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FEMALE ENTRY TO PUBLIC ACCOUNTINGIN SCOTLAND, 1900 - 1930:

THE IMPACT OF THE SEX DISQUALIFICATION (REMOVAL)ACT 1919.

Ken ShackletonDepartment of Accounting and Finance

University of GlasgowScotland

Address for correspondence:

Department of Accounting and FinanceUniversity of Glasgow71 Southpark AvenueGlasgow G12 8LEScotland

Telephone: (0)141 330 4137Fax: (0)141 330 4442e.mail: K.Shackleton@accfin.gla.ac.uk

Version: 29 April 1998

Draft submitted to The Second Asian Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in AccountingConference, Osaka, Japan, 4-6 August 1998.

Acknowledgements:

The author is grateful for financial support provided by the Faculty of Law andFinancial Studies, University of Glasgow, which facilitated this research. The authoracknowledges the permission of Peter Johnston, Secretary and Chief Executive of theInstitute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) for permission to consult andquote from the archives of the original Scottish Societies of Chartered Accountants andICAS.

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FEMALE ENTRY TO PUBLIC ACCOUNTINGIN SCOTLAND, 1900 - 1930:

THE IMPACT OF THE SEX DISQUALIFICATION (REMOVAL)ACT 1919

Abstract

This paper traces the determined efforts of women to secure membership of any of thethree Scottish Societies of Chartered Accountants during the first thirty years of thetwentieth century. From formation of the Scottish societies during the mid-nineteenth century, admission to indenture and membership had been an exclusive malepreserve, which was not questioned seriously despite the accelerating public awarenessof the suffragette movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Initialefforts by women to gain admission after 1914 were frustrated by the three Councils onthe grounds that there was no real demand; that constitutional change would not beaccepted by the members; that legal advice suggested that the respective Royal Chartersprecluded the admission of women; and finally that women should form their ownsociety which could then be associated with and supervised by the three Scottishsocieties. The paper details the conflicting attitudes and positions of the three Councilswhich were not always homogeneous, culminating with the substantial vote in favour ofadmission recorded by the Glasgow Institute in 1919, which failed nevertheless onconstitutional grounds, primarily because many younger members opposed the motion.However, the Sex Discrimination (Removal) Bill, (SDRA) enacted in November 1919contained a clause which precluded disqualification from membership on the grounds ofsex from any incorporated society, even if that society had been incorporated by RoyalCharter. This clause owed its existence to pressure from the lobbying activities of theFaculty of Actuaries in Edinburgh. As a direct consequence of the SDRA the firstfemale chartered accountant in the UK gaining admission by examination, IsobelGuthrie, was admitted to the Institute of Accountants and Actuaries in Glasgow in1923, stimulating a slow but inexorable process of gender desegregation within publicaccounting in Scotland. The data reviews the number of females who entered publicaccounting in Scotland in the first decade after the SDRA,1919.

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FEMALE ENTRY TO PUBLIC ACCOUNTINGIN SCOTLAND, 1900 - 1930:

THE IMPACT OF THE SEX DISQUALIFICATION (REMOVAL)ACT 1919

“Women have not so far exhibited any overpowering desire to becomeChartered Accountants. Happily for the nation, most girls look forward tomarriage as their ultimate destiny, and therefore regard any occupationthey may have taken up as more or less as a stop-gap”

(Editorial, The Accountants’ Magazinei, December 1919).

Introduction

A substantial number of papers have emerged during the last twenty years examiningthe participation rates of women in public accounting during the twentieth century inAustralia (Dando and Watson, 1986); Canada (McKeen and Richardson, 1988); the UK(Silverstone and Williams, 1979; Ciancanelli et al., 1990; Roberts and Coutts, 1992);and the US (Riede et al., 1987; Sokoloff, 1988; Lehman, 1992; Collins, 1993; Frenchand Meredith, 1994). This literature engaged in a wider discourse on genderdesegregation “...which focused on the inequalities experienced by women in anapparently consistent fashion throughout the world” (Glasner, 1987, p.295;Moore,1992). Naturally, because the participation rates of women in public accountingincreased significantly after about 1970 most of the empirical work which has beenreported in the literature, has concentrated on these post 1970 developments. This isconsistent with the work of Beller (1985) and Jolly et al. (1990) which demonstratedthat sex desegregation in managerial and professional speciality fields in the US,including accountants and financial managers, had increased most rapidly from 1970 to1980.

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Kirkham and Loft (1993) conducted an historical investigation of gender and theconstruction of the professional accountant from 1870 to 1930 based on data in Englandand Wales. Kirkham and Loft concluded that:

“By the eve of the First World War, the ‘professional accountant’ hadestablished a distinctly masculine identity. The clerk, however, was anambiguous construct; its gender was being contested but was increasinglycoming to be seen as feminine” (p.551).

The Kirkham and Loft study speculated that the situation in Scotland might be verydifferent from the social climate south of the border because:

“Scottish law, education, business institutions and social stratification, whilsthaving commonalities with their English and Welsh counterparts, neverthelesshave developed differently (Macdonald, 1985). Thus any understanding of therelationship between the development of the accountancy profession and genderin Scotland requires separate study” (p.517).

Accordingly this paper takes the form of a historical review of the impact of the SDRAand identifies and examines the major impediments to the acceptance and promotion ofwomen seeking admission and careers within public accounting in Scotland during theperiod 1900 to 1930. The last date of 1930 the professional accountant “had emergedin the census and in society as socially and occupationally different from the ‘mere’clerk” (p. 510). Admission to any of the Scottish chartered societies, from theirformation in the middle of the nineteenth century had always been regarded as a malepreserve (Walker, 1988). The three barriers specified in this paper are firstly theinstitutional barrier which, in mainstream public accounting in the early twentiethcentury, meant the denial on various grounds by the chartered societies that womencould be admitted to membership. After the institutional barrier was decreedunacceptable by the SDRA, the second hurdle facing women became the professionalbarrier, whereby individual firms were able to accept or reject applications for indentureon whatever grounds they wished. Women who progressed beyond this stage andgained indenture were then faced with a more personal barrier involving an intellectualhurdle in the form of the various professional examinations set in Scotland by theGeneral Examination Board of the Scottish Chartered Accountants (GEB). The paperdoes not attempt to trace the abilities of women to overcome the ultimate barrier facedby them, which was acceptance and promotion within the firms after qualification,primarily because the first admission in Scotland did not occur until 1923, and careerdevelopment was not apparent within the time restrictions imposed by the choice of thefirst thirty years of the twentieth centuryii .

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In facing the pressure to admit women to indenture the Scottish Chartered Accountantsdid not hold a concordant view on female admissions. During the First World War theCouncil of the Institute of Accountants and Actuaries in Glasgow (IAAG) waspersuaded to apply for a supplementary Royal Charter to allow the admission of femalesbut was unable to persuade its sister societies [the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh(SAE) and the Society of Accountants in Aberdeen (SAA) ], that such a course of actionwas advisable, necessary or timely. Nevertheless, the IAAG council was sufficientlymoved by the representations made to it by its own members that it determined toproceed to a Special Resolution seeking members’ permission to admit women asmembers. This resolution, although it commanded a clear majority, failed on theinability to secure a 75% majority. The enactment of the Sex Disqualification(Removal) Bill eliminated this particular institutional barrier but did not appear to havea major direct influence on the public accounting firms which granted indentures.

Women in public accountancy

Previous research on the incidence of women gaining admission to the accountancyprofession in the UK includes Silverstone and Williams (1979), who conducted asurvey of women members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England andWales (ICAEW) at 1977. Exploring reasons for the slow growth in numbers,respondents cited that accountancy “...was considered a man’s occupation” (p. 106) andthat there was “considerable male prejudice within the profession” (p. 107). Otherfactors which appeared to explain the small proportion of women members of ICAEWwere: inadequate and stereotyped careers advice in schools; the intentions of privateemployers to close off openings for women; and the reluctance of parents to pay apremium for apprenticeship articles “...considering this to be a wasted investment” (p.107).

Ciancanelli et al. (1990) provided a quantitative assessment of women’s participationrates in the UK profession although again the data was drawn from the records of theICAEW, supplemented with data from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance andAccountancy (CIPFA), covering the period 1977 - 1988. The study sought to questionand explore the nature of this participation. It was noted that high levels ofdiscrimination were experienced by women in a male-oriented work environment andthat promotion prospects were low and added to concerns about gender equity in theprofession (p. 137). Ciancanelli et al. concluded that:

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“...a gender-neutral theory of women in the workplace, by emphasising thenumbers of women in particular labor markets, gives an inadequateunderstanding of women’s development in the accountancy profession” (p. 139).

They note that initiatives for change have been introduced but question whether on theirown, such initiatives will bring about full equality. Indeed they suggest that unlesswider changes in organisational and societal practices and behaviour are adopted thereis a danger that “...women will gain access but lose status (Crompton, 1987), power(Legge, 1987) and remuneration (Pfeffer & Davies-Blake, 1987)”.

Lehman (1992), in a wide ranging paper covering eighty years, explored the entry ofwomen into both the UK and the USA accounting profession and attempted to addressthe initial mechanisms introduced to obstruct entry to the accounting profession andthen subsequently the secondary obstacles restricting the advancement of women. Thepaper concluded that the barriers were based on economic, political and ideologicalfactors. Kirkham (1992) criticised Lehman for addressing these issues through the “...male discourse of professional accountancy and not providing sufficient attention to therelationships between the struggles and resistance of women themselves ...” (p. 288).

McKeen and Richardson (1988) conducted an oral history investigation within theCanadian accounting profession from the late nineteenth century to the mid 1980s. Theycontended that the entry of women into accounting associations ”... appears to have beenclosely related to the ebbs and flows of the suffragette movement in Canada” andtherefore that admission of women mirrored the social attitudes of the day (pp. 11/12).Canadian discourse centred around the traditional patriarchal attitudes whichsignificantly restrict the power and involvement of women and the belief by womenthat they had an expanding sense of their own participation rights in professional andcommercial employment. McKeen and Richardson highlight the (initially successful)attempt to reject amendments to the Charter of the Institute in Quebec on the groundsthat the legal definition of “persons” did not include women. This legal decision waschallenged successfully in 1930, bringing to an end the formal institutional barrier inCanada.

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The only major investigation of the admission of women to public accounting inScotland was conducted by Paisey and Paisey (1995,1996) again the data on which thisanalysis was performed dated from 1973. Their study examined the career patterns ofmale and female Scottish chartered accountants to determine if there were anysignificant differences. The conclusions reported that there was increasingdiscrimination against women as their careers progressed and Paisey and Paisey claimedthat the segregation “... which existed at the beginning of the twentieth century persistsat the end of the century...albeit in different forms” (1996, p. 81). A review of theactivities of the ICAS Lady Members’ Group, which existed between 1960 and 1995,was published recently by the Scottish Committee on Accounting History (ICAS, 1998).

Gender perspectives

The extent to which women have been excluded, marginalised and alienated in pastsocieties have become the core issues in feminist literature. At a later point thisliterature highlights the relevance and importance of the issues in contemporary society.Initially a gender-neutral approach was employed to explain women’s status inprofessions and organisations (Kanter, 1977; Forisha and Goldman, 1981). The gender-neutral perspective identifies the minority role of women within structuralorganisational conditions, i.e. that equality cannot be obtained because women have aminority or token status within the organisation. Zimmer noted that “token” was used inthe sociological literature to women admitted to a group “... because of their differencesfrom other members, perhaps to serve as ‘proof’ that the group does not discriminateagainst such people” (1988, p.65). Thus to secure equality of participation, it becomes aprecondition that the minority have to secure numerical parity. Ciancanelli et al suggestthat this is akin to a “pipeline” philosophy which concentrates attention on “... overallnumbers rather than specific organisational (or societal) practices as a means ofmonitoring and enhancing women’s participation in the accountancy profession”(op.cit., p. 119). Zimmer (1988) argues that gender-neutral theories ignore issues ofstatus and power and therefore fail to adequately explain the unequal treatment ofwomen and lack of career advancement.

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An alternative perspective to the gender-neutral approach recognises that womenexperience problems in their work environment due to sexual stereotyped opinions ofwomen, their capabilities in work and the degree to which males fear competition fromwomen (Spencer and Podmore, 1987). Ciancanelli at al. state that:

“... much of this literature on women in the accountancy profession has beenderived from this perspective, as evidenced by the emphasis on male careerpatterns, male and female stereotypes, and male behaviour which serves toexclude women, thus hindering and discriminating against women’sadvancement” (p. 121).

Studies which have adopted a more critical perspective extend the study oforganisational issues to encompass societal and political influences (Hopwood, 1987;Tinker and Neimark, 1987). French and Meredith consider why women aredisadvantaged in the US labour markets and address the socialist feminist belief thatcapitalism and patriarchy are the major causes (1994, p. 228-9).Their conclusion was:

“Because patriarchy predates capitalism, and because women have failed toachieve equality despite attainment of credentials, we argue that patriarchy is themajor causal variable. Additionally, evidence shows that sex-role stereotyping,division of labour by sex and wage gaps are not limited to capitalist systems butoccur in existing socialist societies as well (McAuley, 1981; Epstein, 1988)”.

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Institutional Barriers

Formation

From the formation of the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh (SAE) and the Instituteof Accountants and Actuaries in Glasgow (IAAG) in 1853 and the Society ofAccountants in Aberdeen (SAA) in 1867, recruitment to apprenticeship and admissionto the societies of Scottish chartered accountants was exclusively male. The extent towhich this was clearly a highly gendered segregated labour market should not be indispute. During the middle nineteenth century, “professional” occupations in Scotlandwere exclusively male. The accountants who formed together to establish the firstScottish accountancy society, the SAE, minuted at their first meeting that:

“... it had been resolved to use every effort to form a Society of those gentlemenwho were recognised by the profession generally, as carrying on the businessexclusively of accountancy in Edinburgh...”

(ICAS: 2/1, 1853, Emphasis added).

Similarly the Glasgow accountants who signed a requisition to the fifteen seniorGlasgow accountants, who had been in practice since 1841, proposing the formation ofa Society stated that:

“It has long been felt by gentlemen practising as Professional Accountants inGlasgow, that the formation of a Society or Institute of Accountants is in everyway desirable by means of which they may be enabled to advance those objectsin which they have a common professional interest”

(ICAS: 130/1, 1853, Emphasis added).

Kirkham and Loft demonstrate clearly that in the mid-nineteenth century “...occupations and professions...were gendered, and for the most part they were genderedmasculine” (op. cit., p.519). Furthermore they argue that by the late nineteenth century,the division of labour on sex lines between the accountant and the clerk would not havebeen possible as “... bookkeeping and accounting tasks in the office were stillundertaken predominantly by men, and the ‘clerk’ had not, as yet, been established as afemale construct” (op.cit., p. 525). The position in Scotland was very similar. Althoughthe accounting societies in Scotland were formed twenty years before the ICAEW,social conditions were broadly comparable with regard to the status and position ofwomen in society. Walker (1988), in the most comprehensive survey of all recruits tothe SAE, identifies class based recruitment to a new profession providing an additionalcareer option for sons combined with “... opportunities for increased upward mobility”(p.265). Walker also presents compelling evidence that the choice of vocation wasdetermined by parents and therefore recruitment came from occupational groups whichhad close employment and social connections to the new profession of accountancy.These social connections played a significant part in later stages of recruitment after the

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Scottish chartered accountants instituted formal examination systems in order tomaintain professional status. Walker states that

“...recruitment to the CA profession became more highly desirable to parents inthe professional classes who sought the entrance of their sons to vocations whichthoroughly tested academic abilities and thus provided the successful recruitwith learned professional standing” (p. 267).

Females in Scottish Accounting, early 20th Century

Efforts to explore the possibility of women gaining acceptance by the Scottish societieswere muted. There is no record of any formal or informal discussions within thecouncils of the Scottish societies until the advent of the Great War. However, it isinconceivable that the accountants, as individual citizens, were unaware of the socialunrest which pervaded late Victorian society, involving the womens’ suffragemovement. Womens’ quest for recognition and enfranchisement had become anincreasingly dramatic feature of British political and social discourse during the latenineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Up to the advent of the Great War the suffragemovement in Scotland had embarked on a number of overtly militant activities (TheGlasgow Herald). The initial impact for the Scottish societies arose in 1900, when itwas reported in The Accountants’ Magazine that representations on behalf of theScottish Womens’ Liberal Federation had been made opposing the ScottishAccountants’ Bill when the Bill had been presented in the House of Commons in 1899.The grounds for the opposition had been that there was no provision for the registrationof female as well as male accountants. In a resumé of womens’ aspiration to beadmitted to the accountancy profession it was stated that representations had been madeto a number of bodies but that these overtures had all been rejected except for theadmission of a woman as a C.P.A. in New York. It was concluded that “we are notaware of any similar instance in Scotland” (The Accountants’ Magazine, 1900, p. 191).In History of Accounting and Accountants (Brown, 1905), Patrick considereddevelopments in the profession and observed that:

“hundreds of women find employment as typists - and to a less extent as clerksin accountants’ offices and their patience and manual dexterity seem to fit themadmirably for routine and mechanical work” (p. 331).

Patrick’s conclusion was that “With all respect for the undoubted genius of women, itmay be questioned if their faculties are at all specially adapted for accountants’ work atlarge”, nevertheless he postulated that “at the end of another fifty years lady trustees,receivers and auditors may be as common as lady doctors are now” (ibid). This viewwas supported by a review of The English Woman’s Year Book and Directory in TheAccountants’ Magazine (1905) which noted the increasing activities of women in allwalks of life:

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“but we turn with some anxiety to accountancy. Here little has yet beenattempted, but there is evidence that daring eyes have been raised towards thisprofession as well as to the few other remaining preserves of man” (p. 40).

One of the most prominent Glasgow accountants of his day was Alexander Sloan (1843- 1927), the secretary and later president of the IAAG. He had a large family, comprisingsix sons and seven daughters. The eldest son D. Norman was indentured to the Sloanaccountancy practice but of the daughters, only Agnes became a professional (one of thefirst female doctors of medicine) despite all the daughters experiencing an expensiveprivate education (Shackleton and Milner, 1996, pp. 90-91). Therefore despite thisbackground, which might have been conducive to encouraging a female family memberto seek access to public accounting, there was no evidence from the voluminous papersmade available by the family that such a career step had even received consideration.

For the rest of the accountancy profession it is clear that for the Scottish charteredaccountant, the world of public accountancy was gendered male from early days, andwas expected to be resistant to the “invasion” of women, which appeared a remote andunwelcome possibility. Evidence of patriarchal attitudes, reinforced by strongstereotyping, abound in the public utterances of Scottish accountants.

However, other forces were encroaching on the constitutional position of the Scottishchartered societies. During the last decade of the nineteenth century almost all the UKaccountancy bodies attempted at various times to secure state recognition by means ofRegistration Bills. These various measures, although introduced as private members’Bills, nevertheless exposed the constitutional arrangements of the applicants forRegistration to a wider public and consequent public scrutiny. The introduction of aRegistration Bill offered complainants an ideal opportunity to apply political pressure onmatters which were not foremost in the minds of the Bill’s supporters.

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Registration Bills

The accountancy profession in Britain has been described as “creation, amalgamationand fragmentation “ (Edwards, 1989, p. 277). During the nineteenth century “...theprecursor organisations of the chartered profession were constituted primarily on a localbasis in the major legal, commercial and manufacturing centres ...” (Walker andShackleton, 1995, p. 469). The closure devices established by the chartered bodiesencouraged the formation of second tier bodies and the Royal Charters were found notto afford the chartered societies the monopoly status they coveted. One means ofsecuring monopoly status or even public recognition was by means of a RegistrationBill. These Bills were presented by various accountancy societies on a number ofoccasions during the period 1891 to 1911 (Macdonald, 1985; Kedslie, 1990; Kirkham &Loft, 1992). All attempts to secure registration had failed, primarily “... due to theinability of the accounting bodies to agree on any one measure and the ease with whichcontentious legislation for the profession, devoid of government support, could besuccessfully opposed” (Walker & Shackleton, op.cit., p. 469). Thus, in addition to theinternecine quarrels of the accountancy societies identified by Macdonald, (op.cit.,p.546), pressures for social and political parity by women became embroiled in theattempts by the accountancy profession to secure state recognition by means of aRegistration Bill. The ICAEW encountered these difficulties with the Registration ofAccountants Bill presented in 1909 and Colville (ICAEW secretary) had written theScottish accountants on 8 April 1909:

“I am directed to inform you that since sending you the draft we have beeninformed by the Board of Trade that it would be necessary to amend the(Registration) Bill so as to provide for the admission of women”(ICAS, 130/1,pp. 45-46).

The ICAEW had complied with the advice from the Board of Trade and the ICAEWPresident, Peat, formally proposing a resolution approving the Bill to the 28th AGM ofthe ICAEW in 1910 vigorously defended the admission clause. There was smallopposition to the admission measure but no formal amendment was allowed and onlythree members opposed the proposed Bill. The Society of Incorporated Accountantsand Auditors (SIAA), who were joint sponsors of the Bill obtained a similar majority.

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The Scottish societies opposed the principles of the ICAEW Bill, not on the grounds ofthe admission of women, but on the basis that such a Bill should apply to the UK withseparate registers for England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland, whereas the ICAEW Billapplied to only England & Wales. It is clear from the contemporary discussion in TheAccountants’ Magazine during 1909 and 1910 on this and other proposed measures thatthe Scottish chartered societies were more concerned with junior and “irresponsible”societies and the possible limitation of practising rights on a geographical basis thanharbouring any concern with the admission of women clause. Traditional Scottishconcern was repeated in 1910 when the ICAEW and SIAA held a meeting with theScottish chartered accountants in an attempt to forestall Scottish opposition. Thenegotiations were successful and the Scots withdrew opposition on the grounds that thenew Bill presented in March 1911 would apply to the UK as a whole. Clause 21 of theBill provided for the admission of women to the English institute subject only to normalentry criteria of articles and examination success. The Bill obtained a second reading inthe House of Lords but was blocked and foundered in the House of Commons.

The issue of constitutional barriers being made effective against women did not appearto be a major and fundamental issue for the chartered societies if it was connected tosecuring legal closure protection devices for the practising membership. The influenceof the state, in the form of official guidance, was paramount and the nexus of policieswas not seriously controversial. However, as became clear at a later date, the likelihoodof women gaining admission to the chartered societies became clouded in controversyand hostility particularly when the issue was seen as a separate and identifiable matterunconnected apparently to other objectives.

The Great War

The First World War had a major impact on all forms of society. Women involved inthe suffrage movement abandoned the militant aspects of their campaign. theEdinburgh National Society for Women’s Suffrage took care of wives and families ofservice personnel whilst the Glasgow and West of Scotland Association undertook fund-raising for the war effort. Amongst the Scottish chartered accountants, many of theapprentices and younger members had been associated with regiments on a voluntarybasis prior to the outbreak of war in August 1914. Almost immediately on thedeclaration of war many of these young men enlisted and left their professional officesto serve in the armed forces. The Accountants’ Magazine of November and December1914 published a listing of 638 men from the three societies of Scottish charteredaccountants, apprentices and assistants who had enlisted.

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Table 1 about here

In September 1914 a Special General Meeting of the SAE had approved a resolutionemanating from the GEB which entitled apprentices serving with the forces to beallowed to resume service under their existing indentures after the War was over(subject to the Master’s consent) (ICAS, 3/6). A similar approval was given by theIAAG and the SAA.

The IAAG recorded that at 31 July 1914 there were 131 firms with 145 partnersemploying 892 male assistants. By November 1915 the IAAG compiled statistics on theeffect of the war on accounting practices in Glasgow in order to make a case to theReserved Occupations Committee of the Board of Trade.

Table 2 about here

It is clear from the data above that the male population in accountants’ offices hadvolunteered in very large numbers for the war effort. By March 1915 this number hadrisen to 712 men serving in the forces and it was also being openly acknowledged thatthe tutorial classes, whilst proceeding as usual, operated with “...much diminishednumbers” (The Accountants Magazine, 1915, p. 148). This reduction became moreapparent with the Autumn enrolments. Gradually the accounting firms began to replacetheir absent assistants with female clerks to such an extent that The Accountants’Magazine (1916) was able to claim in an editorial that “There is no difficulty at presentin getting good female clerks, who, with a little training, can do the work perfectly well”(p. 186). During October 1915 the council of the IAAG introduced a new recruitingscheme in an effort to “... retain sufficient staff to continue ‘satisfactorily’ ” (ICAS,130/5, p. 544) and in December 1915 the IAAG council also approved arecommendation from the Tutorial Classes Committee that women be admitted to theTutorial classes commencing with the Spring 1916 enrolments (ibid., p. 565). Thereport of the IAAG on the experience of admitting women to classes was:

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“In all, about fifty young women enrolled themselves, and it was foundnecessary to divide the class into two portions. Mr. Hourston gives a verysatisfactory account of the women students, and reports that they showed greatinterest in the work, and on the whole proved themselves thoroughly capable ofmastering the elementary subjects embraced in his Prospectus. It was only to beexpected that very few women would enrol themselves for the ordinary Tutorialclasses preparatory to the examinations, but in the one or two instances in whichyoung women attended these classes, the tutors report very favourably on theirprogress. Until some definite arrangement is made for complete education andqualification of women in the accountancy profession, it seems unlikely thatmany women will avail themselves of the more advanced classes”

(The Accountants Magazine, 1916, pp. 295-296).

The SAE followed the Glasgow example , introducing classes for 65 women in October1916. The IAAG and SAE initiatives were connected to a major reconsideration of therole of women in accounting offices and the possibility of admitting women toapprenticeship and membership.

Institutional consideration

It should be noted that Kirkham criticised Lehman’s 1992 paper in the following terms“...herstory in accounting is recounted through the male discourse of professionalaccountancy which is contextualised within wider economic and political factors” (op.cit., p. 288). The empirical reportage contained in this next section may be subject tosimilar criticism in that the primary source documents which are utilised are the minutedand annotated records of the prevailing exclusively male dominated societies.Nevertheless, although the context is patriarchal, the triangulation method of enquiry(Jick,1979) enables the research to reveal considerable differences of opinion among thesocieties offering differing explanations for opinions, decisions and policydetermination.

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The first formal and traceable attempt in Scotland to obtain an indenture by a womanoccurred in Glasgow in September 1915. The Council of the IAAG minuted receiving aformal indenture having been received from Bannatyne & Guthrie naming theapprentice as Isobel Clyne Guthrie (daughter of David Guthrie). At the SeptemberCouncil meeting it was decided to “hold over Miss Guthrie’s indenture meantime” andto formally ascertain the powers of the IAAG regarding the admission of females.However, this application had been preceded by two enquiries in July. On 19 July 1915,the SAE reported receipt of a letter from George Lisle dated 17 May, enquiring if “...the council would permit the registration of an Indenture to a female apprentice” (ICAS,2/3, pp. 234-235). A similar enquiry was also raised with the IAAG in a letter dated 22July from John Mann & Co., asking the Council if the powers of the Royal Charterenabled the IAAG to admit women. On the general question of admission the IAAGdecided to act jointly with the SAE and SAA (ICAS, 130/5, pp. 535-536).

The Edinburgh council determined to seek the opinion of its Law Agent (solicitor)which was that “... both the Charter and the Rules preclude the registration of anIndenture entered into between a member of the Society and a female Apprentice and hereferred to decisions of the Court supporting this view” (ICAS 2/3, p. 237). Thisopinion was also copied to the Glasgow council in October 1915. The IAAG LawAgent reported in November. It was argued that the Charter, which referred to“persons” was ambiguous, which therefore required that its meaning be assigned “...inaccordance with inveterate usage. Therefore we have no hesitation in saying that in ouropinion women as a matter of right are not entitled to membership of the Institute underits existing Regulations” (ICAS, 130/5, p. 555-562). This opinion was similar to that ofthe Canadian lawyers in Quebec. On another related question the Law Agent arguedthat the proper course of action for the IAAG to follow if it wished to change theRegulations so as to admit women would be to apply to the Crown for a SupplementaryCharter giving it this power (ibid). The legal opinion was transmitted to the SAE withthe observation that in the circumstances the IAAG would not proceed with the matter.This decision was obviously influenced by the newly created Joint Committee ofCouncils of the Scottish Chartered Accountants (Shackleton, 1995, p.36-39), which didnot hold executive powers. The three Scottish societies were anxious to move togetheras one body even if this involved substantial compromises. Nevertheless “The President(of the IAAG) undertook that, when the Joint Committee ... was constituted he wouldsee that the question of applying for further powers was duly considered” (ICAS, 130/5,p. 551)iii .

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The issue of female apprentices was raised at a Joint Committee of Councils meeting on8 February 1916 when it was agreed that “it might be expedient to encourage theformation of a separate Society for Lady Accountants” and that enquiries should bemade “... with the view of ascertaining what success such a movement would be likelyto meet with”(ICAS, 130/6, pp. 13-14). The Joint Committee expressed a readiness toconsider any scheme which might be proposed and Gowansiv (Edinburgh) and Guthriev

(Glasgow) were invited to prepare a proposal (ibid., p. 31). The IAAG Quarterlymeeting in July 1916 was informed that a proposal was being prepared and it was hopedthat a scheme could be devised to allow for the admission of women to a Society ofAccountants (The Accountants’ Magazine, 1916, p. 464). Gowans and Guthriepresented a preliminary report for the formation of a separate Society for LadyAccountants to the Joint Committee in October and this report was sent to the membersof the individual Councilsvi. The IAAG Council generally agreed the proposal inDecember but stated “... at the same time to represent to the Joint Committee ofCouncils that the ultimate and logical outcome of such a scheme was ... the admission ofwomen to the present societies and not the formation of a separate Women’s Society”(op. cit., p. 67-68). The IAAG Council was not unanimously in favour of the proposalbut the agreed position was the first formal acceptance of the principle of femaleapprentices and therefore ultimately their admission to membership. The argument onfocusing admission to the then present Societies was consistent with a long and widelyheld belief that splinter associations introduced political, professional and economicinstability for the IAAG (Walker, 1991; Shackleton, 1995). The IAAG had madesubstantial efforts to absorb many of the competing accountants from the ScottishInstitute of Accountants during the late nineteenth century, involving themselves inirritating confrontations with the SAE on the issue.

The SAE council considered the subject of female admissions at a meeting on 22January 1917 and the President was authorised to report to the next Joint Committeemeeting of February 1917 that “... considerable difference of opinion existed in regard tothis matter and that no definite decision could in the meantime be arrived at” (ICAS,2/3, p. 278). The SAA reported that the Aberdeen council were

“ ... of the opinion that the proposal was premature, as in their view there was atpresent, no necessity and no demand for the formation of a Society for Women”(ICAS, 130/6, p. 91-91).

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At the Joint Committee meeting, Brown (SAE President) amplified the SAE councilposition claiming that he thought the majority of the Council were

“... of the opinion that if this question was raised by the Councils it would be theoccasion of serious difficulty and controversy and that the matter was best leftalone” (ibid.).

This phrase was used on a number of occasions by the SAE as a simplified codeindicating serious disagreement with proposals from the IAAG and SAA (Shackletonand Milner, 1996, p. 144), with the obvious implication that further discussion wasmeaningless. The Joint Committee discussion on female apprentices was thereforedoomed to be inconclusive, given the expressed views, the composition and politicalreality of the Joint Committee. At the Annual General Meeting of the IAAG on 29January 1918, it was reported that the issue of admitting women had been considered bythe Joint Committee but that views among the three Societies was difficult to reconcileand that “... it was inexpedient to take any action in the meantime” (The Accountants’Magazine, 1918, p. 128).

A further complication in the minds of the leaders of the accountancy profession was theposition of apprentices serving in the Army and Navy, when the War was over. Somethought had been given by the ICAEW to “special educational classes” for the returningapprentices. The review undertaken in Scotland revealed substantial and debilitatingconflicts among the three Societies which almost brought about the withdrawal of theIAAG from the General Examining Board (see Shackleton, 1995, p. 43). Undoubtedlyconsideration of the admission of women would be affected by the attempt to createacceptance structures for the return of serving young members and apprentices. Thiswould also be consistent with the theoretical argument that womens’ position as areserve labour force in times of war would be confirmed. The Accountants’ Magazine(1917) editorial ended with the claim that “These men are needed in the profession, andthey may rest assured that they will receive every assistance and encouragement to taketheir places in it” (p. 243-244). At no time in the discussion on how to treat returningmembers and apprentices was there any serious consideration given to the position andthoughts of the women who had served in accountant’s offices. There seemed to be anunstated assumption that these young women would accept that the world was returningto that of the immediate pre War years and that any aspirations to becoming charteredaccountants was not achievable.

19

In early 1918 The Accountants’ Magazine noted that the Institute of Bankers haddecided to admit women to examination although the question of admission was to bedeferred until after the War (1918, p. 7), and noted that this might be regarded as a signof the times. Confirmation that the movement towards admission of women was beingconsidered in other parts of the accounting world was provided with a report on thesmall majority in favour of the principle given by the Australasian Corporation of PublicAccountants (op. cit., p. 80), and a note that the Council of the Society of IncorporatedAccountants and Auditors (SIAA) had called an Extraordinary General Meeting toconsider the advisability of admitting women (op. cit., p. 86). The SIAA claimed thatthe extension of the parliamentary franchise to women, passed by the Representation ofthe People Act in 1918, made a deferment until after the War inappropriate. The SIAAsubsequently gained the approval of its membership, the Board of Trade and thesanction of the High Court for the admission of women on the same terms as men (TheAccountants’ Magazine,1919, p.322)

Reconsideration and rejection

In the summer of 1918 there began a process of reconsideration, reversion andprevarication as the three societies gave further thought to the admission of women.The Council of the IAAG gave the matter attention on 16 June when the President statedthat it was almost eighteen months since the Joint Committee had been unable to reachagreement on any positive proposal. It was decided to raise the issue again at the JointCommittee called for the next day (ICAS, 130/6, p. 274) at which the GlasgowPresident claimed that

“... the matter was becoming somewhat urgent as women were being invited tojoin outside bodies of accountants ...” (op. cit., p.86).

Not for the first time in its existence the IAAG was moved, not only by arguments aboutequity, but also by assumed positions regarding its professional monopoly in Glasgow.Consideration was deferred by the Joint Committee until the next meeting held inNovember 1918, by which time the SAE had agreed on 21 October that the mattershould be reconsidered. However, this apparent willingness to table the matter forfurther discussion at the Joint Committee was given reluctantly. The Council of theSAE was seriously split on what steps to take and because of this considerabledifference of opinion the Council took the unusual step of voting and declaring theoutcome rather than hiding behind the normal euphemism of “it was decided afterconsiderable discussion”.

20

Two members of Council were prepared to admit women “... if that could bearranged ...”, two members voted for delay “... until after the War ...”, whilst sixmembers voted for women to be admitted to “ ...a separate Society undersupervision ...” (ICAS, 2/3, p. 334-336, emphasis added). When the issue wasdiscussed by the Joint Committee, the outcome was a reprise of 1915/16 whereby theSocieties undertook to obtain legal opinion on the admission of women under theirRoyal Charters from the respective Law Agents and then to seek two counsels’ opinionand concurrently to commission a further report on suitable training arrangements fromGowans and Guthrie. The search for legal opinion took five months and concluded byApril 1919 that the three Royal Charters did not entitle the societies to admit women.(ICAS, 130/6, pp. 354-355). At this stage a new proposal was made which appeared tothe majority of the Joint Committee to be an acceptable compromise:

“... the Committee were of the opinion that the best course in the meantimewould be to adopt some scheme under which women, after undergoing the sametraining and passing the same standards of examination as men, but on payinglower fees, might become associates but not members of the Society” (ibid).

This lower status position was enshrined in draft rules but legal opinion again suggestedthat the societies did not have this competence under their Royal Charters. Whilst theSAE and SAA awaited the due process of obtaining legal opinion, the IAAG Presidentinstructed the IAAG secretary to approach the Privy Council for guidance on changingthe position for admission of women by securing a supplementary charter. The PrivyCouncil reply of 17 May stated that:

“... the Lords of the Council ... would be prepared to entertain a proposal to thatend” (ICAS, 130/6, pp. 380-384).

This communication was reported to the Joint Committee as well as the tabling of acopy of the Womens Emancipation Bill (ibid).

The Joint Committee meeting of 30 June 1919 was informed that further informaldiscussions with the Privy Council had elicited the information that “... a large numberof similar applications were being received”. The Joint Committee was also told thatthe Lord Advocate had said that there was no prospect of the Emancipation Billbecoming law during the present Session of Parliament. In the light of these views:

21

“... it was unanimously resolved to recommend the Councils of the threeSocieties to take the necessary steps to obtain the consent of their members tomake application for Supplemental Charters providing for the admission ofwomen to the membership of the Societies” (ICAS, 130/6, pp. 393-394).

The IAAG responded immediately, deciding to recommend to the July quarterlymeeting that a Special General meeting be called to approve an application being madeto the Privy Council. The SAE responded in a more cautious manner. The SAEexplored the situation regarding the Annuity Fund, which received admission fees fromnew members. The SAE requested legal opinion on this rule in the event of womenbeing admitted. Legal opinion was that if the SAE wished to exclude women from theFund then an amending Act of Parliament would be required. In the meantime the agentfor the Faculty of Actuaries had informed the SAE that following petitioning by theFaculty, an amendment to the SDR Bill had been secured “... which would have theeffect of allowing all Societies incorporated by Royal Charter to admit women withoutthe trouble and expense of obtaining Supplemental Charters” (ICAS, 2/3, pp. 364-369).The SAE decided to delay taking any further action “ ... until it was seen how the Billwas disposed of”, a position also adopted by the SAA.

The Sex Discrimination (Removal) Act 1919

Introducing the Sex Discrimination (Removal) Bill for its Second Reading in the Houseof Lords on 22 July 1919, the Rt. Hon. Lord Birkenhead (the Lord Chancellor) said that:

“...the Bill intended to fulfil the pledges given by various members of theGovernment during the general election, to remove such obstacles as prevent theappointment of women to public offices and the fulfilment by them of publicfunctions”

(35. H.L. Deb., 5s, 891)

During the subsequent Committee stage an amendment was introduced to Clause 1 ofthe Bill. Initially this clause read:

“A person shall not be disqualified by sex from the exercise of any publicfunction, or from being appointed to any civil or judicial office or post, or fromentering or assuming any civil profession or vocation, and a person shall not beexempted by sex from the liability to serve as a juror:”

22

Lord Birkenhead introduced the amendment after vocation “ or for the admission to anyincorporated society (whether incorporated by Royal Charter or otherwise),” It wasclaimed

“That this amendment is put down to meet a point which has been taken bycertain persons interested in this question in Edinburgh. It was pointed out, and Ithink justly, that the words of the Bill would not ensure the admission of womento certain incorporated professional societies, such as the Faculty of Actuariesand the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh. On behalf of the former societythis amendment was asked for. The Scottish Office was consulted and agree.The words will, of course, also allow the admission of women to similar Englishsocieties”

(36. H.L. Deb., 5s, 123)

The amendment was approved without discussion. The Bill was given a Third Readingin the House of Lords on 5 August and sent to the House of Commons. The Commonsgave most consideration to the position of women in the civil service and peeresses inthe House of Lords. The Solicitor-General expressed the hope that the Bill wouldremove all barriers which previously existed for women and The Royal Assent to theBill was given on 23 December 1919.

Glasgow poll and the SDRA

It is not clear if the information from the Faculty of Actuaries provided to the SAE wasshared with the IAAG, although the existence of the proposed amendment clause wascertainly known. At a Special General Meeting of 15 October 1919, the Presidentreported that if the SDR Bill became law then the resolution before the IAAG memberswould be unnecessary, however he claimed that passage of the Bill was uncertain andthat the Council submitted the resolution to admit women on the recommendation ofthe Joint Committee and the IAAG Council. The total attendance at the meeting was 37(from a total membership of 823). A direct negative to the resolution was moved whichattracted 11 votes with 26 being recorded against the negative and no abstentions. Onthis basis it was declared that the Council’s motion was lost. Major constitutionalchanges required a 75% vote and therefore the motion was lost by 2 votes. The IAAGConstitution allowed for the calling of a Poll and this was demanded and reported at theOctober Quarterly Meeting. The result was a substantial setback for the Council’smotion. On a 58% poll turnout, a total of 481 votes were recorded, of which 300 werein favour and 181 against. A majority of 62.4% was insufficient to secure the motionand The Accountants’ Magazine speculated that:

“... the opposition ... came mainly from the younger members. The majority ofthese have been serving in the army for years, and some of them no doubt feel

23

that the difficulties in the way of resuming their civil vocation are alreadyserious enough without the addition of competition by a flood of womenaccountants” (1919, pp. 513-516).

The President of the IAAG remarked on the failure to secure sufficient votes for theIAAG motion, that

“... he need hardly say that the Council regretted what had happened. Thematter had been under their consideration for a very considerable time, and theyhad recommended the Institute to adopt the resolution after careful and matureconsideration and only after the approval of the Joint Committee ... had beenobtained. There was no doubt that there was a demand by a limited number ofwomen for an accountant qualification, and the Council feared that if theInstitute did not open its doors, such women would be driven into outsideSocieties or into the formation of a Society of their own, a result which would bevery regrettable. In the opinion of the Council, if women were to be qualified inany way, it was extremely desirable that their education and qualification shouldbe in the offices of members of the Institute and under the ordinary Regulations,and it was fairly obvious that such requirements could not be made upon womenunless the inducement of full membership of the institute was held out to them”

(ICAS, 130/6, pp. 429-430).

In the meantime the SDR Bill, which had been passed by the House of Lords in August,had also cleared the House of Commons in October. The Act contained the clause that“... a person shall not be disqualified by sex ... from... the admission to any incorporatedSociety (whether incorporated by Royal Charter or otherwise) ...” and the JointCommittee of 13 November 1919 decided that further action by the Societies wasunnecessary (ICAS, 130/6, p.455). The Accountants’ Magazine noted that in Edinburghand Aberdeen:

“... it seems probable that there is a substantial minority to whom the change willnot be welcome” (1919, pp. 514-5).

24

The first implementation of the new policy to admit women was enacted by the IAAGat a Council meeting on 14 January 1920. At this meeting the Council accepted theindenture of Miss Isobel Clyne Guthrie, first presented to Council on 20 September1915. Acceptance was made on the basis that her indenture was backdated, requiringthree years apprenticeship and she was allowed to take the Intermediate examination inDecember 1920, eventually passing her Final examination in 1922 and being admittedto the IAAG in 1923.

Professional and intellectual barriers

The first ten years

During the first decade after the introduction of the SDRA a total of forty women wereadmitted to indentures. This represented 1.4% of the total indentures recorded by theGEB.

Table 3 about here

The total number of indentures increased dramatically during the period 1920-29compared with the recruitment of apprentices during the previous decade. Towards theend of the nineteenth century, professions generally were described as overcrowded(Walker, 1988, pp. 63-66), and during the early years of the twentieth century, theaccounting profession, particularly in Edinburgh was similarly described. The GreatWar nevertheless resulted in a reduction in the number of indentures which were signedand in the five year period after peace was declared indentures increased threefold.The indenture statistics recorded by decades hide the fact that proportionally moreindentures were recorded during the 1919-1923 period with SAE firms. During the waryears the SAE recorded 22.5% of total Scottish indentures, with IAAG having 74.1%.During the period 1919-1923 the relative statistics were 29.5% and 65.4%. Femaleindentures recorded during the 1920s were proportionally almost twice the average inEdinburgh compared with Glasgow. Three indentures were recorded where the womanwas directly related to the master named in the indenture record. Nevertheless the datadoes not disclose that over half (53%) of the SAE indentures were taken up in threefirms, whereas the twenty three indentures recorded for the IAAG were spread amongsteighteen firms. This data suggests that either there was less hostility in principle amongGlasgow practices to the indenture of women, or that Glasgow firms were prepared tooperate “tokenism” in their recruitment practices.

25

The SAE data suggests that a very small number of firms were committed to theindenture of women, whereas the vast majority of Edinburgh firms were indifferent orhostile to the indenture of women. This is reinforced when it is also noted that two ofthe first SAE indentures were taken up with a master, John U.C. King, of Brown, Peat &Tilley in London. At the time of the initial discussions on female admission the SAAhad indicated that there was no demand for female indentures. The data reported herereveals that no indentures were recorded for SAA firmsvii .

Of the forty women obtaining indentures in the 1920-1929 period, twenty five qualifiedfor entry by examination, although two women did not apply for membership.Application for membership would likely be regarded as an uneconomic decision if theapprentice was marrying shortly after qualification, particularly in one case where theapplication would be to the SAE which charged a substantial joining fee. During thisperiod it was expected that women who married and raised a family ceased to pursue anindependent career.

Table 4 about here

Table 4 identifies a significant failure rate in examinations (37%) which was consistentwith the rate of males during this period. However the comparative rates show that theSAE indentured women performed better than the IAAG women. This is also consistentwith success rates for men in the two societies during this period.

26

Summary

27

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33

TABLE 1

SCOTTISH SOCIETIES OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS

LIST OF MEMBERS, APPRENTICES AND ASSISTANTSSERVING WITH HIS MAJESTY’S FORCES

AT NOVEMBER 1914

SOCIETY TOTAL MEMBERS APPRENTICES

ASSISTANTS

ABERDEEN 25 4 6 15EDINBURGH 232 59 67 106GLASGOW 381 59 162 160

TOTAL 638 122 235 281

Source: data derived from The Accountants’ Magazine, November and December 1914.

34

TABLE 2

INSTITUTE OF ACCOUNTANTS & ACTUARIES IN GLASGOW

PARTNERS AND ASSISTANTS31 JULY 1914

STATUS PARTNERS % ASSISTANTS %ON MILITARY SERVICE 41 28.3 491 55.0

ON GOVERNMENTSERVICE

36 4.1

TOTAL GOVERNMENTSERVICE

41 28.3 527 59.1

MILITARY AGE, NOT FIT / REJECTED

73 50.3 205 23.0

OVER MILITARY AGESOLE PRACTITIONER/

SOLE REMAININGPARTNER

31 21.4 160 17.9

TOTAL 145 100 892 100

Source: ICAS 130/5.Institute of Accountants and Actuaries in Glasgow,Council Minute Book 5, pp. 550-551.

35

TABLE 3

LIST OF INDENTURES PUBLISHED BYTHE GENERAL EXAMINING BOARD OF

THE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS OF SCOTLAND1910 - 1929

EDINBURGH GLASGOW ABERDEEN ALL SCOTLANDDATE TOTAL FEMAL

ETOTAL FEMAL

ETOTAL FEMAL

ETOTAL FEMAL

EF AS %OF

TOTAL

1910 23 0 49 0 2 0 74 0 n/a 1911 27 0 55 0 5 0 87 0 n/a 1912 25 0 66 0 3 0 94 0 n/a 1913 26 0 86 0 8 0 120 0 n/a 1914 39 0 102 0 5 0 146 0 n/a 1915 19 0 83 0 4 0 106 0 n/a 1916 22 0 52 0 2 0 76 0 n/a 1917 15 0 56 0 2 0 73 0 n/a 1918 19 0 82 0 4 0 105 0 n/a 1919 83 0 154 0 11 0 248 0 n/a

Total 298 0

785 0 46 0 1129 0 n/a

(%) (26.4) (69.5) (4.1) (100)

EDINBURGH GLASGOW ABERDEEN ALL SCOTLANDDATE TOTAL FEMAL

ETOTAL FEMAL

ETOTAL FEMAL

ETOTAL FEMAL

EF AS %OF

TOTAL

1920 96 3 225 2 14 0 335 5 1.5 1921 78 3 190 0 16 0 284 3 1.1 1922 101 0 227 2 22 0 350 2 0.6 1923 96 1 211 3 16 0 323 4 1.2 1924 94 3 265 2 18 0 377 5 1.3 1925 50 0 154 2 7 0 211 2 0.9 1926 61 1 170 2 24 0 255 3 1.2 1927 63 0 156 3 10 0 229 3 1.3 1928 59 1 148 2 12 0 219 3 1.4 1929 50 3 176 7 16 0 242 10 4.1 TOTAL 748

15 1922 25

155 0 2825 40 1.4

(%) (26.5) (68.0) (5.5) (100)

(%) (37.5) (62.5) (0)

(100)

36

TABLE 4

OUTCOME OF FEMALE INDENTURES

1920 - 1929

YEAR EDINB GLASG ABRDN TOTALFEMALEINDENT

QUAL

& ADMITQUAL

BUT NOTJOINED

DNQ(1) DNQ(2)

1920 3 2 0 5 2 1 1 11921 3 0 0 3 2 0 1 01922 0 2 0 2 1 0 1 01923 1 3 0 4 1 0 3 01924 3 2 0 5 3 0 0 21925 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 01926 1 2 0 3 2 0 0 11927 0 3 0 3 2 0 0 11928 1 2 0 3 3 0 0 01929 3 7 0 10 5 1 1 3

TOTAL 15 25 0 40 23 2 7 8

(%) (37.5) (62.5) (0) (100)

(57.5) (5.0) (17.5) (20.0)

EDINB 15 10 1 2 2 (%) (66.7) (6.7) (13.3) (13.3)

GLASG 25 13 1 5 6 (%) (52.0) (4.0) (20.0) (24.0)

ABRDN

0 0 0 0 0

(%) (-) (-) (-) (-)

37

Endnotes

i The Accountants’ Magazine, a journal published for Scottish chartered accountantscarried the inscription A Journal for Business Men on its mast head from initialpublication in 1898 until 1951 (check).ii The research reported in this paper forms the first part of a wider investigation whichencompasses the period after the SDRA of 1919 up to 1970, establishing a data base ofall women who were admitted to indenture by the three Scottish Societies (to 1951) andICAS, from 1951 to 1970. This data base enables the research to trace the incidence ofwomens’ acceptance to indenture and the comparative rate of success in obtainingmembership.iii In the event the Joint Committee never obtained these additional powers anddissatisfaction with the decision-taking structures of the three Societies eventually led tothe amalgamation of the three bodies in 1951 (Walker and Shackleton, 1995).iv John Stuart Gowans was admitted to the SAE in 1883 and was a partner in the firm A.& J. Robertson, Edinburgh. He provided a course of lectures to women assistants inaccountants’ offices from 1916. He gave his services free of charge to the SAE.v David Guthrie was admitted to the IAAG in 1890 and was a partner in the firmBannatyne & Guthrie, Glasgow.vi Reference back to the individual Societies was required because the Joint Committeewas not conferred with executive powers (Shackleton, op.cit.)vii During the period 1920 to 1950 there were only three recorded indentures for femaleswith SAA firms.