Abstract
This contribution looks at the state of corporate financial reporting in the UK and the deliberate efforts that have been made and are being made to improve the level of reporting. Corporate financial reporting is an abstract concept which means a variety of things for a variety of users. In a competitive market, such as the business environment of the UK, customers, suppliers, employees, managers, investors, lenders and government (including tax authorities) need constant streams of information to assist them in their respective roles. In a regulated market, the regulator that serves as a surrogate for competition requires similar flows of information so as to regulate the market and stimulate customers, suppliers, employees, managers, investors and lenders to respond in that market in a way that is not dissimilar from a competitive market. Financial reporting is one constant stream of information available to these different constituencies.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Accounting Standards Board (ASB) (September 1991), Financial Reporting Standard No. 1 — Cash Flow Statements, London: ASB.
ASB (July 1992), Financial Reporting Standard No. 2, Accounting for Subsidiary Undertakings, London: ASB.
ASB (October 1992), Financial Reporting Standard No. 3, Reporting Financial Performance, London: ASB.
ASB (July 1993), Statement: Operating and Financial Review, London: ASB.
ASB (December 1993a), Financial Reporting Standard No. 4, Capital Instruments, London: ASB.
ASB (December 1993b), Discussion Paper: Goodwill and Intangible Assets, London: ASB.
ASB (April 1994), Financial Reporting Standard No. 5, Reporting the Substance of Transactions, London: ASB.
ASB (July 1994a), Amendment to SSAP 19, Accounting for Investment Properties, London: ASB.
ASB (July 1994b), Discussion Paper: Associates and Joint Ventures, London: ASB.
ASB (September 1994a), Financial Reporting Standard No. 6, Acquisitions and Mergers, London: ASB.
ASB (September 1994b), Financial Reporting Standard No. 7, Fair Values in Acquisition Accounting, London: ASB.
ASB (December 1994), Amendment to FRS 5, Reporting the Substance of Transactions: Insurance Broking Transactions and Financial Reinsurance, London: ASB.
ASB (October 1994), ‘Future events’ — publication of collaborative research study, Press Notice ASB PNS3, London: ASB.
Accounting Standards Committee, (1978), Setting Accounting Standards Report and Recommendations by the Accounting Standards Committee, London: ASC.
Accounting Standards Steering Committee (1975), Corporate Report: A Discussion Paper, London: ASSC.
Alexander, D. (1993), ‘A European true and fair view?’, European Accounting Review, 2, No. 1, pp. 59–80.
Alexander, D. (1994), ‘The true and fair view concept — towards an international perspective’, Working Paper Series No. HUSM/DA/21, The University of Hull.
Aliber, R. L. and Stickney, C. P. (1975), ‘Accounting measures of foreign exchange exposure: the long and short of it,’ The Accounting Review, 50, No. 1, January, pp. 44–57.
Arden, M. H. (1993), ‘Legal opinion on financial reporting standards and true and fair view’. Accountancy, July, pp. 122–3.
Arnold, J., Boyle, P., Carey, A., Cooper, M. and Wild, K. (1991), The Future Shape of Financial Reports, London: ICAEW.
Barwise, P., Higson, C., Likierman, A. and Marsh, P. (1989), Accounting for Brands, London: ICAEW and London Business School.
Brown, R. (1905), A History of Accounting and Accountants, Edinburgh.
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (1988), Report of the Commission to Study the Public’s Expectation of Audits, Toronto: CICA.
Chisnall, P. (1994), ‘Banks and the small company audit reforms’, Accountancy, 114, (1216), December, pp. 76–7.
Chopping D. and Skerratt, L. (1994), Applying GAAP 1994/95: A Practical Guide to Financial Reporting, third edition, London: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Citron, D. B. and Taffler, R. J. (1992), ‘The audit report under going concern uncertainties: an empirical analysis’, Accounting and Business Research, 22, No. 88, Autumn, pp. 337–45.
Collins, W., Davie, E. S. and Weetman, P. (1993), ‘Management discussion and analysis: an evaluation of practices in UK and US companies’, Accounting and Business Research, 23, No. 90, Spring, pp.123–37.
Cooke, T. E. and Whittaker, J. (1983), ‘Segment reporting — directors’ discretion or SSAP?’ Accountancy, 94, No. 1076, April, pp. 77–81.
Cooke, T. E. (1986), Mergers and Acquisitions, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Davies, M., Paterson, R. and Wilson, A, (1994), UK GAAP: Generally Accepted Accounting Practices in the United Kingdom, Basingstoke, Hants: Macmillan.
Dearing, R. (Sir) (1988), The Making of Accounting Standards: Report of the Review Committee under the Chairmanship of Sir Ron Dearing, London: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Department of Trade and Industry (July 1994), Small Company Audit: Implementing Regulations Come into Force in August, London: Department of Enterprise of the DTI.
Department of Trade and Industry (September 1994), Companies in1993–94: Report for the year ended 31 March 1994, presented pursuant to the Companies Act 1985 Section 729, London: HMSO.
Devine, C. (1963), ‘The rule of conservatism reexamined’, Journal of Accounting Research, 1, pp. 127–38.
Edwards J. R. (ed.) (1990), British Company Legislation and Company Accounts, 1844–1976, Vols. 1 and 2, New York: Arno Press.
Financial Reporting Review Panel (1992), Press Release No. 9: Progress Report to 30 June 1992, London: FRRP.
Fisher, L. (1994), ‘Big GAAP/Little GAAP’, Accountancy, 114, No. 1216, p. 23.
Hoffman, L. (QC) and Arden, M. H. (1983), ‘Joint Legal Opinion on True and Fair View’, addressed to the Accounting Standards Committee, reproduced in Accountancy, November, pp. 154–6.
Johnson, L. T. (1994), Future Events: A Conceptual Study of their Significance for Recognition and Measurement, Norwalk, CT: FASB.
Leach, R. and Stamp, E. (1981), British Accounting Standards: The First 10 Years, London: Woodhead-Faulkner.
Lee, T. (1979), ‘A brief history of company audits: 1840–1940’, Lee, T. A. and Parker, R. H. (eds), in The Evolution of Corporate Financial Reporting, Middlesex: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, pp. 153–63.
Lee, T. (1994), ‘Financial reporting quality labels: The social construction of the audit profession and the expectations gap’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 7, No. 2, pp.30–49.
Lee, T. A. and Parker, R. H. (1979), The Evolution of Corporate Financial Reporting, Middlesex: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
Lorensen, L. (1972), Reporting Foreign Operations of US Companies in US Dollars, Accounting Research Study 12, New York: AICPA.
Macve, R. (1981), A Conceptual Framework for Financial Accounting and Reporting: The Possibilities for an Agreed Structure, a Report prepared at the request of the Accounting Standards Committee, London: ICAEW.
McMonnies, P. N. (ed.) (1988), Making Corporate Reports Valuable, London: ICAS and Kogan Page.
Napier, C. J. (1983), Accounting for the Cost of Pensions, London: ICAEW.
Nobes, C. W. (1980), ‘A review of the translation debate’, Accounting and Business Research, 10, No. 40, Autumn, pp. 411–31.
Ordelheide, D. (1993), ‘True and fair view: A European and a German perspective’, European Accounting Review 2, No. 1, pp. 81–90.
Parker, R. H. (1994), ‘Debating true and fair in Australia: An exercise in deharmonization?’, Journal of International Accounting Auditing & Taxation, 3, No. 1, pp. 41–69.
Power, M. K. (1992), ‘The politics of brand accounting in the United Kingdom’, The European Accounting Review, 1, No. 1, May, pp. 39–68.
Schmitthoff, C. M. with Kay, M. and Morse, G. K. (1976), Palmer’s Company Law, Volume I, twenty-second edition, London: Stevens & Sons.
Solomons, D. (1989), Guidelines for financial reporting standards, a paper prepared for The Research Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and addressed to the Accounting Standards Committee, London: ICAEW.
Turley, S. (1992), ‘Developments in the structure of financial reporting regulation in the United Kingdom’, The European Accounting Review, 1, May, pp. 105–22.
Wallace, R. S. O. (1987), Disclosure of Accounting Information in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Nigeria, Ph.d. thesis, University of Exeter, Devon.
Wallace, R. S. O. and Cooke, T. E. (1990,) ‘The diagnosis and resolution of emerging issues in corporate disclosure practices’, Accounting and Business Research, 20, No. 78, Spring, pp. 143–51.
Walton, P. (1993), ‘Introduction: The true and fair view in British accounting’, European Accounting Review, 2, No. 1, pp. 49–58.
Watts, R. L. and Zimmerman, J. J. (1986), Positive Accounting Theory, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Zeff, S. A. (1993), ‘International accounting principles and auditing standards’, The European Accounting Review, 2, pp. 403–10.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1995 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cooke, T.E., Wallace, R.S.O. (1995). United Kingdom. In: Ordelheide, D. (eds) Transnational Accounting. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13233-1_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13233-1_30
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-13235-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-13233-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)