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The rise of modern accounting and the fall of the public company: the Lancashire cotton mills 1870-1914

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  • Toms, J. S.

Abstract

This paper describes the main features of a system of open corporate accountability to active working and middle class investors supported by a relatively efficient capital market operating in late nineteenth century Lancashire. The economic causes and social consequences of the collapse of this system are documented and analysed with special reference to the process of accounting change. The centralisation of share ownership was associated with the rise of a clique of new directors skilled at mill flotation. This new group of shareholder entrepreneurs are shown to be the instigators and beneficiaries of the adoption of modern accounting practices.
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  • Toms, J. S., 2002. "The rise of modern accounting and the fall of the public company: the Lancashire cotton mills 1870-1914," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(1-2), pages 61-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:27:y:2002:i:1-2:p:61-84
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    3. Toms, Steven, 2005. "Financial control, managerial control and accountability: evidence from the British Cotton Industry, 1700-2000," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 627-653.
    4. David Higgins & Steve Toms, 2003. "Financial distress, corporate borrowing, and industrial decline: the Lancashire cotton spinning industry, 1918-38," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 207-232.
    5. Janni Grouleff Nielsen & Rainer Lueg & Dennis van Liempd, 2019. "Managing Multiple Logics: The Role of Performance Measurement Systems in Social Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Valerio Antonelli & Raffaele D?Alessio & Emanuela Mattia Cafaro & Michele Bigoni, 2019. "The Pope and the Train: Financial Reporting Practices in the Railroad Companies of the Papal States (1846-1870)," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(2), pages 7-34.
    7. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    8. Toms, Steven & Fleischman, Richard K., 2015. "Accounting fundamentals and accounting change: Boulton & Watt and the Springfield Armory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-20.

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