Uk accounting regulation: an historical perspective

Changes in Practice

The advocates of consolidated accounting were however achieving a slow victory of

thought rather than deed. Bircher (1988a) in his research of the adoption of consolidated

accounting in the UK describes how by the end of the 1930s, there was a general

acceptance of the idea, which was backed up by the Stock Exchange requiring these as a

condition of new listings in 1939, although many existing companies were slow to adopt

this new practice until they were forced to do so by the 1948 Companies Act.

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