Reforming the Form of the Auditors’ Report: The Case of Building Societies, 1956-1960

The purpose of this study is to explore how the audit of building societies changed in the late 1950s in a reversion of audit objective from ‘fraud detection’ to ‘statement verification’ (Chandler et al., 1993: 452). Of particular interest is the analysis of the extended negotiations between the ICAEW and the Treasury over the reform of the form of the auditors’ report for building societies, which was implemented through the enactment of the Building Societies Act 1960 (BSA60) We show how change implemented through the BSA60 relieved chartered accountants from ‘out of tune’ (T233/1652) practice established by nineteenth century legislation, but to do so required them to take an alternative duty to report on internal control.