ABSTRACT
Accountants are required to prepare and present financial statements. This chapter traces the evolution of financial statements, with particular emphasis on the companies being studied, and ascertains the changes that were made. At the same time, the attempt is made to discover how these changes came about. Format deals with the general make-up of the statements, while form is concerned with the arrangement of the accounts within the statements. Financial statements in more sophisticated form had to wait until the separation of management and ownership, or at least, until the growth of business to the extent that enough people were involved in its ownership so that all could not be intimately familiar with its operations. By 1850 the financial statements of the Bank had taken on a more professional tone. As the progression from trial balance to balance sheet is followed, it seems only natural that the assets would fall on the left hand side of the balance sheet.
