Recording an empire: An accounting history of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd 1926-1976 (2001)

Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) was registered on 7 December 1926.

Its formation was the biggest merger yet seen in British industry.

It created an effective monopoly of the British chemical industry, and immediately ICI became a major player on the world stage.

How it came about, and how it progressed (and, sometimes, faltered) in its first quarter century is very well and fully described in Volume 2 of Imperial Chemical Industries -A History by W J Reader (1975).

This report carries the story forward for another quarter century so that it covers the first fifty years, but from a particular standpoint: it is about ICI's accountants and their work.

The accountants did not work in a vacuum. An accounting system takes its shape from the shape of the operation which it serves and to write a history of accounting in ICI is impossible without also writing in some sense a history of ICI - hence the title.

For the years 1926 to 1952 the framework in which the accounting was carried out has been covered by Reader.

Accordingly, it is in the main only those events during that period which directly affected the accounting that are described in this report. However, for the benefit of those who have not had the opportunity to study Reader the main events have been summarised and the story carried on to 1976.