Purpose - This paper aims to document the history of accounting development in Madagascar over the last century. It reports the development and important events that took place between 1900 until the twenty-first century and discusses its impact on the development of accounting systems and practices in Madagascar. Design/methodology/approach - In order to do this it uses the Code of Commerce, 1807 to narrate the development in accounting regulation and the different accounting plans issued in the country over the last 100 years. Findings - Given that the Accounting Plan 2005 claims to have harmonized with the international financial reporting standards (IFRS), this paper analyzes the level of harmonization with the IFRS by comparing the Madagascar Accounting Plan 1987 and 2005 with the IFRSs to identify any missing issues which can be regarded as symptoms of disharmony. This paper concludes that accounting plan in Madagascar has been upgraded from an archaic system to a more global accounting plan, though there are still room for improvement. Practical implications - The study is grounded in the practical development of national accounting and provides lessons for developments in other developing countries. Originality/value - No other study has examined accounting developments in Mauritius and so the paper provides a key reference for future work.