This book explores certain contemporary problems of accounting through the eyes and pens of historians. Many accounting problems are not new ones and it is therefore important to understand their history and development through the ages. This book places twentieth century studies in context and provides clues to possible solutions. The focus of this book is on companies and their financial reports and will be of use to students of economic and business history who wish to provide themselves with an accounting background in relation to the financial reports of companies they may be studying.

1: Illustrations of Corporate; 1: Introduction; 2: Accountancy Developments in a Public Utility Company in the Nineteenth Century; 3: Company Financial Statements; 4: Unilever; 5: Evolution of Corporate Reports; 6: A Historical Overview of Depreciation; 2: Specific Developments in Corporate Financial Reporting; 7: Introduction; 8: The Accounts of British Holding Company Groups; 9: Explaining National Differences in Consolidated Accounts; 10: Notes on the Evolution of the Statement of Sources and Applications of Funds; 11: A Brief History of Company Audits: 1840-1940; 12: The Auditor's Report Its Evolution in the U.S.A.; 3: Influences on Financial Reporting Developments; 13: Introduction; 14: Chronology; 15: Chronology; 16: Company Accounting in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 1; 17: The Development of Company Accounting Conventions; 18: The Origins of Modern Financial Reporting; 19: The Influence of Pressure Groups on Financial Statements in Britain; 20: The Accounting Profession and Disclosure in Published Reports, 1925-1935