Knowledge that Transforms

Reviews the book "Federal Taxes on Estates, Trusts and Gifts, 1936-1937," by R.H. Montgomery and Roswell Magill.

Reviews the book "The Science of Valuation and Depreciation," by Edwin B. Kurtz.

Reviews the book "Audit Working Papers," by Maurice E. Peloubet.

Abstract Last November a questionnaire on first-year accounting was mailed to all colleges and universities represented among the membership of the American Accounting Association. Replies received from fifty-three schools in the U.S. and Canada were used as the basis for a round-table discussion of various teaching methods and problems at the annual convention in Chicago last December. It is the purpose of the article to summarize these replies for the benefit of those who could not attend the round-table itself. No attempt will be made to measure or compare standards of instruction or to label one practice as good and another as bad. While a variation in standards is apparent, the differences in methods and objectives are even more marked. It would be futile, for instance, to compare a required freshman course in bookkeeping in a large city college of commerce with an accounting course for juniors or seniors in a liberal arts college, or with a course in a graduate school of business administration.

Reviews the book "Introduction to Corporate Finance," by John C. Baker and Deane W. Mallott.

Reviews the book "La banca nell'ordinamento finansiario visconteo dai mastri del Banco Giussano," by Tommaso Zerbi.

Abstract It has been the author's observation that first-year accounting students have considerable difficulty in learning how to make calculations for the admission of a partner by investment. The calculations for goodwill or for bonus, and the journalizing of the results seem to contain somewhat more than ordinary difficulty. The method presented in the article is simple, yet it is reasonably complete. It sets forth the five possible cases in concrete form, permitting the student to realize that the whole procedure is actually easy. The process contains certain logical steps that aid the student in tasking and retaining it. In order to simplify the process for the sake of teaching it, the thought and expression "ignoring goodwill" is substituted for the ordinary conception and terra "bonus." It seems easier to build upon the idea of either recording or ignoring goodwill than to include the additional notion of bonus. After the subject has been discussed, the fact that the ignoring of good will means giving a bonus in ownership to someone can be made clear in one statement to the class.

Reviews the book "Federal Income Tax Handbook 1936-1937," by Robert H. Montgomery.

Reviews the book "Cost Accounting, Principles and Methods," 2nd ed., by Charles Reitell and C.E. Johnston.

Reviews the book "Statistical Analyses of Industrial Property Retirements," by Robley Winfrey.