Development of British railway accounting: 1800-1911

              The Accounting Historians Journal Vol. 11, No. 1 Spring 1984
John J. Glynn
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH RAILWAY ACCOUNTING: 1800-1911
Abstract: This paper concentrates on accounting aspects arising from the devel-opment of the railways. Railways in nineteenth century Britain had a major in-fluence in reshaping some of the legislative procedures in parliament, the develop-ment of the capital market, and the economy at large. A background is provided to the first government regulations, introduced in 1840, and all subsequent major developments which led up to the Railway Companies (Accounts and Returns) Act, 1911. Why had it taken over eighty years (since the first commercial railway was established in 1830) to produce a standard presentation of accounts and financial reports?
Introduction1
While the intention of this article is to concentrate on accounting aspects arising from the development of the railways, it is also nec-essary to have an appreciation of the economic and political climate of the time. Railways in the nineteenth century had a major influ-ence in reshaping some of the legislative procedures in parliament, the development of the capital market, and the economy at large. The first government regulations for the control of railways, as a whole, came in 1840 when the Board of Trade Railway Department was set up. This was the forerunner of the present Ministry of Trans-port which was established in 1919. Some twenty-eight years later, in 1868, the "Regulation of Railways Act" made it obligatory for all railways to render accounts half-yearly according to the forms pre-scribed in the first schedule of that Act. Many historians regarded the early and middle decades of the nineteenth century as being the heyday of laissez-faire for companies. Why then were steps taken to regulate the railways?
From 1800, many railways were built by private agreement with landowners, often as feeders to canals. Occasionally, canal owners
This is an abbreviated version of a paper presented by the author at the Associ-ation of University Teachers of Accounting Conference, Dundee, April 1981. I am very grateful for the comments received on earlier drafts of this paper; especially those from Professors J. Kitchen and R. H. Parker.