A history of corporate financial reporting in Britain

Setting the scene -- Nature and purpose of corporate financial statements -- Companies, shareholders and capital markets -- Early issues in financial reporting -- Financial reporting to c.1800 : the theory -- Financial reporting to c.1800 : the practice -- Nineteenth century issues -- Regulation vs laissez faire in nineteenth-century Britain -- Statutory companies and the double account system -- Company law -- Profits, dividends and capital maintenance -- Corporate legislation and pressure groups -- Financial reporting as misinformation -- Falsification of accounts -- Selected financial reporting issues -- Annual report and accounts -- Standardized accounting statements -- Group accounts -- Profits, provisions and reserves -- Tangible fixed assets -- Off-balance sheet financing -- Accounting for changing prices -- Cash and funds flow -- Recommendations, standards and a conceptual framework -- Reflections -- Continuity with change -- Bibliography -- Index