The article proposes to discuss the regulation, by governmental authority, of the profession of public accountancy in France with particular reference to the newly created diploma, of Expert-Comptable Reconra par l'Etat. The role of the French public accountant and consequently the importance of the new decree affecting the profession and giving its members an official title and status may be more dearly grasped if the main characteristics of private accounting practice in France are first briefly sketched. To the U.S., the French public accountant is obliged to ply his trade in some what antiquated surroundings. The business technique of the French resembles the U.S. practice which prevailed at the beginning of this century rather than that of the present time. Compared to the U.S. business organization, that of the French is less formal and more personal, more human than mechanical, traditional rather than efficient, conservative rather than aggressive. While then are many large units, France is generally considered the country of small, personal and family enterprises

United States copper consumption increasing at a faster rate than production but not yet in excess of the latter, 142. — Apparent excess of consumption in 1930 due to decline in exports, 143. — Copper Exporters, Inc., organized in 1926, to regulate the foreign marketing of our copper, 145. — The Copper Institute, a trade association, formed in 1927, 146. — Prices rose to peak in April, 1929, were pegged at eighteen cents for a year, and fell below ten cents in October, 1930, 148. — Output restriction announced in November, 148. — Large potential new mine supply in next five years, 149. — Short-run outlook not bright, 151. — Long-run position sound, indicated by calculation of probable world demand in 1940 for primary copper, 152. — Conclusions as to future price, 154. — A tariff today would not help the industry, might in ten years, 155. — Real need is lower tariffs for United States and world, 156

This article focuses on the editor's views about the social significance of accounting. Accounting is utilized as one means of exercising social control, that is, control by the government or by governmental agencies over institutions touched with a public interest. The right to inspect the accounts of private business enterprises is illustrative of this point. Bank examining is organized in the public interest, the audits being made for the protection of the depositors. Through the field audits of the U.S. Income Tax Bureau and the Bureau's accounting regulations, the federal government exercises an indirect control over numerous accounting policies. Another illustration is found in the power to prescribe uniform accounts. Usually one is inclined to relate the purpose of bookkeeping and accounting to the individual business enterprise. But here is a plain indication that the effect of poor bookkeeping extends far beyond the individual. Good bookkeeping, it seems, must be of some concern to society since the lack of it is so definitely associated with the great losses which attend bankruptcies

Anyone who indulges in a mental résumé of major topics of accounting discussion for recent years would probably emerge with one or the other of two convictions, either one is rapidly drifting away from moorings of older conceptions of basic elements of accountancy, or that one is growing with considerable rapidity in new directions. The word capital for example, has long been used as a term to indicate the investment brought into a business by proprietory interests. It was distinctly associated with contribution. Statutory regulations concerning limited liability corporations further emphasized this concept by requiring that the proposed sum of capital be definitely stated from the very inception of the organization, that it be fully paid in and that it be maintained intact against the encroachment of dividends. Capital stock was considered by legislatures and courts as representing owners' contribution, the amount dedicated to purposes of the business by those controlling the concern's affairs and enjoying residual profits, if any. Is accounting thought drifting away from this and other basic conceptions, or is it is merely growing out of garments in which it has for so long been clothed? No-par stock has brought occasional presentations of financial structures in which original contribution was divided between capital stock and initial surplus