Contextualizing the Process of Accounting Regulation: A Study of Nineteenth‐Century British Friendly Societies

Abstract

Friendly societies date from the seventeenth century and have been the subject of statutory recognition and regulation since 1793. These societies developed rapidly in the nineteenth century as a mechanism of self‐help for the emerging industrial working class. This article embraces an historical examination of the social, economic and political contexts within which a discourse on the issue of their regulation took place and reveals the ideologies underpinning the disciplinary framework that was constructed. Ideas of the philosophical radicals were influential in making friendly societies the subject of closer regulation. This development came at a time when laissez‐faire as a guide to government action gave ground to the acceptance of the need for state control in the endeavour to enhance the common good. The concepts of paternalism and financial safety are found to have influenced the decision to regulate friendly societies, and the disciplinary framework constructed is located within the range of provisions applying to organizational entities operating in nineteenth‐century Britain.