This book focuses upon the Institute of Accounts (IA), an organization to which the modern United States accounting profession can trace its roots. The IA was organized in the early 1880s in New York City and, as discussed in this book, attracted a diverse membership that included some of the leading accounting thinkers of the period. The Institute of Accounts describes the association's early development, its usefulness to the needs of bookkeepers and accountants in the late nineteenth century, and its historical importance. The book begins with a description of the origins of the organization, its goals, its membership classifications, and its professional characteristics. The authors then discuss the problems facing bookkeepers and accountants in the late nineteenth century and the usefulness of the IA in addressing the needs of its members.
This is followed by consideration of how the thinking of IA leaders about the nature of accounting knowledge for many years unified the IA's membership by providing answers not only to questions of theory and practice, but also to how this knowledge could pay a role in assisting government and business leaders more effectively order a society experiencing substantial flux. The authors go on to analyse the factors leading to the IA's decline after the enactment of the first CPA law. The book concludes with a consideration of the legacy of the IA. The Institute of Accounts will be essential reading for accounting historians.