Purpose This paper aims to trace the process of setting up and developing the higher accounting education curriculum in Tunisian public institutions, stressing the period 1956–1981. Further, this study intends to highlight specificities of the Tunisian context during this period, focusing on the main roles of the Tunisian State and some key actors. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a historical approach. Two complementary methodologies were used, mainly, documentary study and semi-directive interviews with key actors heavily involved in higher education. The critical accounting framework and Foucault’s power-knowledge relationship were mobilized to this end. Findings The paper provides a general overview of higher accounting education in the Tunisian context, focusing on three specific periods. First, in the post-independence period (1956–1960), higher accounting education was a very underdeveloped French heritage. Second, during the 1960s, the Tunisian State focused on institutional and structural measures to set up the initial foundation. Those measures were impacted by the Tunisian socialist economic system, the development of capital human and the cultural French influence, at once. Third, the 1970s were essentially marked by the role of university-scholars and professional-accountants to set up a higher accounting curriculum. The market-oriented economy and the higher social equity are assumed to influence the above-mentioned setting-up. The culmination of this extending process was the unification and publication of the first official program of accounting studies, at the start of 1981. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to trace the process of setting up and developing of higher accounting education curriculum in Tunisia. This study contributes to a better understanding of this process, shedding some light on the specificities of the Tunisian context during the period 1956 to 1981.