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'A sort of guide, philosopher and friend': the rise of the professional auditor in Britain

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  • Josephine Maltby

Abstract

This paper considers the legal and financial context in which professional audit emerged in Britain during the nineteenth century. It concludes that an important contributing factor to the rise of the audit profession was its provision of advice on prudent accounting, which represented a distinctive competence. The capture of a jurisdiction over business advisory services from the legal profession involved, however, a relationship of complicity with management and large insider investors the interests of social capital- to the exclusion of small investors, who were stigmatized as 'speculators'.

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  • Josephine Maltby, 1999. "'A sort of guide, philosopher and friend': the rise of the professional auditor in Britain," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 29-50.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acbsfi:v:9:y:1999:i:1:p:29-50
    DOI: 10.1080/095852099330359
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Watts, Ross L & Zimmerman, Jerold L, 1983. "Agency Problems, Auditing, and the Theory of the Firm: Some Evidence," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 613-633, October.
    2. Armstrong, Peter, 1987. "The rise of accounting controls in British capitalist enterprises," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 415-436, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Edwards, John Richard & Anderson, Malcolm & Chandler, Roy A., 2007. "Claiming a jurisdiction for the "Public Accountant" in England prior to organisational fusion," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 61-100.
    2. Stephen Walker, 2004. "Conflict, collaboration, fuzzy jurisdictions and partial settlements. Accountants, lawyers and insolvency practice during the late 19th century," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 247-265.
    3. Billings, Mark & Capie, Forrest, 2009. "Transparency and financial reporting in mid-20th century British banking," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 38-53.
    4. Toms, Steven, 2015. "Fraud and Financial Scandals: A Historical Analysis of Opportunity and Impediment," MPRA Paper 68255, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. 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.
    6. Andrew Popp, 2000. "Specialty production, personal capitalism and auditors' reports: Mintons Ltd., c.1870-1900," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 347-369.
    7. Malcolm Anderson, 2000. "Accounting History Publications 1999," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 385-393.
    8. Channuntapipat, Charika & Samsonova-Taddei, Anna & Turley, Stuart, 2020. "Variation in sustainability assurance practice: An analysis of accounting versus non-accounting providers," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    9. Janette Rutterford, 2012. "Valuing Equities in the UK and the US: Fashions and Trends," Chapters, in: Geoffrey Poitras (ed.), Handbook of Research on Stock Market Globalization, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Janette Rutterford, 2004. "From dividend yield to discounted cash flow: a history of UK and US equity valuation techniques," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 115-149.
    11. Poullaos, Chris, 2016. "Canada vs Britain in the imperial accountancy arena, 1908–1912: Symbolic capital, symbolic violence," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-63.
    12. Lee, T.A. & Clarke, F. & Dean, G., 2008. "The dominant senior manager and the reasonably careful, skilful, and cautious auditor," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 677-711.
    13. Joyce, Yvonne, 2014. "Knowledge mandates in the state–profession dynamic: A study of the British insolvency profession," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 590-614.
    14. A. C. Storrar & K. C. Pratt, 2000. "Accountability vs privacy, 1844-1907: the coming of the private company," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 259-291.
    15. Josephine Maltby, 2001. "Second thoughts about ' Cases in Auditing '," Accounting Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 421-428.
    16. Christopher Humphrey, 2008. "Auditing research: a review across the disciplinary divide," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(2), pages 170-203, February.

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