Cullen, Lochhead and Brown, architects: the business, financial and accounting history of a non-profit maximizing firm, 1902-2002

The study which follows charts the business and financial progress of a Scottish regional architectural practice, Cullen, Lochhead and Brown, from 1902–60 in detail, and from 1960 to the present in outline. It examines the firm's origins, the architectural context in which it has operated and the strategies by which it has survived and prospered over its life to date. Analyses of the firm's fee income and sources of work are given, together with details of its financial progress and accounting arrangements. The study concludes with some observations of relevance to the business strategy and small business literatures. Drawing brief comparisons with a Canadian study by Mintzberg et al. (1986), it also provides empirical evidence to suggest that at least some architectural practitioners are motivated by non-financial as well as financial rewards, and points to financial practices which may be characteristic of such firms.