Depreciation, Inflation, Price levels, Assets' useful lives

Inventory, Inventory valuation, Quantity and Price effects, Inventory write downs

Abstract This article discusses some problems which arise at an early stage in accounting instruction as a result of textbook obsolescence. Textbooks, invariably postulate a set for basic assumptions or contentions or principles of accounting; it is clear to the instructor or practitioner that these relate to published financial statements. It is certain that students acquire an unnecessarily restrictive view of accounting by mistakenly believing from the start that these propositions apply throughout the spectrum of accounting possibilities.

Abstract In this article economist Werner Sombart attempts to trace several causal factors which led eventually to the emergence of a capitalist civilization. The essential features are the profit motive and rationality; an exchange economy, in which the material requirements of several trades are satisfied by free exchanges of equivalent goods or money, may be either artisanal or capitalistic. Sombart takes as his point of departure a precapitalistic feudal society in early medieval Europe when a sufficiency for existence was the goal of every man. The spirit of enterprise manifests itself in personalities like the "freebooter," the "speculator" and the "projector" who rely on robbery of economic surpluses created by others to form the capital necessary for their undertakings. Sombart was undistinguished as a forecaster. Writing shortly before World War I he predicted an end to large-scale wars, a declining world population and the impending disappearance of capitalism. Besides a defective telescopic vision, however, he also displayed attenuated historical perspective, attributable in some measure to the paucity of source material then at his disposal.

Abstract This article comments on the proposed model by Myron J. Gordon for the transfer price problem using a socialist economy as the locus of inquiry. The problems posed by a bureaucratic organization, the need for some kind of sanctions, and the essentially subjective considerations underlying all pricing models are correctly identified as major obstacles in the way of a system which attempts to replicate a market economy without the constraints imposed by relative freedom of economic action. A fundamental weakness of Gordon's approach, however is its reliance on the neoclassical theory of the firm as an image from which such an investigation can proceed, and this is coupled with a specification that one of the conditions which the transfer price system must satisfy is that the prices approximate the characteristics of perfectly competitive prices, and have similar consequences for the allocation and utilization of resources. The article concludes that neither Gordon's model of the firm in a socialist economy, nor his postulated condition that prices must approximate to those which would obtain in a perfectly competitive market economy are acceptable approaches to the solution of the transfer price problem. The answer to this problem is urgently required in order that we may extend the boundaries of accounting to comprehend areas of economic activity which are, as yet, relatively unstructured. It will not be found, we suspect, to lie in the application of neoclassical price theory to problems which that theory was never intended to handle.

Abstract The article reports on accounting systems. Uniform accounting systems developed in Europe for firms in general, and by multicorporate structures for their component firms, proceed from the observations, that financial accounting was mainly accounting for the liquidity cycle of the firm and that the liquidity cycle was common to all businesses, but arrive at different forms of financial statements for reasons which are basically irrelevant to the question of uniformity. In this article, two forms of experimental accounting statements have been presented: the first, an integration of the income and funds flow statements with the statement of financial position; the second, an income⁄ product statement and statement of financial position ostensibly derived from economic theory and social accounting. It has been suggested that they differ in the extent to which accountants are able to utilize them, particularly for purposes of forecasting future financial position. The view that accounting income and economic income can be reconciled through changes in net present value of the firm, adjusted for payments in and withdrawals, requires testing and the place of windfall gains and unforeseen losses in this scheme of things is uncertain.

Abstract Reviews the book "Accounting Theory & Policy: A Reader," by Robert Bloom and Pieter T. Elgers.

Abstract Reviews the book "Accounting Value and Inflation," by William Baxter.

Abstract Reviews the book "Advanced Accounting," by Ronald Copeland, D. Larry Crumbley and Joseph F. Wojdak.

Abstract Discusses a study on the accounting practice and education problems in developing countries which was conducted by the American Accounting Association's Committee in Accounting in Developing Countries. Comments on accounting education in developing countries; Limitations of the study.