This book, first published in 1988, analyses the history of auditing with objectivity. These chapters reveal the importance of auditing in society generally and business activity particularly. The character of the auditor is examined, and their part in history as the role developed from amateur status to a professional one.

1. Changing Audit Objectives and Techniques R. Gene Brown 2. Auditing in Perspective R.K. Mautz and H.A. Sharaf 3. Theory of Professional Responsibility A.C. Littleton and V.K. Zimmerman 4. The Auditor and the British Companies Acts Leonard W. Hein 5. Use of Table A by Companies Registering Under the Companies Act 1862 J.R. Edwards and K.M. Webb 6. Auditing: Past Development and Current Practice J. Kitchen 7. A Historical Perspective on the Auditor's Role: The Early Experience of the American Railroads James L. Boockholdt 8. Early Developments in American Auditing C.A. Moyer 9. Factors Shaping the Independent Public Auditing Profession in the United States from 1905 to 1933 Bruce E. Committee 10. History and Development of True and Fair J.G. Chastney 11. The Accountant's Responsibility in Historical Perspective Richard P. Brief 12. Accountants' Third Party Liability: A History of Applied Sociological Jurisprudence J.J. Davies 13. A History of the Auditors' Independence in the US Edward W. Younkins 14. On the Mode of Conducting an Audit Arthur Drummond 15. The Nature and Extent of an Auditor's Responsibility W. Robertson 16. The Audit of a Public Limited Company M. Webster Jenkinson 17. Mode of Conducting an Audit Walter A. Staub 18. The Purposes and Advantages of an Audit R.H. Montgomery 19. The CPA's Attest Function in Modern Society Herman W. Bevis 20. The Role of the Auditor in Modern Society: An Exploratory Essay David Flint 21. The Modern Audit Function: A Study of Radical Change T.A. Lee 22. Auditing Evolution in a Changing Environment John C. Burton and Patricia Fairfield