Accountant

Accountant. Most public companies, such as banks and railway companies, have an officer called an accountant, whose duty it is to take charge of the books and accounts of the concern, and to make up periodical statements and balance-sheets. It is only in recent years that the profession of an accountant has come to be recognised as a special branch of business, its functions having been usually performed, as they still sometimes are, by lawyers and agents. The business of an accountant cannot well be very strictly defined, but it may be stated generally as falling under two divisions: (1) The management or realisation of estates, whether of bankrupts or others; and (2) all matters involving the investigation of business books, as auditing the books of private firms or public companies, and making up balance-sheets, statements of all kinds, and reports. There are several societies of accountants incorporated by royal charter, and a member or fellow of one of these is termed a chartered accountant (C.A. or F.C.A.). The principal society in England is 'The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales,' incorporated in 1880; and in Scotland there are chartered institutes in Edinburgh (1854), Glasgow (1855), and Aberdeen (1867).