Reviews the book "Tax Planning Under the New Regulation

I. California experience illustrates theoretical and practical difficulties of minimum rate regulation, 139. — II. Description of California's system of controlling minimum rates of intrastate carriers, 140. — III. Analysis of the effects of this policy, 144. — IV. Some fundamental objections to comprehensive systems of minimum rate control, 148

I. Economic structure, 425. — II. Underutilization of the ultra high frequencies, 430. — III. Network practices and public policy, 439. — IV. Conclusion, 449.

The article presents notes by the author on various considerations for making product combination decisions. There are many accounting techniques and concepts-direct costing, break-even analysis and the contribution margin concept which are pertinent to the problem of product combinations. These concepts certainly furnish a starting place in making managerial decisions, however, each of them is quite incomplete in itself. In the development of a model for product combinations which might utilize accounting data, one starting point is to examine the literature of economics. Marginal analysis, as used by the economist, can be applied to the problem of the best combination of products. A correct knowledge of joint and by-product costs is that they serve as a means of regulating production. Although in many cases it is quite difficult to control the quantity of joint products and by-products manufactured, a decision can be made as to whether or not additional labor and materials are to be expended on the newly created joint products and by-products

The article presents the author's comments on the article "Business Combinations," by author George O. May, published in the April 1957 issue of the Journal of Accountancy. The basic assumption implicit in May's article is that the business, which emerges from a combination of predecessor businesses under conditions including combination of interests of their owners, constitutes a new accounting unit. However, May does not state precisely what unit he prefers, but it might be the corporation as a legal entity. He notes, for example, immediately after contrasting the enterprise with the corporation that it would be both impractical and undesirable to attempt to apply the enterprise concept to corporate accounting outside the regulated areas. If the corporate entity were his choice for an accounting entity, his alternate view would be applicable only in case of consolidation, where a newly chartered corporation succeeds the constituent companies. The only evidences that he contemplates such a limitation are scattered references in his article to the new company, the new taxable unit, or new corporate entities emerging from combinations or reorganizations

An evolutionary five-year professional program of accounting education will be inaugurated at the University of Houston, Texas beginning September 1958. It stems primarily from the recommendations of the American Accounting Association, American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, and the Commission on Standards of Education and Experience for Certified Public Accountants. Perhaps the many hours of research and discussion devoted to this project may be helpful to others in their planning. Upon satisfactory completion of the requirements, the new professional Bachelor of Accountancy degree (B.Acc.) will be awarded. If a student follows the Suggested Schedule of Courses mentioned in the article, he can be awarded the Bachelor of Business Administration degree (B.B.A.) with a major in accounting at the end of the fourth year. In the Suggested Schedule of Courses, it will be observed that only one accounting course is suggested in each semester of the third year. Flexibility is thereby provided for those situations where Introductory Accounting is not offered until the second year. It should be noted that, a graduate from the above Suggested Schedule of Courses would have a major in accounting, under present regulations

A heated controversy is continually waged over the relationship of depreciation to the rate base. Difficult and controversial as is the issue for large and typical utilities, it is especially troublesome for small utilities, and the literature is noticeably lacking in this field. To help clarify objective thinking along these lines, it is proposed to take, as an illustration, a utility with only one plant and to enunciate the principles applicable to small and large organizations as well. This article presents a discussion of the method of determining the size and type of the rate base, comments on how to arrive at the rate of return equitable to all parties, on what part depreciation plays in the accounts and in the rate base and on some elementary aspects of utility financial structure as they relate to the topic. What seems to be a logical program has been brought to the front as all the various phases of the subject have been considered. It is not to be expected that the controversy will die down, but, nevertheless, it was essential to face all the issues squarely and not to avoid even the most controversial aspects of the whole question. The seriousness of inflation as it reaches out to touch utility regulation cannot be overemphasized