Educational accounting, accountability and accountants in the era of the ‘Scotch’ school boards,1872–1918

Abstract

This study examines the accounting arrangements surrounding Scottish school boards during the period 1872–1918, highlighting the statements and conventions used at local and national levels, together with the audit arrangements in place over the period. Each board treasurer maintained a bookkeeping system based on an analysed cash book and general ledger. This culminated in the local publication of an audited income and expenditure statement, annually, consolidated and published at national and parliamentary levels. The paper concludes that the success of school boards over the period examined owed much to this system, and, while their abolition was perhaps timely, it led to a loss of local accountability.