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Professor Miller adds more information to help build up a knowledge of how Lamaist monasteries have functioned in the recent past. Such monasteries performed (and in some cases still perform) not only religious and social functions but political and economic ones. As regards their internal financial systems, they seem to have had similar organizations all of which varied somewhat according to local environments. But Professor Miller comments on one common thread: the uisa system, and appraises its significance for the original spread of Inner Asian monasticism, for the fluctuations in fortunes of individual monasteries, and for the economy as a whole.

A chronology of significant events in the development of corporate financial reporting standards and practices is presented. The introductory comments to the various sections direct attention to some of the main patterns and trends in that development and provide the framework in which the listing of events is to be interpreted. The particularly significant domestic sources of influence are the legislative and professional activities in Ontario and, in more recent times, the activities of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. External influences have been—not unexpectedly—the traditions of English Company law and the close professional, institutional and economic relationships with the United States. Some internationally significant developments unique to Canada are indicated.

The Ontario Companies Act of 1907 was one of the earliest legislative enactments to require presentation at company annual meetings, and specify the content of, the financial statements of commercial and manufacturing companies. The study describes the background to this important event and points to the two main influencing forces—the office of the Provincial Secretary and the equally active and informed Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. The concern for disclosure suggests that Ontario was in the forefront of accounting development in the latter part of the nineteenth and the first decade of the twentieth centuries.

A chronology of significant changes in Canadian auditing legislation, pronouncements and practices, from the late nineteenth century to the present, reveals the strong influence of English and American sources. The evolution of mandatory audits, of profit and loss audits, and of the wording of the standard audit report demonstrates these influences.

The current input of Government funds to develop victim support schemes could promote over-enthusiasm for direct reparation which may damage rather than help victims. Victims and volunteer support workers could be exploited in order to provide another sanction for the Courts, as society conveniently offloads collective responsibility onto the individual victim.