ABSTRACT
This paper reviews the history of financial reporting by corporate groups in Australia, and in particular, the States of New South Wales and Victoria. Changes in Statutory and Stock Exchange ruies governing consolidated reporting are described and the financial reporting practices of Australian holding companies between 1930 and 1962 are surveyed. The evidence indicates that (a) while the practice was not widespread, some Australian holding companies supplemented their financial statements with consolidated financial statements prior to the incorporation of such a requirement in either legislation or Stock Exchange listing requirements; (b) the influence of Stock Exchanges on the evolution of this practice is somewhat less than that previously attributed to it; and (c) the rapid spread of this form of reporting in an essentially unregulated environment (N.S.W.) coincided with the development of a market for public debt securities.
