ting - the first instance of accounting used as an instrument of federal regulation. Unlike the British, who used the balance sheet in an effort to monitor management's use of stockholders' monies, American corporations of the early 20th century had no comparable history of losses from stock speculation. Rather, American balance sheets were drafted mainly with bankers in mind, and bankers of the era cared more about a company's liquidity than earning power. Beginning in 1920, business practices began changing drastically, as the U.S. went through an inventory depression in which wholesale prices fell 40 percent. Cash flow slowed, loans defaulted and credit became less available to corporations. In response, business sought financing from sources less tied to their current cash flow. The offering of corporate stock issues became a leading method of financing expansion. As stockholders, rather than bankers, became the primary audience of financial statements, the income statement began to take center stage over the balance sheet. Other factors, such as the rise of income taxation and cost accounting, also shifted the focus to revenues and expenses . At the turn of the century, there were at least four types of funds statements in use - those that summarized changes in cash, in current assets, in working capital and overall financial activities. Accountant H.A. Finney led the movement for use of a funds statement, which focused on liquidity by tracking the sources of changes in working capital. He used a worksheet approach to highlight meaningful balance sheet changes by aggregating most of the fluctuations, which affect working capital and offered a standardized method for calculating them. In the 1940s, the accounting profession increasingly used the funds statement to measure the actual flow of monies, rather than simply the sum of working capital changes between balance sheet dates. The funds statement increasingly became a staple ...
