Reviews the book "Systems and Procedures for Automated Accounting," by Clarence B. Randall, Sally W. Weiner and Maynard S. Greenfield.

The University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi is extremely fortunate in having a computer installation comprised of the IBM 630 computer and auxiliary equipment. A course in electronic data processing was established in the School of Commerce and Business Administration in February, 1959. The course is entitled Business Data Processing, and carries three semester hours credit. It is being offered at the junior level to any student having a minimum of nine hours of accounting. Since the majority of students in the School are required to take nine hours of accounting, no particular major field of study is precluded from participation in the course. Based on the assumption that not only accounting but other fields would be represented in the student enrollment, it appeared that the introductory portion of the course should be similar to the systems course required of all accounting majors. It is believed that the student will have a better background for the computer portion of the course if he has first been grounded in manual and punched card systems. Also, it will insure that all students will be exposed to an equal amount of material regarding manual and punched card systems.

The article presents information on the report of the Committee on Courses and curricula-General of American Accounting Association. The Committee's task, briefly, was to develop a comprehensive body of liberal arts and general business knowledge to include in an accounting major's college curriculum. The Committee believes that the development of a professional accountant should be viewed as an amalgam of formal and informal education in which college education plays only one important part. The prime objective of the accounting major's college education is not to train him for a specific job or even to train him for his chosen career, but rather to create a capacity within him for gradual development in the years which lie ahead as he faces the challenges of his profession. Thus, the development of abilities to reason, to communicate, to organize and act when confronted by various business situations become important considerations in structuring knowledge for an accounting curriculum. The conclusions reached in this report are obviously of a subjective nature rather than being based on empirical evidence. They may be colored by personal opinions and biases. Yet, these conclusions have run the gauntlet of approval by an eight-man committee constituted, as the reader may see, of a wide variety of experiences and interests.