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Purpose – this paper investigated the development of accounting profession in Kuwait by examining the processes involved in creating, maintaining and disrupting the development of accounting profession in Kuwait.Design/methodology/approach – this paper adopted a qualitative case study to examine the institutional work associated with the development of accounting profession in the State of Kuwait. The study employed semi-structured interviews and analysis of documents to generate insights into the institutional work involved in the development of accounting profession in Kuwait.Findings – the studies revealed political, technical and cultural institutional work engaged by various actors, individually and collectively in the creation, maintenance, and disruption of the development of accounting profession in Kuwait. The British imperialists, the Asians, Egyptians, other Arabs, the state actors, professional accountants in foreign accounting firms, and local actors in the Kuwait Accounting and Auditing Association, all engaged in various institutional work in the creation and transformation of the accounting profession in Kuwait.Practical implications – this paper demonstrates how different types of institutional work influence the development of institutions. Also, it brings to the table how some forms of institutional work could be deployed to counteract others in “creating”, “maintaining”, and “disrupting” the institutions.Originality/value – the paper adds to extant literature on institutional work, in which it has been realized that “denial” of training could be construed as an institutional work, in which theorization and rhetorical appeals are used to privilege one group of actors over others; and how “political” institutional work seemed to dominate the creation, maintenance and disruption of institutions within a wider social setting in Kuwait.

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