Abstract The article presents information about the execution of the Federal Budget of the United States. There are three phases in the development of the budget. (1) The Budget Document is the most comprehensive expression of the work of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget. It is based on the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 that introduced the executive budget into the system of Federal finances. The Act was a long step forward in bringing order out of chaos. (2) A new landmark in the development of the Budget was the Reorganization Act of 1939, which placed the Bureau of the Budget in the Executive Office of U.S. President. (3) Through the reorganization, the emphasis of the work in the Bureau of the Budget has been shifted from the watchdog function into an instrument of management. The new procedures developed in the present emergency period promise to become a regular instrument of national policy in the future. The U.S. Congress may appropriate for what has been called "developmental programs" extending though a period of years, but leaving the timing of actual expenditures to the Executive, within the framework of the law.

Abstract This article presents information on the equity method and intercorporate relationships. In a series of articles on "Intercorporate Relationships" appearing in the journal "American Accountant" from April-July 1982, economist Lewis A. Carman presented the "equity method" for preparing consolidated balance sheets. The equity method eliminates the necessity of making all adjustments, which are solely and entirely between the investment accounts and the surplus accounts. Consolidation on a cost basis is complex and is subject to errors, which are not patent. Hence, the usual procedure involved in this method is, to adjust the investment account for changes in net worth since date of acquisition. The equity method does not invalidate the computation of goodwill on the conventional basis that is the excess of cost over book value at date of acquisition. Either total or partial goodwill may be set up on the work sheet. The equity method does not introduce algebra except where intercorporate relationships are exceedingly complex.

Abstract Doubtless the cash account is one of the oldest of accounts. Business operations have revolved round the cash account from the very beginning of business. It follows that the technique of accounting and the operation of business organizations can hardly hope to get away from so fundamental concept. One cannot expect the statement of cash receipts and cash reimbursements to be displaced even if all businesses were to be placed on the accrual basis of accounting. One might well question the accuracy of the small business man who regards his bank balance as his indicator of profits, but one cannot too quickly criticize his judgments on fundamentals. Perhaps the accrual basis of accounting is partly to blame for the shift of emphasis from the funds involved to the net income produced. At any rate, it seems that we have gone too far in leaving out of the picture the significance of the shift in funds which occurs with business operations. This statement applies almost equally to textbooks on accounting and to the work of auditors and interpretative accountants. That one has failed to appreciate the fact that shift of funds in a business is still of major importance, is evidenced both by the relative newness of the Funds-Provided-and-Their-Application Statement and the lack of its wide use and development.