Reforming Accounting Education in a Transition Economy: A Case Study of Armenia

Armenia was one of the first countries to join the Soviet Union after the communist revolution of 1917. Historically, Armenia had been on friendly terms with Russia, which furnished Armenia with military protection up through the 19th century (Bournoutian, 2001; Sunny, 1993). As a Christian country, it was often in danger of invasion by the Turks, who tried to kill the population or convert them to Islam. Such a massacre actually occurred in 1915, which resulted in the deaths of a substantial portion of the Armenian population (Miller and Miller, 1999; Melson et al., 1992; Graber, 1996; Hovannisian, 1986; Dadrian, 1995), with many more fleeing to other countries. Interestingly enough, one of the young girls who was taken prisoner and sold into slavery to a Bedouin later found sanctuary with a young accountant (Derdarian, 1998). After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Armenia went to war with Azerbaijan, another former Soviet republic over Karabagh, an Armenian enclave located within the borders of Azerbaijan (Walker, 1991). It is now struggling to convert its accounting and legal systems into a Western, market model (World Bank, 2002; Libaridian, 1999). It is probably fair to say that there are now more Armenians living outside of Armenia than within. Many of them settled in Beirut, Venice, Jerusalem, California, France, and Australia, although there are Armenian communities in many other countries as well (Marsden, 1993). Mount Ararat, where the remains of Noah's Ark is supposed to have been found, used to be in Armenia, but is now in Turkey as the result of a change in borders after the Turk invasion.