ABSTRACT
The accounting provisions of the Companies Act 1948 (CA48) represented a major change from the provisions of the preceding company legislation, the Companies Act 1929 (CA29) (Appendix One). Lee (1986,p.24) observes that the CA48 contained radically different accounting and auditing provisions from those of any previous enactment. Edey (1950) describes its provisions as representing a substantial stride forward in generally accepted accounting standards. The Accountant (28th July 1945,p.42) said that the report which formed the basis for the new provisions was one of those outstanding events that was certain to leave its mark indelibly on the history of company law. The accounting provisions of the CA48 were thus a significant change but the explanation of this change in corporate reporting regulation is one that has remained relatively unexplored. There thus exists a need for the historical process through which this regulatory change was generated to be further examined.
