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non-existent. A public corporation could report what
financial information it desired or simply report nothing
at all.®
By 1900, only two of the four major organizations
currently influencing financial reporting (i.e., American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants, American
Accounting Association, Securities and Exchange Commission,
and New York Stock Exchange) were in existence and only the
New York Stock Exchange was exerting significant influence
on financial reporting. The American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants which was organized in 1886
under the name of American Association of Public Accountants
had only forty-five active members in 1896.^® The New York
Stock Exchange in 1869 had adopted a policy that companies
listed on the Exchange agree to publish an annual financial
report. Few companies, however, followed the policy. In
1895, the Exchange recommended that listed companies submit
an annual balance sheet and income statement to stock­
holders. However, not until 1897 was the Exchange success­
ful in extracting from a listed company a substantive
9. Marian V. Sears, "The American Businessman at
the Turn of the Century," Business History Review, 30:418-
419, December, 1956; David F. Hawkins, "The Development of
Modern Financial Reporting Practices Among American Manufacturing
Corporations," Business History Review, 37:135-
137, 140, Autumn, 1963; and John L. Carey, "Management's
Stake in Accounting Principles," Financial Executive, 32:24,
September, 1964.
10. Edwards, op. cit., pp. 83-84.
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