa and listing of South African clients on the London Stock Exchange kept Benson engaged in Cooper Brothers & Co.'s African operations before the outbreak of World War II (Benson, 1950a). During World War II, Benson and Pears served in the British war effort. ⁶ What underpinned those years were discipline and commitment to the creed of those serving the nation's interest. This trait was significant to the new accounting cohort in decolonised Africa.

The full plight of leadership in Cooper Brothers & Co. came down to Pears and Benson after 1945. They applied their war experiences to the future of the firm. Benson brought with him experience in orderly administration in small and large organisations, and sensitivity in dealing with people (Piper et al., 2025). Dealing with complex situations during the war, convinced Benson that thinking up or conceptualising a solution to complex problems comprised perhaps three per cent of the solution – the rest of the pathway to successful resolution of any problem comprised the remaining 97 per cent of hard work. The new senior partners, Pears and Benson, were inexperienced in leading the firm, but the wartime experiences afforded them invaluable insight into the running of global operations, large organisational restructuring and people as indispensable to the success of an organisation. Benson also had the added exposure to earlier valuable experiential learning under D’Arcy: he assisted D’Arcy with the restructuring of Lever Brothers. The firm experienced stagnation between 1923, when D’Arcy took up the vice-chairman's seat at Lever Brothers, and World War II. By 1914, three of the four Cooper brothers had passed away, leaving only Ernest. By the end of World War II, Ernest's son Stuart Ramsay Cooper was the only remaining senior partner in the firm, except Pears and Benson. Benson envisaged that post-war reconstruction was bound to expand existing client operations beyond the confines of pre-war business activities (Benson, 1981; Parker et al., 2013). Pears and Benson were ad idem about a rebuilding strategy: dedicated hard work to restore morale, position the firm to perform its full role in the profession and expand internationally. Pears was the most senior of the partners, but he invited Benson to take joint leadership of the firm after the war, which Benson appreciated and respected. Stuart Cooper was not in agreement with the two senior partners’ strategies. Pears and Benson finally convinced Stuart to retire in 1948. This opened the way for the implementation of the rebuilding strategy of Cooper Brothers & Co. after World War II (Benson, 1989).

Benson realised that two aspects of the existing Cooper Brothers & Co. practice provided the platform from which to expand. These were the technical capabilities of the audit practice and its professional practice leadership on client services in the marketplace. Benson's vision that global business would expand rapidly after the war convinced him that those two capabilities would be instrumental towards the emergence of Cooper Brothers & Co. as a global firm (American Accounting Association, 1995; Benson, 1981). The strategy of the joint senior partners was expansion both at home and abroad to build the client base and establish an international organisation. The firm needed a fundamental overhaul of in-firm staff policies, remuneration packages and strategic buy-in on all levels of business (Benson, 1989: 42–44, 2022). Their success was cast in mutual trust and respect, but Benson emerged as the leading strategist on internationalisation.

Benefitting from the network: Laying the groundwork to build new networks

The post-1945 expansion and development of Cooper Brothers & Co. accounting and audit activities evolved around three pillars: the quality of professional expertise and client services, people development and international expansion. Benson engineered the advance of Cooper Brothers & Co. on the firm foundation of accounting technology and professional excellence through organisational ties. How did he plan this? Benson took it upon himself in 1954 to write The Manual. This was a systematic codification of audit technology, standards of quality control and strategies of adjustment to changing developments in accounting and auditing as practised in Western business, to which Cooper Brothers & Co. applied its assurance function. The Manual dealt with office rules and regulations, organisation of staff, report writing, specific rules on liquidations, receiverships and deeds of arrangement. It included a section on audit investigations, taxation, form and content of company accounts, auditing, executors, administrators and trustees. The Cooper Brothers & Co. The Manual was the firm's intellectual property compiled by the practice that stood the firm in good stead and comprised the foundation of expansion. Benson relied on his wartime experience in the ordinance factories to systematise audit procedures and administration to write ‘Modern Audit Techniques’ as the first draft of The Manual in December 1950 (Benson, 1950b). ⁷ The firm mandated regular updates incorporating new developments in audit practice as non-negotiable to its leading position (Parker, 1980). The Manual served as the benchmark of the firm's accounting and audit practice in its operations in the United Kingdom and wherever its clients did business. This is important for the development of accounting and audit capabilities in Africa, because The Manual also constituted the basis of Benson's ambition to develop accounting in Africa.

Global diversification and specialisation in accounting and audit services such as taxation, planning, administration, organisation, business consultancy and systems, gave Cooper Brothers & Co. an opportunity to use its codified technology as a competitive advantage. Cooper Brothers & Co. implemented strategies to establish networks in the distant countries where it operated to effect a transfer of knowledge and opportunity using The Manual. Benson was the driving force of Cooper Brothers & Co.'s post-war international expansion, which had profound implications for Africa. Strengthening ties with Africa meant developing networks. For Africa, this occurred in the sphere of establishing weak ties as a mechanism to transfer knowledge, skills and capacity. Benson referred to the development of ‘…an international partnership, the members of which comprise representatives from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Europe’ (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1956a: Letter Cooper Brothers & Co. to E.B. Seex, 17/7/1957). The use of the concept ‘partnership’ is indicative of nuanced bidirectionality, as it points to the intention of the firm to collaborate with fellow professionals in other parts of the world and integrate local professional culture or organisational practices in the developing partnership relationships.

The next aspect of Benson's strategy was people development. Benson understood that Cooper Brothers & Co.'s quality assurance, grounded in The Manual, depended on people. An international practice needed quality people. It was in this respect that his professional leadership emerged. An international firm, he argued, was not just an association of several separate firms bound together by conducting their professional business in different parts of the world, but by ‘…having one or more partners who are partners in all the firms, …and by subscribing to certain ideas and principles which are acceptable to all of them’ (Benson, 1954: 6). This imperative constituted the basis of joint responsibility as the link between Cooper Brothers & Co.'s 100 partners and 1,200 staff working in 14 different partnerships with operations (in 1954) in 17 countries. Here, bidirectionality is displayed, not in accounting technology but in the context of operation – it is assumed that ideas and principles would be acceptable to all, shared by all and strengthened through the partnership. This notion of leadership and responsibility served the commercial community and international business by positioning either himself or Pears as partners in each of the offices. That signified Cooper Brothers & Co. as a ‘symbol of London partners share(ing) full responsibility, penalties and rewards of partnership… whether it be in the form of our duties to clients and the public, the reputation of the firm and its name, capital and risk, and mainly unity and common purpose’ (Benson, 1954: 3). It is through the acceptance of joint responsibility and accountability in professional practice that Benson displayed his respect for society and commerce alike. This trait received specific acclaim from young African partners, who recalled that Benson met with them as joint partners, treating them as equals. Those regular meetings were opportunities Benson used to disseminate his superior knowledge of accounting and audit technology. Those meetings were also opportunities for two-way discussions and for Benson to listen to the concerns of the local accountants. It was technical excellence, both interviewees noted, that Benson instilled in them as the basis of leadership in the profession (HAB1 2022; HAB2 2022).

Joint responsibility ensured observation of The Manual and standardisation, through democracy. Benson argued that ‘Partnership is democracy, but democracy only operates successfully when there is leadership’ (Benson, 1957: 2). Leadership was the fulcrum of successful accounting practice, but always had to be balanced by the responsibilities that accompanied that position in public accounting practice. Benson infused his notion of leadership into the profession, as espoused in Cooper Brothers & Co. This perspective on leadership was ingrained in new partners when meeting Benson (HAB1 2022; HAB2 2022). One of the levels of responsibility of partners is the staff. Here, Benson made a vital contribution to the development of the profession outside the United Kingdom. Professional excellence, though, was not democratic – it was imperative, mandated from the foundation of the highest level of expert professional knowledge as codified in The Manual, but at the same time by opportunity and incorporation (Benson, 1957). Partners were expected to identify good people for training in London and placement in the firms’ business overseas (HAB1, 2022). Leadership meant disseminating professional expertise, excellence and service.

Benson networks in Africa – Engaged and proactive

How did Benson translate his international strategy in Africa? Benson actively supported the identification of talent across the firm's international network, specifically in Africa. He invited the talent from the offices in Africa to obtain education, training and experience at the London offices as a prerequisite to strengthen professional development in the interest of the profession and clients. The first conference of newly qualified staff was held in London in 1954. This was a meeting to impart experience and new technical training (Benson, 1954). A second vital aspect of nurturing leadership was Benson's ‘Notes for a Junior Partner on joining the Firm’ (Benson, 1957). This aspect of Benson's legacy looms very prominently in the recollection of his successor partners, whom he assisted through his network development in Africa (HAB1, 2022; HAB2, 2022). Benson compiled these ‘Notes’ to mentor the diligent and systematic conduct of the young and inexperienced partner through to the assumption of full responsibility as an accountant serving business and the broader community. The principles of personal organisation, task delegation to build capacity in fellow accountants, dictation and clear articulation and professional/intellectual clarity of problem-solving underpinned the task of partners. Solving problems required full knowledge of all aspects of the complex issue, as well as an independent conceptualisation of the solution. ‘Make up your mind’ based on meticulous knowledge of the problem was Benson's motto (HAB2, 2022). He argued that professional competitive positions depended heavily on client-centrism: knowing the client and context, preparation and an urgency to serve. An accountant was trained to work with accounts, but equally important is the ability to work with people – staff, clients and wider society (Benson, 1957). The fact that Benson was mindful of the enduring dynamism of mutuality in the relationship between society and the accounting profession (HAB1, 2022) led him to instil an acute awareness of the context in which accountants operate, in a new generation of accountants leaving Cooper Brothers & Co.

The expansion of the international firm depended primarily on the leadership of Benson. While the merger with Lybrand Ross Brothers and Montgomery in January 1957, subsequently known as Coopers & Lybrand, resulted in strong international expansion, especially in the United States (Benson, 1989), Benson assumed direct responsibility for developing the profession in Africa. Cooper Brothers & Co. had operated offices in Africa since 1931 (Benson, 2022). Apart from the South African office, Cooper Brothers & Co. opened offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Northern and Southern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo at regular intervals since 1947 (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1956). Benson went to Africa annually to visit the public school where he matriculated to inspire the multiracial cohort about ambition and professionalism (HAB1, 2022). He maintained an unwavering loyalty to his alma mater and felt a sense of responsibility to infuse ambition and encouragement into the young men in that school. One interviewee recalled the regular visits to Parktown Boys High School as ‘…a personal mission…’. Benson adhered to because he felt enduring gratitude to the school and a sustained belief in the potential of the young men at his alma mater. He ploughed back to grow aspirations and enthusiasm for personal achievement but also for the accounting profession (HAB2, 2022).

Benson regularly visited the firm's offices across Africa to attend to his joint responsibility as a joint partner in those offices (Benson, 1989; 2022; HAB1, 2022). In correspondence to offices in Africa, Benson emphasised, ‘As you know, the vital things in any international organisation of professional men are (a) to maintain a high standard of work, (b) to observe proper professional ethics and (c) to preserve the integrity of the profession (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1956: Letter from Benson to C M Stuart 19/7/1956). The letters were sent to the managing Cooper Brothers & Co. official in the respective offices, such as Mr Stuart in Kenya at the time, or whoever occupied the positions at the time. The golden thread of all correspondence was the imperative, ‘… as we hold ourselves out as endeavouring to improve the standard of accounting in the territory…’ (Letter CB&C London to CB&C Nairobi 2/1/56) amidst the acute shortage of staff. Taking in local staff mandated training, which was offered first through the systematic adherence to accounting and audit work in The Manual, but also through assistance in taking professional qualifying examinations. Cooper Brothers & Co. dispatched only good quality staff to the offices in Africa and called on them to solicit the services of young indigenous people showing an interest in accounting work (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1956: Letter to Ian Leslie Nairobi – 16/1/1956; Letter CB&C to E B Seex, Sudan 21/2/1956).

What Benson's active leadership and personal engagement in people's capabilities in the accounting profession led to was an emerging and growing community of African accountants working in the network of Cooper Brothers & Co. offices. When Cooper Brothers & Co. commenced operations in Africa, they followed their clients’ needs and introduced accounting practices applied in Britain into the African contexts in which their clients conducted their business. This direct engagement with the development of accounting capacity in Africa established a regular movement of clerks from Africa into the London office and partners from London into the different African offices. One young partner recalled how those exchanges instilled the professional framework in which he later operated and engaged with fellow African accountants. As a respected technical expert in auditing, this interviewee put his achievement in later rising to the position of PwC lead partner in Africa down to Benson's uncompromising emphasis on technical excellence and leadership of the responsible partner. Once different countries’ audit standards were elevated by international audit standards, this interviewee recognised The Manual as the foundation of subsequent standards (HAB1, 2022). ⁸

The Nigerian connection assumed a special position in these endeavours. In 1950, Mr Akintola Williams was the first Nigerian to qualify as a chartered accountant with the ICAEW (Wallace, 1992). In 1960, when Nigeria became an independent state, it had 15 ICAEW-qualified accountants and 24 accountants qualified under the Association of Certified Corporate Accountants (ACCA) (Uche, 2002; Wallace, 1992). Cooper Brothers & Co. encouraged their employees to qualify as chartered accountants through the ICAEW. The firm also supported employees choosing to sit for the ACCA qualifying examinations. In 1958, the first report of an African staff member, Mr B I Ugocukwu, passing the intermediate examination of the ACCA, appeared in the Cooper Brothers Journal (Coopers Brothers & Company, 1959). The firm regularly congratulated staff from different African countries on the successful completion of professional qualifying examinations. In 1965, accountants in Nigeria had successfully organised themselves into a professional association and championed for statutory recognition through the passing of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Nigeria Act. This statute paved the way for the registration of Nigerian chartered accountants in Nigeria by a local body of professional accountants (Okafor, 2005; Poullaos and Uche, 2012; Salawu and Obi, 2013; Uche, 2002, 2007). It was subsequently possible for Nigerian accounting clerks to qualify through the Nigerian Institute, but the door remained open to those still interested in acquiring the ICAEW credentials to follow the Cooper Brothers & Co. path, as illustrated below in the history of Sola Faleye.

By 1970, Charles Oyedira, who had worked in the Coopers’ Nigerian office and qualified as an accountant under their mentorship, was elected a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). Political and social stability was rocked by the outbreak of the Biafran War of 1967. The war lasted up to 1970. During the war, an employee at the Cooper Brothers & Co. office in Lagos, Uche Mbanefo, moved all the files from the firm's office in Lagos to a small village, Qrsu-Ifitukwa, until peace and stability permitted restoration of ordinary business in Lagos. Sola Faleye, another member of ICAN, was admitted as a partner in the Lagos office of Cooper Brothers & Co. in 1971, having completed his articles of clerkship in London before he returned to Lagos in 1966. In 1972, Mr E F Oke, who had worked in Cooper Brothers & Co.'s London office since 1966, was made a partner in Lagos. Niri Oyediran, articled in the Cooper Brothers & Co. London office chose to qualify under the ICAN. He enjoyed the confidence of the Nigerian profession to lead professional development through ICAN as President in 1976/77 (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1971, 1977). All these Nigerian accountants brought ICAEW accounting knowledge to bear on their work in Nigeria. They had weak ties with the emerging accounting profession in Nigeria since that was at the very early phases of its formation. These accountants transferred acquired accounting knowledge into the emerging accounting context of the newly independent Nigerian state. When the Nigerian firm celebrated its silver jubilee in 1978, the four senior partners were all Nigerians qualified as chartered accountants through ICAN. The staff complement was more than 100 persons, including three expatriates (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1978). The composition of the Lagos Cooper Brothers & Co. office illustrates how Cooper Brothers & Co. embraced local social organisation, values and leadership in configuring the Lagos office. Support for and sustained collaboration with ICAN since its establishment in 1965 in the Lagos office points to bidirectionality. Acquired accounting knowledge was shaped in new ICAN syllabi and examinations and credentialling, while official naming reflected institutional adaptation.

With regular intervals, the capacity-building programmes resulted in the African cohort of qualified chartered accountants assuming partnership and leadership roles in the various Cooper Brothers & Co. offices in Africa. In East and Central Africa, people such as George Egaddu took up a partnership in Uganda in October 1974, and John Mupanga Mwanakatwe became a Zambian partner in April 1975. Another proud achievement was the admission of Magnus Boye as a partner in the Accra office in Ghana, the first West African trainee who passed his examinations whilst resident in West Africa. Boye worked in the London office after qualifying in 1964 and joined as a partner in Accra in October 1970 (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1971). In Ghana, West Africa, more trainees entered the profession after qualifying as chartered accountants of the ICAEW. Philip Abotsie was an articled clerk who qualified and took up a partnership in Coopers in April 1975 (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1975). The new African accountants developed local expertise infused by technical superiority acquired in the constant exchange with the London office. When Erieza Kwagga assumed partnership in Uganda in 1977, he joined the Kampala office in October 1977, bringing with him the experience acquired as an articled clerk in the Birmingham office of Coopers since the early 1970s (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1977). All these cases testify to bidirectionality: the newly qualified accountants brought acquired knowledge into the local practices in their respective countries (this is knowledge flowing from the British accounting technology context) and adapted that knowledge to the requirements of the respective accounting contexts of their independent countries in which they worked (this is knowledge of the respective accounting contexts flowing back into the knowledge acquired and adapting that knowledge to comply with the accounting requirements of the respective countries’ contexts). It should be acknowledged that the bidirectionality was not in equal proportions. The nature of accounting knowledge acquired from the British experience and the ICAEW qualification was more comprehensive and technically suited to the metropolitan business environment. That knowledge nevertheless provided a point of departure for the newly qualified African accountants to contribute to the shaping of the accounting context of their respective contexts as the latter developed.

Benson was directly involved with each one of the African accountants moving through the London office. His mentoring comprised the dissemination of professional knowledge and technical expertise through the Cooper Brothers & Co. exchange programmes. Benson's exchange programmes and regular visits to mentor young partners in Africa were seen as an acknowledgement of the importance of developing high standards of global accounting practice through the Cooper Brothers & Co. offices (HAB1, 2022; HAB2, 2022). Benson's model was to facilitate capacity building to strengthen the accounting profession as he had perceived it in African societies. He was adamant that those professionally qualified ICAEW accountants should return to their countries of origin to continue capacity building and upholding professional excellence (HAB2, 2022). The capacity-building model was the long-term social impact of Benson's leadership at Cooper Brothers & Co. There were no formal audit and accounting services available to the British enterprises entering business in African countries. The local population in those societies was unable to deliver the audit and accounting services Cooper Brothers & Co. clients needed. That predicament was an opportunity. Local people could find work in Cooper Brothers & Co. offices, but Benson was not interested simply in employing administrative staff. His ambition was to develop local capacity to establish local capabilities to perform such services. He remembered when accountants in England had no organisation, no library, no standing or social recognition. The opportunity in Africa was to build fully fledged professional capabilities able to take over the services performed by the Cooper Brothers & Co. offices. Benson envisioned a fully professional African accounting and audit profession. Through exposure to the professional business of accountants, Cooper Brothers & Co. facilitated the dissemination of knowledge of audit technology as practised by Coopers in the business of its operations, with the result of positioning professionally qualified accountants back into the specific context from which they had come. This was an acknowledgement of the social functioning of accountancy more generally – as Burchell et al. (1985: 385) put it, ‘… an accounting-society interdependence … (or) … an accounting-society interpenetration’. As was illustrated in the case of Nigeria, Benson's agency facilitated the moulding of a local profession, equipped with technical knowledge from the Cooper Brothers & Co. practice, into locally organised, credentialled and managed professional organisations.

Discussion: New networks advancing the economy and society

As Africa has been part of global business since the fifteenth century (Verhoef, 2017), international engagements escalated in the post-war world of decolonisation and independence. Benson anticipated the escalation of internationalisation in commerce and industry after World War II. Cooper Brothers & Co. experienced persistent demand for accountants in their African operations. This demand seemed insatiable – especially after 1950, as world trade resumed and African nations became independent (Austin, 2004, 2006). Benson was the driving energy behind the extension of a network of offices in Africa (Benson, 2022), acting as the ‘initiator’ of a professional network in Africa. The network would create a habitus, a place of professional organisation whose function was ‘…to further knowledge, skills and capabilities to aspiring professionals’ (IFAC, 2013). This habitus actually took on the shape of a space developed by partners, a space where local context indeed impacted the development of professional landscapes, as had occurred in Nigeria with the formation of a local professional body and local credentials. This network indeed included Cooper Brothers & Co. employees, with strong ties, but certainly included the extension to local people, either already engaged in accounting services or as newly aspiring and interested local persons. As correspondence between the head office in London and the various Cooper Brothers & Co. offices in Africa testifies, office managers were consistently advised to solicit the services of local persons. No reference was ever made to gender or race. Cooper Brothers & Co. merged their operations with small local accounting firms in Nairobi in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika in 1947, in Kampala and Jinja in Uganda in 1947 and also in Salisbury and Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia in the same year. This indicated an intention to continue business through a network of weak ties. Correspondence in December 1955 to all offices in Africa included an advertisement of vacancies, stressing the need to include local people, ‘…indigenous persons knowledgeable of conditions and cultures’ (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1956: 28/12/55).

The expansion strategy offered the opportunity for non-British trained persons to enter the firm's professional network. Those employees were the weak ties in the network, ‘…seen as indispensable to individual opportunities and their integration into communities…’ (Granovetter, 1973: 1378). Cooper Brothers & Co. sent their best employees, ‘… first class people …’ (Cooper Brothers & Company 1956, 1/2/55), to attend to their clients’ needs. This network served the needs of the Cooper Brothers’ partnership, and the needs of British business in the colonies, as observed by historians across the colonial professionalisation discourse (see e.g., Chua and Poullaos, 2002; Sian, 2007; Yapa, 2022). Benson opened the door to transitivity and membership of the habitus: the transfer of accounting knowledge, audit procedures and ethics, which were grounded in the values and principles of the ICAEW (1961–1964; Poullaos and Uche, 2012) and would be shared in the network of accountants. As Olusegun Wallace observed, the British government did not promote the development of an indigenous accounting profession in Nigeria (nor in any of its colonies), since the indigenous business was limited and did not use accounting technology familiar to the British colonisers. Those Nigerian accountants working in the colonial administration all had British qualifications (these qualifications were of the London Corporation of Accountants, the Association of Municipal Accountants or the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants) (Wallace, 1992). In all the British colonies, the organised accounting profession mirrored the British accounting landscape (Yapa, 2022) and therefore, ‘programmed’ the accounting network. Coopers was indeed also the ‘programmer’ of the network, able to control the process of knowledge transfer, admission and participation. This did not remain the status quo. As partners in the development of accounting professionals, the local accountants, with either ICAEW or other British qualifications, took advantage of the network opportunities to mould their own professional arrangements as well as local accounting standards. This was illustrated in the case of Nigeria. This research only shows that Benson initiated network strategies to establish weak ties that the new incumbents eventually could, and indeed did, use to develop local habitus or local accounting domains. This development was indeed bidirectional – local knowledge fed into the moulding of local institutions.

Benson's vision was to build capacity in Africa for Africa by reinvesting qualified accountants into society. This implies the establishment of weak ties in Africa that would have the potential of extending the network and perhaps lead to the formation of a new network with a new habitus. His understanding of the ‘accounting constellation’ (Burchell et al., 1985: 399–402) had profound implications for the firm: accountants operated as but one of many stakeholders in their operations. Either Cooper Brothers & Co. could send their London-trained staff to conduct the business of the offices in Africa or the firm could acknowledge the context-specific constellation of interests and knowledge emerging as a network of social relations bound to manifest as social and economic complexities unfold in the different markets. The accountant, Benson, understood the social embeddedness of accounting. Accounting is intimately implicated in the construction and facilitation of the context in which it operates. Benson's leadership in choosing to build capacity and facilitate investing in African society carried personal risk. He did not consider himself to be ‘…the great man, a symbol, an index…’ (Cowton, 1985: 74) of the accounting profession. He concerned himself with capacity development to strengthen the profession and create a habitus of well-trained accountants in Africa. This inclination was apparent in a report he had written for the British Government, outlining the matters to be considered before development schemes were introduced in British colonies. This report emphasised acknowledging indigenous inhabitants, superior local knowledge, knowing their language and securing their trust in planning the execution of such projects (Benson, 1950a). Having been engaged in the assessment and oversight functions for the British colonial authorities (Benson, 1989), Benson was acutely aware that any accounting enterprise in Africa had to be bidirectional or a two-directional affair. During the early stages of Cooper Brothers & Co.'s involvement with clients in Africa, they were indeed the ‘programmers’ of the network. Little, if any, technical accounting knowledge flowed from the African society into the Coopers business operations.

An important aspect of Benson's involvement with the capacity-building dimension of network formation was committing to joint responsibility. As a partner directly involved with the establishment of Cooper Brothers & Co. offices in Africa, he insisted on joint responsibility for risk in every market. This was confirmed by both interviewees (HAB1, 2022; HAB2, 2022). Accepting collective responsibility included failure and the success or potential gain with the emerging local partners. This trait suggests his commitment to the quality of accounting knowledge, technical expertise and adherence to professional ethics, as espoused in The Manual. The point of departure was certainly not local or indigenous accounting systems, since he was completely oblivious of the relevance of any such knowledge. The point of departure was indeed the realm of British accounting systems and values, often criticised in the literature on emerging accounting professionalisation trajectories in Africa (Ackers, 2018; Poullaos and Sian, 2010; Sian, 2006; Wallace, 1992). The firm foundations of Cooper Brothers & Co. business were not considered a straight-jacket: ‘It is not suggested that all Cooper's partners should conform to a common mould, as one of the benefits of partnership is to get the different views and opinions of several people who approach problems in different ways’ (Benson, 1957: 3). Young partners from the Africa offices were ICAEW qualified, but it was never assumed that they would become a ‘unified power elite’ (Castells, 2011: 777). The weak ties of non-British partners facilitated the transitivity of knowledge and the chartered accounting credentials. These accountants in the different Cooper Brothers & Co. offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and other East African markets were ultimately well-positioned to apply their knowledge to the contexts of decolonised independent states. The partners in the African offices could immediately assume responsibilities and positions of leadership in the new independent states on matters such as tax legislation, state-owned enterprises, the training of accountants through local accreditation institutes or organisations in local markets, as well as planning and execution of development projects. It is also through Benson's mentorship of junior partners that he effectively nurtured the emergence of switchers in the professional network in Africa. This constitutes bidirectionality – infusing the knowledge transferred with local knowledge and needs.

In his ‘Notes to a Junior Partner’, Benson emphasised professional independence of opinion or as he put it, ‘Make up your mind’. He encouraged young partners to be self-disciplined by making up his/her mind, thoroughly preparing for all cases, ‘knowing all the facts’, offering his/her solutions to a problem and not seeking to offer a solution he/she expects the senior partner to be content with. Making up one's mind should never stop discussion. These suggestions inculcated confidence and self-esteem among new partners in Coopers’ African offices, allowing them to develop a local identity. These accountants soon emerged as the voices of accountants across different qualifications and designations (ACCA, municipal accountants, bookkeepers) working in the emerging independent states. This was visible in the leading role of persons such as Sola Faleye, who qualified as a Cooper Brothers & Co. articled clerk in 1965 and then returned from the office in London to Lagos. Members of the Cooper Brothers & Co. Lagos office with ACCA qualifications, such as Messrs. E B K K Hassan, U Wadima, D Orabueke, F B Ogedengbe, E M Boye, D O Oyeleke and M F Fashoda were all founding members of ICAN, also referred to as ‘The Nigerian Institute’ in 1965 (Cooper Brothers & Company, 1964, 1965). When ICAN was established, it had ICAEW members, ACCA-qualified members, members of the Institute of Cost and Works’ Accountants and one member of the Association of Municipal Accountants in London (Uche, 2002; Wallace, 1992). The predecessor association, the 1960-established Association of Accountants of Nigeria, which was primarily a collection of ACCA-qualified members, simply merged into the ICAN. ICAN accepts all ACCA-qualified accountants as members. Accountants qualified for inclusion through reciprocal arrangements with all of the UK-based accredited accountants, but the ICAN soon took over the examination and credentialling of its members in Nigeria, in a similar way as had occurred through the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Board in South Africa after 1951 (Verhoef, 2013). This is bidirectionality on display.

The development path was somewhat different in Kenya, where the control by UK-based accounting designations effectively controlled the Kenyan market for qualified accountants until the Institute of Certified Professional Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) in 1978 succeeded in reversing the foreign hold on accounting education and access (Sian, 2006, 2007). There has yet to be any study to explain the different professionalisation trajectories of Nigerian professional accountants and the Kenyan professionalisation project. We are therefore unable to explain the different paths, but in the case of Nigeria, the influence of Nigerian accountants with the ICAEW qualification emerged as prominent. In East Africa, the Association of Accountants in East Africa (AAEA) was established in 1949 under British colonial control, and the AAEA entrenched its position through rules of access and credentialling, while the Association of Accountants in Nigeria was a very transitory body anticipating independence and the opportunity to establish a national body.

The development of ICAN indicated that the accountants in the newly independent Nigeria were not ‘a compliant clone of the empire’ (Chua and Poullaos, 2002: 409). Despite perceptions of other accounting qualifications as inferior to the ICAEW credentials (Chukwudimma, 2000; Wallace, 1992), ICAN accepted all practising accountants as members and then commenced internal training and examinations. Of particular significance for the influence of Benson's capacity-building strategy is the fact that the weak ties of earlier engagement with young Nigerians facilitated gradual inclusion into a new network of accountants or a new habitus, working in Nigeria (and in other African countries). In this new network, Benson's legacy was that of the agent bringing aspiring young people from divergent African markets into the Cooper Brothers & Co. network and assisting knowledge transfers through the ICAEW and employment with Cooper Brothers & Co. (Benson, 2022; HAB2, 2022).

This network facilitated not only knowledge transfers but also all aspects of professional conduct, as instructed by The Manual. This was indeed the British tradition, but as Benson sought to instil intellectual independence, technical superiority and professional and ethical conduct in all young partners, those values lived on in newly qualified Nigerian accountants. As the ICAN assumed its role in the newly independent Nigerian state, people such as Niyi Oyediran, Uche Mbanefo and Sola Faleye – all ICAEW qualified accountants who progressed through the Cooper Brothers & Co. offices – assumed lasting leading roles in the Nigerian accounting fraternity. They built a future for accountants in Nigeria through accepting a leadership role moulded through knowledge acquisition outside Nigeria. Lassou et al. (2019: 4) are correct that ‘British colonial policies did not develop indigenous institutions capable of addressing development challenges of modern states’. Cooper Brothers & Co. was the only British accounting firm doing business in Africa that actively developed programmes to empower local persons in the profession and to develop future leaders in the profession, as outlined in the previous section. Benson did what Walker (2023) acknowledged as the typical function of the accounting profession, namely, to establish and develop an identity as an authentic accounting profession. This identification served as a tool or a link to a network (a weak tie) to assist in creating capacity in Africa and ultimately independent professional bodies.

Conclusion: New habitus, limited bidirectionality

As a case in point, the ICAN, up to the present, resembles the characteristics of a British professional organisation: the professional organisation is called an ‘Institute’, and its members are credentialled as ‘Chartered Accountants’ of their professional body, ICAN. Despite not originating from a ‘Royal Charter’, members are organised, admitted, examined and credentialled by the ICAN, with statutory backing (this is different from the ICAEW), and members have access to the library, which is now an ‘e-Library’ (see www.ican.org). In Kenya, the ‘Chartered Accountant’ credentials were dropped when ICPAK was formed in 1978, but in Ghana (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana, 2023), ICAEW-qualified accountants were also leaders of the newly established Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana (ICAGH) in 1963, such as Magnus Boye. He also performed prominent roles in the ICAGH (https://www.icagh.org). At no stage did the ICAEW or Cooper Brothers & Co attempt to undermine the establishment of the independent body ICAN in Nigeria. The goal of Benson's capacity-building strategy had been achieved. What his agency failed to establish was bidirectional flows of technical accounting knowledge. This did not occur because such technologies were not practised or systematically codified and accessible. The knowledge base of the ICAEW remained dominant and accountants in Africa, in this case Nigeria, desired the credentials. What this research shows is that knowledge flows of technical accounting knowledge occurred into the African context of Benson's agency, and that in the opposite direction, local knowledge on social organisation, local social hierarchies, values and social dynamics fed into the organisation and utilisation of the technical accounting knowledge to give rise to local professional organisations embracing locally shaped organisations, credentialling and examinations. This illustrates bidirectionality, albeit in dynamically adapting strengths and directions.

Benson was an agent of transitivity, not of professional ‘cloning’. His legacy was human capital development for the profession. His leadership was dedicated to developing those capabilities in Africa that would construct a strong accounting profession. What the profession lacked in the nineteenth century, as articulated by Chukwudimma (2000: 2), was formal record-keeping: ‘… (the British) formal record of business transactions was the first modern and formal accounting practice …’ encountered in Africa. Benson sought to develop through the Cooper Brothers & Co. network, in the interest of overall social advancement, the following:

Organisation of the profession, through access to formal professional organisations and associations;

These were the benefits so lacking to accountants in nineteenth-century Britain that accrued to the accounting profession in Africa through (and by no means exclusively) the agency of Benson.

Henry Alexander Benson performed a ‘programming’ role in the network of accountants established through Cooper Brothers & Co offices in Africa. Through weak ties, he opened up opportunities to young African accountants to mould a profession and ultimately a future society. The future of a mutually conducive relationship between accounting and society belongs to those leaders in the profession ascribing to the qualities Benson imparted in his commitment to Africa: unequivocal commitment to quality; discipline in professional conduct and integrity; work ethic and acknowledgement of the social constellation of profession and society. This article identifies the need for an extended research agenda exploring the development of accounting knowledge, technology and standards in Africa to create, in one specific case, accounting for Nigeria. What were the accounting needs of the newly independent state and how has accountancy developed since the mid-1960s to diverge from or align with other accounting traditions? There is a need to know many more personal stories of early African accountants.