“We do not share the troubles of our trans-Atlantic cousins" : The statutory framework for accounting in the UK and the US in the interwar period

“American experience has proved, we think, that the greater the degree of control exercised by governmental authorities over corporate accounting, the greater is the number of difficulties which inevitably crop up; for this reason it seems to us that the task of the American accountant must today be much harder than that of his British brother” (The Accountant, 21 May 1938 p. 690). “The US financial reporting model places far more emphasis on extensive rules and regulations. This focus on detailed rules can encourage compliance with the letter of the law rather than the spirit” Submission to the Treasury Committee’s Inquiry into the Financial Regulation of Public Limited Companies by the ICAEW 10 April 202