The Accountability of Municipal Corporations

Abstract

The popular view that market forces controlled the development of financial reporting practices among nineteenth‐century British companies has recently been shown, by Parker (1990), to be an oversimplification. Large companies engaged in the provision of public utilities, transportation and financial services were the subject of close regulation, though not necessarily or only for the purpose of shareholder protection. The nineteenth century also saw the creation of municipal corporations, and their development is marked by a further variation in the process of accounting change. A regulatory structure, including requirements for accountability, was established when the modern municipal corporation was created in 1834, and this broad framework remained in force without major amendment until 1930. The accounting practices employed by municipal corporations underwent fundamental change, however, to accommodate major alterations in the nature of their activities. The process of ‘voluntary’ change in response to market pressure received reinforcement from recommendations made by the highly active local‐authority‐oriented professional accounting body.

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