The book contains a collection of papers dealing with a range of controversial accounting issues which exercised the minds of local authority officials during the period 1909-1934 and the "solutions" embodied in the Accounts (Boroughs and Metropolitan Boroughs) Regulations 1930. The contributors to the debate were mainly local government officials and the items reproduced cover a wide range of matters such as the content of the abstract accounts; the need for standardization and an illuminating comparison of the nature and contents of municipal accounts with those of limited companies. A...

This book focuses on the way in which businessmen responded to the new problem of accounting for fixed assets when measuring periodic profit. The book is divided into four sections: the first embraces items that examine asset valuation procedures in general use during the nineteenth century. The second focuses on the particular practices that became popular among public utility companies. The third comprises studies on influences, particularly legal ones on the treatment of fixed assets in company accounts. The final section examines the likely economic effect of using particular valuation...