Managing a shower of silver: Accounting, control and audit at the Great Exhibition, 1851

Abstract

Although widely acknowledged as a foremost event of the Victorian age, accounting aspects of the Great Exhibition of 1851 have received limited attention. This article analyses accounting, control and audit at what was the first ‘universal’ Exhibition. Specific foci include the adoption of a cash-based accounting and financial reporting regimen, systems for protecting substantial volumes of cash and the nature of external and internal auditing. Insights are provided into the contemporary operation of these practices in a substantially unexplored setting. Visibility is also given to the role of the backstage personnel in the accounting and finance function, particularly the Financial Officer, who applied knowledge and skills drawn from the Commissariat Service. The latter analysis augments our understanding of the significance of the military in the development of accounting in nineteenth-century Britain. The study reflects on the research potential of exhibitions as a site for exploring diverse themes in accounting history.