The paper examines an early case of creative accounting, and how, during British industrialization, accounting was enlisted by the manufacturers’ interest to resist demands, led by the ‘Ten hours’ movement, for limiting the working day. In contrast to much of the prior literature, which...

Predictions from dominant strands of the management strategy and business history literature suggest that the adoption of the multi-divisional form is associated with corporate success. There is theoretical support for this contention and, in certain non-British contexts and historical periods,...

Using accounting records and financial data for a sample of cotton companies, their individual and collective business histories between 1870 and 1914 are presented. The process of capital accumulation is advanced as a crucial ingredient of the history of Lancashire textiles. A rising class of...