ABSTRACT
Through control of accounting education, organization of the accounting occupation, rules of corporate governance and governmental accounting itself, the Portuguese government adopted accounting technologies in an effort to shape and normalize decisions in order to achieve desirable objectives for the empire. This was particularly so during the reigns of D. José I and D. João VI: the former was responsible for initiatives to improve control over and connect the Empire, including the spread of use of double entry bookkeeping in the Portuguese metropolis; the latter was responsible for initiatives to achieve the same ends once the metropolis moved to Brazil.
