ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to report on the first phase of a long-term research program to identify the impact of UK accountants on the development of professional accountancy in other parts of the world. M. D. Prentis calculates that between 9% and 10% of UK emigrants from the 1850s to the 1890s were of Scottish origin. A common feature of emigration appears to be the frustration of the emigrant with conditions in the country of departure. It is therefore presumed in this study that the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh (SAE) emigrants were sufficiently frustrated with their economic and/or social conditions in Edinburgh to emigrate to the US The 59 SAE emigrants arrived in the US predominantly from Edinburgh. Forty-six appear to have travelled from that location, with a further 5 from other parts of the UK and the remaining 8 from various parts of the world.
