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Part 1. Setting the Scene Chapter 1. Nature and Purpose of Corporate Financial Statements 1. Scope of text 2. Nature of accounting change 3. Agency theory 3.1. Lack of goal congruence 3.2. CFS as a social construction 4. The British experience 5. Objectives of periodic financial statements 5.1. Origins of stewardship reporting 5.2. Early recognition of decision usefulness 5.3. Changing objectives of CFS 6. Review Chapter 2. Companies, Shareholders and Capital Markets 1. Introduction 2. Origin of joint stock 3. East India Company 4. Speculation and risk 5. South Sea Company 6. Effect of the ‘Bubble Act’ 7. Chartered and statutory companies 8. Registered company 9. Origin of limited liability 10. Rise of the limited liability company 11. Investors and capital markets 12. Post World War 2 13. Review Part 2. Early Issues in Financial Reporting Chapter 3. Financial Reporting to c.1800. The Theory 1. Introduction 2. Trading environment 3. Accounting statements of the early modern period 4. Asset measurement procedures 4.1. Merchandize 4.2. Ships 4.3. Voyages 4.4. Estates, land and houses 4.5. Household furnishings, movables and valuables 4.6. Securities and annuities 4.7. Miscellaneous measurement issues 5. Review Chapter 4. Financial Reporting to c.1800. The Practice 1. Introduction 2. Balance sheet 2.1. East India Company balance sheet 1782 2.2. Languvelack Copper Works balance sheet 1745 3. Profit and loss account 4. Profit measurement and asset valuation 5. Fixed assets 5.1. Depreciation 6. Inventories 7. Debtors 8. Path dependence Part 3. Nineteenth Century Issues Chapter 5. Regulation vs Laissez Faire in Nineteenth-century Britain 1. Introduction 2. Pursuit of improved accountability 3. Early accounting regulations 4. A new philosophy 5. Laissez-faire accountability 6. Model articles of association 7. Customized articles of association 8. Regulated companies 9. Review Chapter 6. Statutory Companies and the Double Account System 1. Introduction 2. Statutes of incorporation 2.1. General statutes 3. Construction of the double account system 3.1. Capital account 3.2. General balance sheet 3.3. Towards accruals accounting 4. Monteagle committee 5. Regulation of railways act 1868 5.1. Criticisms of the double account system 6. Review Part 4. Company Law Chapter 7. Profits, Dividends and Capital Maintenance 1. Limited liability and creditor protection 2. Capital maintenance rules 3. Dividend cases 3.1. Uncertainty 3.2. Depreciation 3.3. Realized and unrealized capital profits 3.4. Periodic or accumulated profits 4. Distributable profit versus reported profit 5. Statutory definition of distributable profit 6. Review Chapter 8. Corporate Legislation and Pressure Groups 1. Introduction 2. Making new law 3. Gladstone committee 4. Davey committee 5. Warmington committee 5.1. Exploiting statutory loopholes 6. Wrenbury committee 7. Greene committee 8. Cohen committee 9. Jenkins committee 10. Review Part 5. Financial Reporting as Misinformation Chapter 9. Falsification of Accounts 1. Introduction 2. Railway mania 3. City of Glasgow Bank 3.1. The deception 3.2. Unlimited liability 3.3. Statutory audit of banks 4. Royal Mail case 4.1. Expansion and financial instability 4.2. The deception 4.3. The prosecution 4.4. Legal vs moral responsibility 4.5. Off-balance sheet financing 4.6. Regulatory responses 5. Review Part 6. Selected Financial Reporting Issues Chapter 10. Annual Report and Accounts 1. Introduction 2. Regulation of CFS 3. Accounting thought and accounting innovation 4. AR&A in mid-Victorian Britain 5. Publishing less rather than more 1900-1930 5.1. Companies Act 1928 6. Transforming levels of disclosure 1930-1950 7. Lull before the storm 8. Additional CFS 9. Ever-lengthening AR&A 9.1. Discretionary disclosures 10. Review Chapter 11. Standardized accounting statements 1. Introduction 2. Early initiatives 3. Standardization debate 4. Companies act 1981 4.1. Explaining an historical discontinuity 5. Tiptoeing in the direction of standardization 6. Review Chapter 12. Group Accounts 1. Introduction 2. Economic background 3. Legal entity-based accounts 4. Problem recognized 5. Group accounts – two early examples 6. Greene committee 7. Explaining delayed accounting change 8. Voluntarism and regulation 9. Post-war economic developments 10. Acquisition and merger methods 11. Associated companies 12. Review Chapter 13. Profits, Provisions and Reserves 1. Introduction 2. Secret reserves 2.1. Heyday of secret reserves 2.2. Reassessing legitimacy 3. Earnings as performance indicator 3.1. True and fair 4. Measuring ‘normal’ profits 4.1. Provisions and Reserves 5. Capital reserves 6. Non-recurring items – SSAP 6 7. Review Chapter 14. Tangible Fixed Assets 1. Introduction 2. Fixed asset accounting practices to 1900 2.1. Railway companies 2.2. Practices elsewhere 2.3. Influences 2.3.1 Government committees 2.3.2 Writers 2.3.3 Consultants 2.3.4 Legal issues 3. 1900-1950 3.1. Depreciation 3.2. Revaluation 3.3. Disclosure 3.4. Closer regulation 4. Post-1950 4.1. Historical cost vs. valuation 4.2. Depreciation 5. Review Chapter 15. Off-balance Sheet Financing 1. Introduction 2. Creative accounting 3. Off-balance sheet financing 3.1. Court line 4. Leasing 4.1. Definition 4.2. Accounting treatment 5. Substance vs form – a jurisdictional dispute 5.1. FRS 5. Reporting the substance of transactions 5.2. FRS 4. Capital instruments 6. Review Chapter 16. Accounting for Changing Prices 1. Introduction 2. What is profit? 3. RoAPs 3.1. Intra-organizational conflict 3.2. Public face of the profession 4. Asset revaluations on the rise 5. Academics enter the fray 6. Seeking an accounting standard 7. Modified historical cost accounting 8. Fair value Chapter 17. Cash and Funds Flow 1. Introduction 2. Revival of interest 3. Funds flow statement 4. Cash flow statement 5. Review Part 7. Standards and Concepts Chapter 18. Recommendations, Standards and a Conceptual Framework 1. Introduction 2. RoAPs 3. Rising tide of criticism 4. Accounting standards 5. Theoretical framework 5.1. Early institutional initiatives 5.2. SSAP 2. Disclosure of accounting policies 5.3. User decision oriented approach 5.4. Quest for a conceptual framework 6. Review Part 8. Reflections Chapter 19. Continuity with Change 1. Introduction 2. Regulations 2.1. Companies acts 2.2. Principles and standards 3. Accounting, politics and economic consequences 4. Legal vs moral responsibility 5. Earnings management and OBSF 6. Causes célèbres as game changers 7. Stewardship and decision usefulness 7.1. Durability of historical cost 7.2. Estimates and values 7.3. Review Appendices Appendix 1. Statutes Appendix 2. Recommendations on Accounting Principles Appendix 3. Statements of Standard Accounting Practice Appendix 4. Financial Reporting Standards