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Financial reporting in the context of crisis: reconsidering the impact of the 'mania' on early railway accounting

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  • S. McCartney
  • A. J. Arnold

Abstract

The patterns of change in the financial reporting practices of the early railway companies, and their causes, are important aspects of the evolution of accounting practice more generally. They have accordingly been widely discussed in the literature, although the views expressed have rarely been supported by reference to any very substantial or systematically derived bodies of empirical evidence. One of the most interesting and important suggestions in this literature is the claim that the early UK railway companies voluntarily made both quantitative and qualitative changes to their published accounting statements, in response to a crisis in shareholder confidence in the second half of the 1840s, consequent upon the collapse of the railway mania of 1845-47. The quantitative response involved the disclosure of far more information and the qualitative led to changes in the conceptual basis of reporting, from a cash to an accruals basis, changes that met with the satisfaction of the shareholders concerned and were important parts of the gradual evolution of financial reporting. The paper undertakes a systematic analysis of the financial accounting practices of the major early railway companies from 1840 until 1855. The mapping of the variety of such practices, and their changes over time, enable a re-examination of these important claims concerning the nature of the financial reporting response to one of its earliest crises.

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  • S. McCartney & A. J. Arnold, 2002. "Financial reporting in the context of crisis: reconsidering the impact of the 'mania' on early railway accounting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 401-417.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:11:y:2002:i:2:p:401-417
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180220145687
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, James, 1991. "The aura of accounting in the context of a crisis: Germany and the first world war," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(5-6), pages 487-520.
    2. Bryer, R. A., 1991. "Accounting for the "railway mania" of 1845-- A great railway swindle?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(5-6), pages 439-486.
    3. 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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    1. A.J. Arnold & S. McCartney, 2008. "The transition to financial capitalism and its implications for financial reporting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(8), pages 1185-1209, October.
    2. Mohamed Ali Dakkam, 2018. "qui et à quoi sert la comptabilité ? Un état de l'art et quelques réflexions théoriques pour dépasser le déterminisme des différents paradigmes," Post-Print hal-01907865, HAL.
    3. 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.
    4. Sudipta Basu, 2003. "Discussion of Enforceable Accounting Rules and Income Measurement by Early 20th‐Century Railroads," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 433-444, May.
    5. Gregory Waymire & Sudipta Basu, 2011. "Economic crisis and accounting evolution," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 207-232, August.
    6. Carola Frydman & Eric Hilt & Lily Y. Zhou, 2015. "Economic Effects of Runs on Early "Shadow Banks": Trust Companies and the Impact of the Panic of 1907," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(4), pages 902-940.

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