ABSTRACT
This chapter has been based on an analysis of published financial reports of a large public company which is still very much in business. In the case of each issue of shares given in exchange for shares in other companies or for businesses acquired, the value placed on the investment or acquisition was the nominal value of the shares issued. Any business historian wishing to study the full state of affairs of DCL. during the period would therefore have to reconstruct consolidated financial statements for the group as a whole. The Companies Act 1900 contained one of the most far-reaching provisions affecting the financial reporting of companies. The auditor was not required to be professionally qualified but he could not be a director or officer of the company. He was given the right to obtain access to all necessary sources of information in order to report on the truth and correctness of the balance sheet.
