Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors examinations

The Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors was founded in 1885 and merged with ICAEW in 1957. Between 1885 and 1908, it was called the Society of Accountants and Auditors, and between 1954 and 1957 it was called the Society of Incorporated Accountants.

The Society first held examinations in 1887 but in the early days admission to the Society was mostly gained through election by the Council. In 1889 further by-laws expanded the scope of the examinations to cover clerks articled to members and students with accounting experience. More information on the establishment and development of examinations at the Society can be found in the History of the Society of Incorporated Accountants, 1885-1957 by A.A. Garrett.

Some of the Society's examinations continued to be held for some time after the Society itself had been liquidated. ICAEW, along with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, conducted the Society's final examination into the 1960s.

Questions set between 1887 and 1916/17 were reproduced initially in the Society's annual lists of members, and later in its annual yearbooks.

The Library holds a complete set of the Society's List of members, articles, bye-laws, examination papers and library catalogue for the period 1887-1907/08.

The Library also holds editions of the Yearbook of the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors (published between 1908/09 and 1948), which contained examination papers until 1916/17.

The Society's examination questions were also reproduced in the biannual publication Questions set at the preliminary, intermediate and final examinations, 1887-1959, which was published in 146 volumes.

The Library holds volumes for November 1949 to November 1959.

The journal Incorporated Student's Telephone contains the questions set at the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors (SIAA) examinations, along with answers prepared by the directors and tutors of H. Foulks Lynch. The Library holds a set of the journals for 1910 to 1957.

Pass lists for Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors examinations were published in both The Accountant and in the Incorporated Accountants' Journal. The Library holds complete sets of both titles for this period.

The lists published in the Incorporated Accountants' Journal are the clearest source to look at, and include details that are sometimes omitted from the equivalent lists in The Accountant (e.g. the name of the firm that a candidate was associated with). In some cases only the order of merit was published in The Accountant, with the full list of successful candidates only appearing in the Incorporated Accountants' Journal.

In addition, registers of examination results for the Society (covering the period 1924-1967) are held at the London Metropolitan Archives, as part of the collection of ICAEW materials deposited there. Please note that these registers are subject to access restrictions, due to data protection regulations. Requests to view such records should be directed to the Library enquiry team, at library@icaew.com.

Certain other materials relating to Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors examinations are also held at the London Metropolitan Archives, including minute books for committees and boards such as the Examination Committee, the Board of Examiners, and the Examination and Membership Committee.

For further details, see the full catalogue of ICAEW holdings at the London Metropolitan Archives. Please note that these materials are subject to access restrictions, due to data protection regulations. Requests to view such records should be directed to the Library enquiry team, at library@icaew.com.