Anatomy of a Scottish CA practice: Lindsay, Jamieson & Haldane 1818–1918

Abstract

Lindsay, Jamieson & Haldane (L, J & H) was one of the largest and most influential chartered accountancy practices in Victorian Scotland. The sources of fee income of the firm are analysed and the significance of these sources to the wider profession north of the border during the nineteenth century are shown. It is revealed that L, J & H acquired much of its business on the basis of economic and social linkages and that the provision of services to the landed interest was of considerable importance to L, J & H and their professional competitors. The discussion of fee income reveals the significance of trust- related business and of non-corporate as well as corporate auditing, and identifies areas of work (such as judicial factories and remits) which have been largely neglected or misunderstood by accounting historians. It is concluded that generalizations concerning the changing work-load of Scottish accountants in terms of the early import of bankruptcy and its replacement by auditing are too simplistic. The persistence of such misconceptions is considered as due to a disproportionate concentration by commentators on discontinuities and technological determinism in accounting history, a teleological approach to historical investigation and an overreliance on secondary sources. True to his nature, with a zeal that, devoted to more dignified ends, would ensure respect and repute in his calling, he engirds himself like the octopus with tentacles of continued motion and retention, and sets himself about to secure a large clientele.