The door of the Dhaka University, popularly referred to as the Oxford of the East, was opened for the first time on 1 July 1921. The beginning of the study of “Accounting” in Dhaka University is linked to the year 1921 also. The first initiative was to establish the Department of Commerce; then came the movement to transform the Department of Commerce into a faculty where the Department of Accounting was formed as a pioneering Department.
On 31 January 1912, the Muslim delegates of East Bengal and Assam placed some specific proposals to the then Viceroy Lord Hardinge which touched upon different issues of interest to the Muslim community including education. As a response of these proposals, on 2nd February of that year, a decision was taken to prepare the constitution of Dhaka University as a precursor to the establishment of the University. This constitution was subsequently sent to the Government of India in the form of recommendation. Finally, the decision to establish Dhaka University was taken on 23 February 1912 (Roy, 1997: 104).
At its inception in 1921, the University had three Faculties — Arts, Science and Law. In the Faculty of Arts, there were eight Departments — Sanskrit and Bengali, English, Education, History, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Persian and Urdu, Philosophy, and Economics and Politics (DU, 2001b: 17). Accounting was taught as a subject of Commerce in the Department of Commerce under the Faculty of Arts beginning from 1922-23 academic session. At the beginning, the degree awarded was B.Com. (Pass). Since 1948-49 academic session, M.Com. course was introduced. The first batch of students were awarded the M.Com. degree in 1950.
