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'Publishing your private affairs to the world': corporate financial disclosures in the UK 1900-24

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  • A. J. Arnold

Abstract

The main intention of this paper is to consider the disclosure practices of quoted UK companies during an important period of change in financial accounting practice, the first quarter of the twentieth century. The paper focuses in particular on levels of disclosure, as indicated by the volume of information provided, and on more qualitative aspects of disclosure practice. Our knowledge of the patterns of disclosure practices over time is deficient, despite the work of a number of accounting historians, and is based upon a limited amount of primary evidence. The paper reviews current perspectives on the corporate financial disclosures of the period, provides new evidence on disclosure practices in the form of an analysis and comparison of the published and internal records of thirty quoted companies operating in four major industrial sectors in the UK during the period 1900-24 and draws some conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • A. J. Arnold, 1997. "'Publishing your private affairs to the world': corporate financial disclosures in the UK 1900-24," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 143-173.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acbsfi:v:7:y:1997:i:2:p:143-173
    DOI: 10.1080/095852097330694
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brief, Richard P., 1966. "The Origin and Evolution of Nineteenth-Century Asset Accounting," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 1-23, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Turner, John D., 2024. "Three centuries of corporate governance in the UK," QUCEH Working Paper Series 24-01, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    2. Leslie Hannah, 2007. "Pioneering Modern Corporate Governance: a View from London in 1900," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-487, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    3. Heidhues, Eva & Patel, Chris, 2011. "A critique of Gray's framework on accounting values using Germany as a case study," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 273-287.
    4. Arnold, A.J., 2015. "Accounting's representation of industrial expansion and decline: Some evidence from practice at Vickers Shipbuilding, 1910–24," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 191-203.
    5. Leslie Hannah, 2007. "Pioneering Modern Corporate Governance: a View from London in 1900 (Subsequently published in "Enterprise and Society", vol. 8, no. 3, September 2007, pp. 642-86. )," CARF F-Series CARF-F-093, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    6. Toms, Steven & Shepherd, Alice, 2017. "Accounting and social conflict: Profit and regulated working time in the British Industrial Revolution," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 57-75.
    7. Billings, Mark & Capie, Forrest, 2009. "Transparency and financial reporting in mid-20th century British banking," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 38-53.
    8. A. J. ARNOLD & S. McCARTNEY, 2011. "‘Veritable gold mines before the arrival of railway competition’: but did dividends signal rates of return in the English canal industry?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(1), pages 214-236, February.

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    Keywords

    Financial Accounting; Disclosure Levels;

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