IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/acctbr/v49y2019i5p477-499.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial scandals: a historical overview

Author

Listed:
  • Steven Toms

Abstract

I examine the incidence of fraud from c.1720 to 2009 and relate it to the occurrence of significant financial scandals. Focusing on the UK, and US prior to Enron, and using a detailed dataset of significant events and news content, underpinned by examination of specific watershed scandals, the paper highlights the regulatory response to scandals and the implications for accounting and financial reporting. The evidence reveals the incidence of fraud and financial scandal to be historically contingent and skewed towards certain sectors, particularly banking and finance, facilitated by complex group structures and international capital mobility, and mediated by managerial incentives and ownership concentration. Financial reporting and auditing can mitigate fraud opportunities in all sectors and businesses without complex group structures, and the accounting profession achieved some success in this respect up to the mid-1970s. Since then, the profession has been increasingly challenged by, and to some degree implicated in, the development of interconnected and international business networks, which, combined with wider financial deregulation, has led to a resurgence of fraud and financial scandal not previously experienced since the mid-nineteenth century.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Toms, 2019. "Financial scandals: a historical overview," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 477-499, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:49:y:2019:i:5:p:477-499
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2019.1610591
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00014788.2019.1610591
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00014788.2019.1610591?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Collins, Michael & Baker, Mae, 2003. "Commercial Banks and Industrial Finance in England and Wales, 1860-1913," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199249862.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yunchuan Sun & Xiaoping Zeng & Ying Xu & Hong Yue & Xipu Yu, 2024. "An intelligent detecting model for financial frauds in Chinese A‐share market," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 1110-1136, July.
    2. Ivanka Vranic & Veljko Samardzic & Tatjana Davidov & Zeljko Grubljesic & Slobodan Popovic, 2021. "Significance Of Consideration Of Internal Control And Internal Audit In The Business Of Companies That Need To Implement The Implementation Mentioned Within The Accounting Policy Of The Company," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 3, pages 37-44, June.
    3. Hussein Ali Mroueh, 2024. "The Role of Financial Audit in the Corporate Governance Process: An In-depth Analysis," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 1, pages 36-42.
    4. Jonathan A. Batten & Igor LonČarski & Peter G. Szilagyi, 2022. "Financial Market Manipulation, Whistleblowing, and the Common Good: Evidence from the LIBOR Scandal," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 58(1), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Yousaf, Imran & Riaz, Yasir & Goodell, John W, 2023. "What do responses of financial markets to the collapse of FTX say about investor interest in cryptocurrencies? Event-study evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    6. Saeid Homayoun & Vahid Molla Imeny & Mahdi Salehi & Mahdi Moradi & Simon Norton, 2022. "Which Is More Concerning for Accounting Professionals-Personal Risk or Professional Risk?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-13, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vincent Bignon & Marc Flandreau & Stefano Ugolini, 2012. "Bagehot for beginners: the making of lender‐of‐last‐resort operations in the mid‐nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(2), pages 580-608, May.
    2. Ponce, Jorge, 2010. "Lender of last resort policy: What reforms are necessary?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 188-206, April.
    3. Acheson, Graeme G. & Turner, John D., 2008. "The death blow to unlimited liability in Victorian Britain: The City of Glasgow failure," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 235-253, July.
    4. Bogle, David & Coyle, Christopher & Turner, John D., 2020. "Capital Market Development Over the Long Run: The Portfolios of UK Life Assurers Over Two Centuries," QBS Working Paper Series 2020/11, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    5. Jens Hagendorff & Michael Collins & Kevin Keasey, 2007. "Bank Governance and Acquisition Performance," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 957-968, September.
    6. Knott, Samuel & Richardson, Peter & Rismanchi, Katie & Sen, Kallol, 2014. "Financial Stability Paper 31: Understanding the fair value of banks’ loans," Bank of England Financial Stability Papers 31, Bank of England.
    7. Jansson, Walter, 2018. "Stock markets, banks and economic growth in the UK, 1850–1913," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(3), pages 263-296, December.
    8. Mae Baker & Caroline Eadsforth & Michael Collins, 2009. "Avoiding toxic assets and ensuring bank stability: English commercial bank investments, 1880-1910," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(6), pages 854-874.
    9. Campbell, Gareth & Coyle, Christopher & Turner, John D., 2016. "This time is different: Causes and consequences of British banking instability over the long run," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 74-94.
    10. David A Bogle & Christopher Coyle & John D Turner, 2022. "Capital market development over the long run: the portfolios of UK life assurers over two centuries [Corporate ownership and control in Victorian Britain]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(3), pages 370-398.
    11. Ian Webster, 2018. "The Public Works Loan Board and the growth of the state in nineteenth‐century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(3), pages 887-908, August.
    12. Mark Billings & Forrest Capie, 2011. "Financial crisis, contagion, and the British banking system between the world wars," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 193-215.
    13. Bogle, David A. & Coyle, Christopher & Turner, John D., 2020. "Capital market development over the long run: The portfolios of UK life assurers over two centuries," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2020-09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    14. Flandreau, Marc & Chavaz, Matthieu, 2016. "“High & Dry†: The Liquidity and Credit of Colonial and Foreign Government Debt and the London Stock Exchange (1880-1910)," CEPR Discussion Papers 11679, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Button, Richard & Knott, Samual & Macmanus, Conor & Willison, Matthew, 2015. "Desperate adventurers and men of straw: the failure of City of Glasgow Bank and its enduring impact on the UK banking system," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 55(1), pages 23-35.
    16. Mark Billings & Simon Mollan & Philip Garnett, 2021. "Debating banking in Britain: The Colwyn committee, 1918," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(6), pages 944-965, August.
    17. Pål Vik, 2017. "‘The computer says no’: the demise of the traditional bank manager and the depersonalisation of British banking, 1960–2010," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(2), pages 231-249, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:49:y:2019:i:5:p:477-499. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RABR20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.