The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 18, No. 2 December 1991
John Richard Edwards THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES COLLEGE OF CARDIFF
THE PROCESS OF ACCOUNTING INNOVATION: THE PUBLICATION OF
CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNTS IN BRITAIN IN 1910 Abstract: The first
known example of a consolidated balance sheet published by a
British company was made available to shareholders of the
Pearson and Knowles Coal and Iron Company Ltd. in 1910. This
paper examines the reasons for this accounting change and
investi-gates the source of the necessary expertise. The
conclusion reached is that, in common with many other accounting
innovations, evolution-ary change occurred as the result of
modifications to an existing busi-ness practice. The process of
change in accounting is a topic of both interest and importance;
however, as a number of writers have pointed out, it remains a
neglected area requiring further research [Hopwood, 1987;
Previts, Parker and Coffman, 1990]. Change may come about as the
result of an invention (revolutionary change