Accountancy Ancestors: Accountancy

The Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors (formerly known as the Society of Accountants and Auditors) was founded in 1885. The society changed its name to Society of Incorporated Accountants in 1954 and integrated with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 1957. A full background to the Society is given on the summary page for The Incorporated Accountants' Journal.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales was established by Royal Charter in May 1880 and continues as the largest accountancy body in Europe to this day.

Accountancy was launched in October 1938 with a remit to "appeal to and cater for all members of the the accountancy profession and not only those who are Incorporated Accountants" (Walter Holman, the then President writing in Accountancy in October 1938 - page 12). Unlike The Incorporated Accountants' Journal the remit for Accountancy saw the focus of the journal move from Society proceedings to issues affecting the wider profession.

The integration plans published in 1957 proposed that Accountancy should be taken over by 'the English Institute' and following a successful integration vote the editorial in the November 1957 edition (p456) proclaimed: "It is a pleasure for us to confirm that a consequence of integration will be that ACCOUNTANCY will be taken over by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and published monthly as its official organ. We look forward to appearing shortly under the new auspices and to serving a wider readership than before."

New printing processes adopted in 1962 enabled a greater number of photographs to be published in the journal. At the same time the number of obituaries reported in the journal dropped dramatically.

The last edition of Accountancy magazine was printed in December 2018 following the announcement that the publishers would be switching their efforts to their news and insight service, Accountancy Daily.

1938-1965 (all issues indexed)

560 obituaries are listed in the obituaries index from this journal.

The index includes all obituaries published within the journal except for one line announcements of death and most references to deaths made in Council sessions (substantial eulogies given in Council have been included). The majority of obituaries indexed are for Incorporated Accountants and Chartered Accountants (ICAEW) but the listing also includes other persons of prominence in the wider accountancy profession, the legal profession, government and society.

1197 portraits are listed in the portraits index from this journal.

The portraits index includes details of photographs of individual members/prominent figures in society, named members in group photographs and caricatures published in the journal.

388 assorted illustrations are listed in the illustrations index from this journal.

A number of non-portrait photographs were published in the journal, particularly since the late 1950s, ranging from the computers of the time to ICAEW events. These are included in the list of general illustrations.