United States of America

C. Richard Baker, Donna Rapaccioli and Morton B. Solomon

Chapter Chapter 32 in Transnational Accounting, 1995, pp 2957-3095 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The earliest financial statements in the United States were similar in many respects to modern ones, with such features as a depreciation allowance that offset the cost of buildings and equipment (and livestock and slaves). Industrialization increased the complexity of commercial operations, and accounting procedures became more complicated. Alternative procedures developed because no common framework existed for establishing accounting principles. Various historical events have influenced the development of accounting principles (see Table I.1). For example, the introduction of the income tax in the United States in 1913 required detailed and defensible accounting records. Various tax laws have allowed different accounting practices, and many of the alternatives are reflected in current accounting standards. The problems caused by accounting alternatives were recognized as early as the First World War, when the federal government attempted to audit cost-plus fixed-fee military contracts. As a result, a plea for uniformity was issued in the Federal Reserve Bulletin in 1917. By the beginning of World War II, standardized auditing procedures had been adopted in place of standardized accounting procedures, and non-uniformity increased as increasingly difficult and complicated transactions developed. Accounting procedures have evolved and adapted to a changing business climate over a period of many years (Chatfield, 1974; Zeff, 1976).

Keywords: Cash Flow; Income Statement; Generally Accepted Accounting Principle; Financial Account Standard Board; Accounting Principle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1995
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-13233-1_32

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349132331

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-13233-1_32

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().