Auditing in the United States: a historical perspective

This article reports several archival auditing discoveries and episodes, including significant previously unpublished ones, in a context that relates auditing to early corporate enterprises in the United States. While the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's reliance on its audit committee of director...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Abacus (Sydney) 2005-02, Vol.41 (1), p.21-39
Main Authors: Flesher, Dale L., Previts, Gary John, Samson, William D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Audit committees
Auditing
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Corporate governance
Historical analysis
History
Mobile and Ohio Railroad
Ohio Canal Company
Railroads
Studies
United States: Economic history
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article reports several archival auditing discoveries and episodes, including significant previously unpublished ones, in a context that relates auditing to early corporate enterprises in the United States. While the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's reliance on its audit committee of directors from its inception in 1827 and the functions of the auditing committee of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in the 1850s are the principal subjects of the article, other railroad examples are also provided. These uses of auditing in the early corporate United States provide materials which provide a useful perspective for today's accounting researchers and practitioners as to the fundamental control and governance values of the auditing function. The article advances the basis for explaining the origins and development of auditing in the United States.
ISSN:0001-3072
1467-6281
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6281.2005.00167.x