The formation and early years of the Union Européenne des Experts Comptables Economiques et Financiers (UEC), 1951–63: or how the Dutch tried to bring down the UEC

Abstract

This paper reviews the first phase of the history of the Union Européenne des Experts Comptables Economiques et Financiers (UEC) from its formation in 1951 to 1963. In 1963, the UEC's membership, which initially was confined to Continental Europe, was significantly changed by the accession of accountancy bodies from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. During this period, the UEC served as a focal point in debates over a possible future unification of the accountancy profession in Europe. There were considerable differences of view on this point between the bodies which formed the UEC and those which initially stayed outside. In particular, the paper highlights the role played by the main Dutch accountancy body, the Nederlands Instituut van Accountants (NIVA), which took a decidedly hostile attitude towards the UEC. It is shown how the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) and its plans to create a common market for accountancy services brought about a clash between the UK and Dutch bodies on the one hand and the UEC on the other, which was resolved in 1963 by the negotiated accession of the former outsiders to the UEC.

Keywords:

• accountancy profession
• Europe
• international organizations
• history

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our thanks to the staff of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and of the library of the Royal NIVRA for their very helpful attitude. This paper has benefited from comments on earlier versions by Ms E. Borrie-de Haan, Hans Burggraaff, Frau Annegret Elmendorff-Pfeifer, André Reydel, Jan Schoonderbeek, participants at the Nineteenth Accounting Business & Financial History Conference (Cardiff 2007), John Richard Edwards, and three anonymous referees.

Notes

For the period covered in this paper, see Fain in UEC (1961b) and Perridon (1969).

The following paragraphs have drawn on Koch (1957) for UEC (1963, 264–300), and the country studies in Walton (1995), as well as on De Beelde (2002) for Belgium, Bocqueraz (2001) and Degos (2005) for France, Meisel (1992) and Markus (1997) for Germany, Riccaboni and Ghirri (1994) for Italy, de Hen, Berendsen, and Schoonderbeek (1995) for the Netherlands, Rodrigues, Gomes, and Craig (2003) for Portugal, Fernández Peña (1992) and Cea García (1992) for Spain, and Viel (1954) for Switzerland.

The other three were the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI), the Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants (ACCA), and the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors. In 1957, the membership of the latter body was absorbed by the three chartered institutes. Since ICAS was formed in 1951 by amalgamation of three predecessor bodies, the recognition of ‘five’ bodies by the Companies Act 1948 should be read as a simplifying anachronism.

All references to post-war ‘Germany’ in this paper should be understood as references to the German Federal Republic.

See Koch (1957, ch. 7) for detailed information.

The Bundesverband der vereidigten Buchprüfer traced its roots to the Verband Deutscher Bücherrevisoren which was founded in 1898 as the first organization with aspirations to represent the auditing profession at the national level. After the Second World War, vereidigte Buchprüfer were typically regulated by the same state-level public sector organizations as the Wirtschaftsprüfer. In 1961, when a federal public sector organization was created in the form of the Wirtschaftsprüferkammer, it was decided to phase out the vereidigte Buchprüfer by ending admissions to this category.

See Lee (1990) for a general discussion of this concept as well as West (1996) and Napier (2006) for reviews of earlier work.

Approaches were made to the IdW, the Ordre des Experts Comptables and the Institut Français des Experts Comptables.

The congress papers (rather than the full proceedings) were published as a collection of 12 booklets under the title Cahiers du Congrès International de Comptabilité Paris 1948 (Paris: Ordre des Experts Comptables et des Comptables Agréés). A brief report on the congress by a Canadian participant can be found in Beauvais (1948). For the history of the Ordre from 1942 to 1945, see Degos (2005).

See, for instance, the Bulletins d'Information circulated prior to the congress (NIVA no. 974).

Unless otherwise indicated, this paragraph and the next are based on the correspondence, dated November 1947 to April 1948, between the NIVA, the ICAEW, and the Ordre (NIVA no. 974). The ICAEW claimed to have consulted a number of unspecified other UK bodies. For a retrospective view from the standpoint of the ICAEW, see Robson (1964).

Walker (2006) provides some information on how, before the war, the hosts of the previous International Congress were involved to a limited extent in the organisation of the next. Walker's study also makes it clear that the 1938 congress was in many ways exceptional. It is possible that Caujolle and others believed that the congress series had been interrupted to such an extent that the organizers of the 1948 congress were no longer effectively bound by any precedents or previous agreements.

A biographical sketch, written by an anonymous friend and admirer, can be found in Caujolle (1956, 11–22).

Like all members of the Ordre's Conseil Supérieur, Caujolle tendered his resignation in 1945. He was re-elected by the membership in 1946 after the Ordre had been reconstituted. He renounced the office again after one month and was made honorary president. He served as expert advisor in many cases of post-war financial settlement and reconstruction. In 1951, he was appointed to the Conseil Economique. He died as a grand officier of the Légion d'Honneur. It may be noted that Degos (2005) mentions occasional allegations of war-time collaboration arising after Caujolle's death.

The idea of creating an international institute of accountancy was not altogether new, and had in fact already been proposed by the German hosts of the Fifth International Congress (Kongreß-Archiv 1938, 59–60).

According to NIVA observer J.G. van der Meijden (NIVA no. 974, letter to NIVA Council, 23 June 1948), the resolution was a ‘nondescript’ text, adopted after opposition by UK and Canadian representatives and himself to more ambitious French proposals to set up an Institute in Paris immediately. Robson (1964) claimed that ‘the United Kingdom and other bodies’ did not support the resolution at all.

See Camfferman and Zeff (2007, 37–8) for a brief discussion of events in Paris and the attitudes of the Dutch, UK, and US accountancy bodies.

Regulation of the accountancy profession at the federal level was achieved only with the creation of the Wirt-schafts-prü-fer-kam-mer in 1961. See Koch (1957) for detailed information on regulations in force in the several zones and Länder.

The 1946 body was created in and for the British zone. In 1954, it was renamed as Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer in Deutschland.

Caujolle (1956, 83).

NUVA no. 12, ‘Buitenlandse betrekkingen’. The Dutch ‘Engeland’ was possibly used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. We have not been able to establish which or how many UK bodies were invited.

NIVA no. 857, ‘Procès-verbal’. Unless otherwise indicated, the discussion of the Basel meeting is based on these minutes.

The NIVA's ‘Dagelijks Bestuur’ (Management Committee) was the executive committee of its ‘Bestuur’ (Council). In the main text these English translations will be used. In references to minutes, the abbreviations DB and B are used to distinguish between Management Committee and Council.

The exception was the Vereniging van Academisch Gevormde Accountants (VAGA), a small body which cooperated closely with the NIVA. In matters relating to the UEC, the NIVA and the VAGA followed the same line, but the VAGA typically did not play an active role in any of the discussions. For the sake of simplicity, the main text therefore refers to the NIVA.

NIVA no. 859, ‘Rapport Prof. Dr A. Mey’. In the case of the NUVA, the French may have based their invitations on the list of participants of the Berlin (1938) congress, where the NUVA was represented. The NIVA made sure, however, that no invitations were extended to NUVA for any of the post-war International Congresses.

On Limperg's role in the Dutch accountancy profession, see Camfferman and Zeff (1994).

On the history of the legal recognition of the accountancy profession in the Netherlands, see de Hen, Berendsen, and Schoonderbeek (1995, ch. IV).

The meeting is reported in NIVA no. 857, ‘Limperg and Mey to NIVA Council’.

This paragraph and the next are based on NIVA no. 857, ‘Caujolle circular letter’.

The text of the Basel resolution is reproduced in UEC (1961b, 13–14).

NUVA no. 11, ‘Procès-Verbal’. Unless otherwise indicated, this section is based on these minutes.

Both in March and November, Switzerland was represented by Emile Giroud. In March, his affiliation was shown as the Chambre Suisse pour Expertises Comptables (Schweizerische Kammer für Revisionswesen), and in November as the Association Suisse des Experts Comptables (Verband Schweizerischer Bücherexperten). The former organization was a federation of three bodies, including the latter. The Association became a founder member of the UEC, but in 1961 it was replaced as UEC member by the Chambre.

In 1952, Spain was not represented. In 1957, it was represented by the Colegio Oficial de Titulares Mercantiles de Madrid and the Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Titulares Mercantiles de Barcelona, two regional bodies. For Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal there were no differences between UEC membership and International Congress participation. For both Belgium and Germany, the congresses were attended by one body in addition to the UEC member (the Chambre Belge des Comptables and the Bundesverband der vereidigten Buchprüfer, respectively). For Switzerland, the umbrella organisation (Schweizerische Kammer) and two of its member organizations, including the UEC member (Verband Schweizerischer Bücherexperten) attended the congresses. Nine French bodies participated in the congresses. In addition to the Ordre and five syndicats of experts comptables, there were the Conseil National de la Comptabilité (essentially a government agency charged with promulgating accounting standards), the Compagnie des Chefs de Comptabilité and the national federation of associations of commissaires agréés. The latter two organizations were represented by single individuals.

According to a notice in Wirtschaftlichkeit (Austria), November 1952, reproduced in NIVA no. 859 (B-UEC 17-20), the ‘Scandinavian countries sent observers’ to Paris in November 1951.

Robson (1964) summarizes the ICAEW's position in 1951 as follows: ‘The English Institute deprecated the plan [to found the UEC] as likely to bring about a levelling down of standards and also to cause disagreements and friction between countries if any attempt were made by the proposed body to issue pronouncements on professional subjects.’ This wording is reminiscent of Robson's words minuted at the 1953 Scarborough meeting, discussed below, and may, therefore, be the form in which the ICAEW's position became articulated after the UEC was founded, rather than as it was conveyed to the UEC's founders in 1951.

When the UEC was founded, Caujolle commented: ‘It would undoubtedly be premature to specify the directions towards which this [concerted] action [of a European elite of accounting experts] will be orientated. What matters at first is the power of the guiding idea …’ Caujolle (1956, 85).

According to André Reydel (interview), the comptables agréés whose practice tended to be of a local nature did not support Caujolle's search for more extensive international contacts. The Société des Experts Comptables Français was formed as a syndicat, albeit one with a limited purpose. Apart from representing the experts comptables in the UEC, it aimed to be a platform for intellectual exchange rather than to act as an interest group.

Subsequent UEC publications also show Marcel Wiart (Belgium) among the honorary (i.e. past-) presidents. The reason is that, at the UEC's 1955 Brussels congress, Wiart was elected as president, but declined for health reasons. He was, however, willing to be president during the week of the congress. NUVA no. 7, ‘Jaarverslag’; Ambtsblatt [1955a].

On Fain, see Journal UEC (1980) and remarks by Maurice Moine cited in UEC (1963, 31–5).

UEC (1961b, 18). In December 1962, the UEC Council concluded that ‘the Executive Committee has not proven itself in practice and has had only a semblance of life’ (La Vie de l'UEC 1963b, 18).

Based on the NUVA's annual financial statements, included with NUVA nos 7–10.

On the NUVA's suspicions, see for instance NUVA no. 6, ‘Jaarverslag’. On Fain's contacts with the NIVA, see NIVA no. 859 ‘Inzake congres te Brussel.’

‘The utility of the UEC is primarily domestic’ (NUVA no. 6, ‘van de Vliet to Kockelmans’). See also NUVA no. 9, ‘Speech by van de Vliet’ [1964].

Gerhard (1956, 65) documents that the Bundesverband, despite the generally local orientation of its membership, was interested in international cooperation. Why it never joined the UEC is not known.

Attendance numbers are based on Dieterich (1953), UEC (1956), a note ‘Nouvelles de France et de l’étranger’, Revue Française de Comptabilité, December 1958, 358, and Fain (1963).

For an extensive impression of the Florence congress, see Dieterich (1953).

For example, Fain in UEC (1961b).

For a review of the role of the committees in the congress programs, see the report by Fain in UEC (1963, 49–50).

See, respectively, Moine (1959, 5); Moine, quoted in UEC (1967, 45); Moine, quoted in La Vie de l'UEC (1963c, 18).

Fain in UEC (1961b). See comparable remarks by Fain in UEC (1963, 51).

See the extensive committee reports in Nationaal College der Accountants van België (1960).

A Belgian chairman was elected in 1955, and the committee was still shown, with a Belgian chairman, in the committee list in Dix Ans au Service de l'Europe (UEC 1961b).

See also Fain (1963, 103). It may be noted, however, that the Brussels congress proceedings of 1955 distinguish between the 1951 ‘Publications’ committee and a recently created committee on ‘Bibliographie Comptable’. The numbers of committees given in the text are based on the assumption that this was a single committee.

Committee names were not always used consistently within the UEC. In this paper, we use the French and English names of the committees as shown in the French and English versions of the UEC (1961b) brochure Dix Ans au Service de l'Europe/Ten Years UEC, even though the names in the two languages are not in all cases literally equivalent.

The involvement of the European accountancy bodies with the EEC Directives on accounting began in 1965, with the creation of a working party on harmonization of company law. Like the Groupe Saxe, which was seen as its prototype, it was to provide advice to the European Commission. It was chaired by Wilhelm Elmendorff.

UEC (1961c).

Code des Devoirs Professionnels. 1959. Union Européenne des Experts Comptables Economiques et Financiers.

See Nationaal College der Accountants van België (1960, 59–63). It may be noted that Léon Saxe chaired both the UEC committee ‘Professional Organisation’ and the corresponding committee which prepared the Belgian draft.

UEC (1961d). A supplementary volume including Italian and Portuguese was published in 1964, and a second edition (running to 1150 pages) appeared in 1974. A special edition on group accounts appeared in 1986. Favorable reviews appeared in The Accountant 146, no. 4550, 3 March 1962, 271; The Accounting Review 37, no. 2, April 1962, 383–4 (by H. Peter Holzer); and in The Journal of Accountancy 114, no. 1, July 1962, 93–4 (by Adolph Matz).

Communication from A. Elmendorff-Pfeifer to the authors, dated 28 August 2008. The Lexicon used American-English because the committee drew on the services of a US CPA of German origin temporarily residing in Düsseldorf.

Reviewed in The Accounting Review 52, no. 1, January 1977, 297–8 (by Richard H. Homburger) and in The Accountant 171, no. 5217, 19/26 December 1974, 822.

Committees which did function, but whose output was limited to an occasional congress paper were the following. The committee on ‘Budgetary and Management Control’ (Contrôle Budgétaire et Gestion d'Entreprises’, chaired by Paul Loeb, France) dealt with management accounting, in particular with budgets and their incorporation in the accounting system. The committee ‘Economic and Financial Research’ (‘Etudes Economiques et Financières’) was chaired by Roberto Tremelloni (Italy), but as he was also active in Italian politics, including a spell as finance minister, the committee was run by its vice-chairman, Jean Nataf (France). The committee ‘Fiscal Research’ (‘Etudes Fiscales’, initially chaired by the Netherlands, but chairmanship requested by France in 1954) seems to have worked diligently but produced just a single congress paper. The main achievement of the committee ‘Professional Education’ (‘Formation Professionnelle’ (Luxembourg) was the organization, in 1960/1961, of an essay contest for young members of the profession. The remaining four committees functioned poorly or not at all. The committee on ‘Theoretical and Historical Research’ (‘Etudes Théoriques et Historiques’, chaired by Portugal) apparently never functioned properly. The committee on ‘Publications’ (chaired by Switzerland, then by Belgium) was created to compile a bibliography of publications on accounting. It seems to have functioned with difficulties. In 1955, the NUVA representative on the committee was minuted as ‘expressing strong criticism’ of the way the committee operated: ‘The UEC reminds him of an operetta. We are making ourselves ridiculous by keeping this kind of company’ (NUVA no. 7, ‘Verslag bestuursvergadering’, 1 April 1955). ‘Financial Mathematics’ (‘Mathématiques Financières’) was created to compensate the Dutch when the French took over the chairmanship of the ‘Fiscal Research’ committee. In 1959, it had just four members who were left ‘to occupy themselves with whatever pleased them’, according to committee chairman P.G. van de Vliet (NUVA no. 8, ‘van de Vliet to NUVA Council’). The committee on ‘Administrative Accounting’ ‘Comptabilités Publiques’, or public-sector accounting, was created in 1955 at the request of Portugal but did not produce any reports. Apart from ‘Financial Mathematics’, the last four committees were not mentioned in Fain's review (UEC 1963, 49–50) of the committees ‘that have functioned from 1958 to 1961’, even though they are included in the committee list in UEC (1961b).

Die Bewertung von Unternehmungen und Unternehmungsanteilen: Richtlinienen ausgearbeitet von einer Stu-dien-kom-mis-sion der UEC 1961. Düsseldorf: Verlagsbuchhandlung des IdW.

The Association of International Accountants was a second-tier body in the sense that it was not one of the ‘statutory’ accountancy bodies whose members could act as auditors under the Companies Act. From 1951 onwards, it was negotiating a plan for absorption into the Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants (ACCA; see Stacey 1954, 76, 170). The plan was rejected by the ACCA membership in 1955.

‘Founding of UEC and influence on founding the accounting associations in FRY’, memo for the VII Session (1969) of the Executive Board of the Yugoslav Association of Accountants, translated version provided to the authors by Dragutin Dragojević; communication from Dragutin Dragojević to the authors dated 4 May 2007. See also La Vie de l'UEC (1959, 92).

Gaël Fain informed the NUVA of the Broederschap's resignation in the spring of 1959 (NUVA no. 8, ‘Verslag bestuursvergadering’, 3 April 1959). Subsequently (UEC 1961b), he asserted that the Broederschap resigned with effect from 1 January 1955.

NUVA no. 11, ‘NUVA to UEC’. Internally, the NUVA agreed that the Broederschap was ‘not to be praised’ for its effort in the committees (NUVA no. 6, ‘van de Vliet to Kockelmans’).

Resolution 58(7), 28 March 1958, available at http://www.coe.int

On the decision to apply for a subsidy, see Ambtsblatt (1955b). On the final status, see NIVA no. 859, ‘Raad van Europa en UEC’.

Apparently the only request by the Council of Europe to the UEC came in the form of a circular letter asking the organizations with consultative status to use their influence to support the Council's ‘propaganda’ on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, and to encourage member bodies to urge the ratification of Council conventions on their governments. UEC President Moine (1959, 4) presented this to the membership as an opportunity to ‘act as good Europeans’. The UEC did take an interest in the Council's convention on establishment, but this had already been adopted by the Council in 1955, before the UEC acquired consultative status. See ‘Vie professionnelle’, Revue Française de Comptabilité, no. 28(1960): 113.

NUVA no. 8, ‘van de Vliet to NUVA Council’; La Vie de l'UEC (1959).

On paper, the UEC committee ‘Professional Organization’ continued to exist, also under the chairmanship of Saxe, at least until 1961, but it appears not to have undertaken any significant action. See NIVA no. 45, Minutes DB, 22 November 1961.

La Vie de l'UEC (1961). For information on the composition and activities of the ‘Groupe Saxe’ until 1960, see Nationaal College der Accountants van België (1960, 10–13).

NIVA no. 34, Minutes B, 18 July 1952. See also NIVA no. 36, Minutes B, 25 August 1953.

NIVA no. 859, ‘Note of an informal meeting’. The quotations in the text of comments made during the Scarborough meeting are taken from this document. The meeting is also mentioned in Robson (1964), where Robson appears to draw on this document.

Meier's less than fluent English is also noted in NIVA no. 116, ‘Verslag bezoek Najaarsvergadering’.

For approaches by Caujolle, see NIVA no. 36, ‘rapport afgedane zaken’, 26 November 1953, and no. 37, ‘rapport afgedane zaken’, 28 February 1954. See also NIVA no. 39, Minutes B, 11 October and 2 November 1955.

ICAEW ORC, no. 35861, minutes 22 July 1957. Robson (1964) claims that the idea came from Kraayenhof, ICAEW Secretary Alan S. MacIver, and himself. Although Robson was one of the first, if not the first, to be informed about the idea, as well as a strong supporter, there can be little doubt that the initiative came from Kraayenhof.

ICAEW ORC, no. 35861, minutes 4 September 1957.

NIVA no. 964, ‘Kraayenhof to Möhle’, and ‘European Congresses of Accountants’.

ICAEW ORC no. 35861, ‘Report of the Overseas Relations Committee’ to the Council of the ICAEW, memo by Robson, 26 June 1958, pp. 79–9A.

NIVA no. 42, Minutes B, 18 June 1958. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations in the remainder of this paragraph are taken from the minutes of this meeting.

NIVA no. 964, ‘Bredt to Kraayenhof’; NIVA no. 42, ‘Rapport afgedane zaken’, 9 September 1958, and Minutes DB, 14 November 1958.

NIVA no. 964, ‘Kraayenhof to Robson’, 30 October 1958; ‘Kraayenhof to Besançon and others’, 30 October 1958; ‘Robson to Kraayenhof’, 20 November 1958; ‘Kraayenhof to Robson’, 10 February 1959.

ICAS Council, 23 October 1959, minute 1734. On discussions with the Scandinavians, see NIVA no. 43, Minutes DB, 21 May 1959, and Minutes B, 9 October 1959.

NIVA no. 42, ‘Rapport afgedane zaken’, 9 September 1958, and Minutes B, 18 June 1958.

NIVA no. 859, ‘Telephone conversation with Dieterich’; see also NUVA no. 8, ‘Verslag bestuursvergadering’, 3 April 1959.

ICAS Council, 22 January 1960, minute 1806; NIVA no. 1081, ‘Europees Accountantscongres, Edinburgh’, 9 February 1960.

The NIVA's staff regularly supplied the Council with information about the UEC culled from the Continental accountancy journals. These had reported the date and venue of the next congress at least as early as January 1959, well before, in October 1959, the NIVA Council was informed of ICAS's plan to aim for a 1961 European congress.

NIVA no. 44, Minutes DB, 27 January 1960 and 13 April 1960; ICAS Council, 30 March 1960, minute 1865.

The first reference to the EEC in the minutes of the ICAEW's Overseas Relations Committee, which regularly took note of relevant legislative developments in a wide range of countries, did not occur until December 1960. In June 1960, ICAS President McKellar reported to his Council that the activities of ‘the body in Belgium which was organising the Common Market for the Six’ could have important implications for Scotland, both if Scottish auditors were excluded from the Continent and in the more distant future if the United Kingdom were to join the EEC (ICAS Council, 17 June 1960, minute 1905). On the English and Scottish concerns emerging during 1960, see also NIVA no. 44, Minutes B, 23 September 1960.

ICAS Council, 17 June 1960, minute 1905; NIVA no. 44, Minutes DB 7 September 1960; NIVA no. 1081, ‘Treffers to McKellar’.

In the run-up to the meeting, there was some discussion whether Austria and Italy should be invited. In the end, it was decided to do so (for Italy, the Dottori Commercialisti only) even though Dieterich, when consulted, had advised that it ‘was not necessary’ to invite the Italians. NIVA no. 44, Minutes B, 20 July 1960.

NIVA no. 1081, ‘Vergadering belegd door het Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland’. Represented were bodies from Belgium (Collège and Institut des Réviseurs d'Entreprises), Denmark (FSR), Germany (IdW), Finland (KHT-Yhdistys), France (Société), Ireland (ICAI), Italy (Dottori Commercialisti), Luxembourg (Ordre), the Netherlands (NIVA and VAGA), Norway (NSRF), Switzerland (Kammer), and the UK (ACCA, ICAEW, ICAS). For other reports of the meeting in Scheveningen, see NIVA no. 44, Minutes DB 26 October 1960 and ICAS Council, 26 October 1960, minute 1984.

NIVA no. 1081, ‘Vergadering belegd door het Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland’, translated from the Dutch.

A proposal by the IdW to appoint a committee composed of representatives of three UEC member bodies and three non-member bodies was rejected by seven votes to nine; McKellar's proposal for a circular letter and individual replies was accepted by nine votes to seven. In both votes, the seven UEC members voted as a group. Apparently, no one present questioned the fact that in a vote by body the Anglo-Dutch bloc carried a disproportionate weight.

The fear of the European accountancy profession splitting in two blocs was expressed repeatedly at the time (see also McDougall 1979, 17). One assumes that the creation of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1960 gave currency to the idea of such a split.

As noted, after discussions with the IdW, by NIVA's Management Committee. NIVA no. 44, Minutes DB, 13 December 1960.

In the spring of 1961, the Joint Standing Committee of ICAS and the ICAEW, for this purpose joined by ACCA, had established contact with the European Commission's Internal Market Directorate in order to plead the cause of the UK bodies regarding access to European audit markets. ICAS Council, 27 January 1961, minute 2045 and 16 June 1961, minute 2183. In October 1961, Secretary Victor McDougall advised the ICAS Council: ‘If … the matter [of relations with Europe] is allowed to drift, the members of the British bodies may find themselves at a grave disadvantage in Europe.’ ICAS Council Minutes, 20 October 1961, ‘The accountancy profession in Europe’. On the significance of the EEC in the UK's decision to seek UEC membership, see also Stewart (1963, 327).

ICAS Council Minutes, 20 October 1961, ‘Speech by Mr Alexander McKellar’.

By that time, preparations for the legal recognition of the accountancy profession in the Netherlands had progressed so far that it was highly probable that NUVA members meeting certain conditions would be accepted as ‘registered auditors’.

ICAEW ORC no. 35861, ‘UEC Memorandum on Proceedings in Edinburgh on 29th June 1962’, vol. A, 157–60.

For a general overview of these negotiations, including a list of venues, see Elmendorff (1963).

On Robson's changing views on the UEC, see ICAS Council Minutes, 20 October 1961, ‘The Accountancy Profession in Europe’.

As mentioned above, the VAGA was a small body with a close relationship with the NIVA, and was recognized by the NIVA as the only other first-tier body in the Netherlands.

ICAEW ORC no. 35861, ‘UEC Memorandum on Proceedings in Edinburgh on 29th June 1962’, vol A, 157–60; La Vie de l'UEC (1963a, 11); NIVA no. 46, Minutes B, 6 September 1962 and Minutes B, 19 October 1962.

The 1962 edition of the ICAEW's List of Members showed a total of 35,229 members, as reported in The Accountant 146, no. 4554, 31 March 1962, 399. The ICAS membership on 31 July 1962 was 7077, as reported in The Accountant 147, no. 4587, 17 November 1962, 662. ACCA's List of Members of 30 November 1961 showed 11,006 members, as reported in The Accountant 146, no. 4549, 24 February 1962, 240. The number of Wirtschafsprüfer (not all of whom were necessarily members of the IdW) on 1 November 1961 was 1590 (Markus 1997, 182). In 1960, the number of experts comptables within the French Ordre (which also included 7730 comptables agréés) was 2327 (Degos 2003, Table 1).

The Institut Français des Experts Comptables (IFEC) had been formed in 1961 as a merger of three syndicats: the Chambre Nationale des Experts Comptables Diplômés; the Compagnie Nationale des Experts Comptables; and the Union Professionnelle des Sociétés Fiduciaires d'Expertise Comptable. IFEC and the Société des Experts Comptables Français shared the same address and probably a significant proportion of their membership.

The UEC secretariat moved to Munich in 1965, but this move was unrelated to the accession of the Anglo-Nordic bodies discussed in this paper.