Reviewed by Frank L. Clarke University of Sydney

Unless one knows the personalities involved, the history of an administrative body could be dull, uninspiring and seemingly useless. Whereas some may find that this book fits into that mold snugly, if one reads “between the lines” it is quite the opposite. Frequently, such an account of the comings and goings of a body like The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia will display all the victories and refer only to the happier occasions in its history. The “losses” and any troubled times will be pushed aside out of sight lest they dinted the current public image of a smooth running organization with its act together. Thankfully such a format has been discarded for this book.

The first fifty years of the Victorian Branch of the Institute are detailed through five chapters giving such uninviting titles that the temptation to set it all aside is quite compelling. The chapters, “Origins,” “The Pre-war Years,” “War Years,” “The Research Society,” and “Professional Expansion,” are poor descriptions of their content, their potential for capturing and keeping the interest of readers, and for giving an interesting insight of the birth of a professional accountancy body.

Although its title gives the impression of a dour recall of stuffy meetings at which a new branch of an already existing body emerged, the first chapter traces not only the conception of the Victorian Branch, but also some of courtship of the accountancy bodies preceding the formation of The Institute of Chartered Ac-countants in Australia. In this regard, Chapter 1 is of particular interest to Australian accountants, for much of what it contains mirrors the mating ritual currently being performed by the hierarchies of the Australian accountancy bodies prior to deciding whether to merge. Chapter 1 shows that the path to such things is never smooth. It details the laborious procedure of acquiring a Royal Charter and the difficult task of merging existing bodies. Such is far from dull reading. For not all of the action was as friendly and pleasant as might be imagined. With refreshing candour, sufficient recall is made of the infighting for a clear picture to be formed of the climate of conflict surrounding the Institute’s birth, without damaging reputations or creating the impression that it was an all-in brawl. Those events are interesting sidelights of what must inevitably occur when men with a vision set out to bring those with diverse interests and backgrounds together. Recall of the conflicts between accountants in the various Australian states as their respective administrative bodies jockeyed to become a dominant force in the proposed new Chartered Institute makes good reading.

The growth of professionalism and the emerging identity of Chartered Accountants as an important sector of Australian society and the social concern of members during the depression are outlined in Chapter 2. It was no mean feat for any new body to earn such a reputation during those harsh times. The expected stagnation during the war years is shown in Chapter 3 to have been avoided by the older members’ continuous efforts to keep lectures and other professional betterment activities going. The Victorian Branch’s research society emerged as the members’ factotem. Chapter 4 explains how it conducted research lectures, sponsored other educational activities, recreational pursuits and conferences, and husbanded the

Institute’s first accounting standards committee. It comes as no surprise that the Victorian Branch provided inaugural members of the Australian Accountancy Research Foundation and of the Accounting Standards Committee, the bodies now primarily responsible for shaping accountancy in Australia. In that vein, Chapter 5 gives a good account of the Branch’s influential role in the drafting of the Companies Act (Vict.) 1958, which became the template for subsequent “uniform” legislation in all the Australian states during 1961.
The book contains a number of interesting anecdotes about pro-fessional accountancy in Australia. For example, it explains how A. A. Fitzgerald, then the first editor of The Chartered

Accountant in Australia, was carpeted by the new General Council of the In-stitute for publishing material in the journal “. . . calculated to disturb the peace of the Institute.” The offensive material was a letter from a “dissident” member questioning the legality of the election of Councillors without issuing voting-papers to the members at large. It sparked off a bitter debate over the meaning of the Institute’s by-laws before the ink was dry. In the wash-up, Fitzgerald resigned. He later became the editor of the rival journal, The Australian Accountant (then published by the Commonwealth Institute of Accountants). Another example of anecdotal material is the open comment regarding the obvious rivalry between the New South Wales and the Victorian branches of the Institute during those early days.

Thus, this book should be a valuable source for any historian looking into the background of professional accountancy in Australia. The tone of the book suggests there is much more to tell about those early days of the profession in Australia than it covers. The author pulls few punches, but is quick to acknowledge the contributions of particular individuals to this unique half century of development in professional accountancy.