This work investigates the historical trajectory that enabled professional accountants to achieve a position of dominance within the boardroom and executive management of British industry. The authors, Derek Matthews, John Richard Edwards, and Malcolm Anderson, utilize an economic determinist framework to analyze the expansion of public accounting practice. By examining the interplay between supply and demand factors, they explain how the accounting profession transitioned from a specialized service to a central pillar of corporate governance in the United Kingdom.

Experts recognize this text as a comprehensive historical account of the professionalization of British business management. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the rigorous archival research supporting the authors' conclusions regarding the hegemony of the accounting profession.