Corporate Governance and Ethics:The M&O Railroad in the Mid-19th Century

• In Event: Accounting History

Abstract

The Mobile & Ohio Railroad accounting controls from the 1850s and 1860s reflect examples of corporate governance and ethics during the antebellum period.
Corporate minute books, annual reports and payroll records provide evidence of conflicts of interest. The governance system was used as a basis to fire offenders and provides a model for develop a primary system of control.

Authors

• Gary John Previts, Case Western Reserve University

• Dale L Flesher, The University of Mississippi

• Andrew D Sharp, Spring Hill College