Knowledge that Transforms

Many volumes have been written covering the material which must be studied and reviewed in preparation for sitting for the Certified Public Accountant examination. Suffice it to say that the only intelligent preparation for such an examination requires the most complete study and review of accounting theory which can possibly be undertaken. Much less material is available, however, on the technical preparation for the culmination of many months of hard labor and sacrifice. The candidate should be thoroughly sure in his own mind of the strategy to be employed before he starts. This refers to the entire examination as well as to the individual problems. For the nervous individual a relaxation period of five minutes may be desirable before starting to work. Five minutes of gazing into space with the examination papers upside down on the table is a marvelous test of self-control, and provides opportunity for the nervous candidate to realize that this examination is given twice a year, and can be taken in many states twice for the same fee. He is then in a much improved position to exert every effort logically and directly towards the achievement of his Great Desire.

During the past eighteen months two proposed changes in department store accounting procedure have attracted the attention of controllers and other executives in large-scale retail enterprises. Both these proposals originated with Carlos B. Clark, Controller of the J.L. Hudson Company in Detroit, Michigan. By reason of his long service and noteworthy contributions to the field of department store accounting, Clark is virtually the dean of department store controllers. His suggested innovations in the usual retail accounting procedure have therefore been widely discussed. From an economic standpoint, Clark reasons correctly about the relation of an individual selling department to the store as a whole, and he is on firm ground in suggesting a line of thought which executives should follow in deciding whether to add or discontinue departments. But it is by no means the sole purpose of departmental cost finding to furnish data for the use of executives on the occasions when such decisions are necessary.

Reviews the book "The Great Depression," by Lionel Robbins.

Survey courses are limited, apparently, to one semester or less and under such conditions it becomes educator's rather difficult and painful duty to devise teaching methods, which will, in the brief time allotted, convey a reasonably intelligent concept of basic principles and procedures. Results are unsatisfactory if the survey course is merely a duplication of the first semester of a standard one-year course. The usual and better procedure, the author believes, is to abridge the year course by a careful process of elimination and condensation. The author suggests, timidly, the elimination of any extended discussion of notes, bills of exchange, note registers, location of errors, business papers, merchandising activities, and various unusual and complex transactions. The purpose of a survey course differs entirely from that of a one-year course and it is not illogical, at least, that teaching methods in the two courses should differ. The author believes that a survey course should emphasize statements and if, by reason of a time limit, something must be slighted in the last few weeks he would prefer that material to be other than statement preparation and analysis.

Reviews the book "Federal Securities Act Procedure," by J.K. Lesser and J.A. Gerardi.

Reviews the book "Financial Organization and Administration," by W. MacKenzie Stevens.

Reviews the book "New York Laws Affecting Business Corporations," by J.B.R. Smith.

Reviews the book "Money and Banking in the United States," by Louis A. Rufener.

Reviews the book "German Monetary Theory, 1905-33," by Howard S. Ellis.

Reviews the book "Liquid Claims and National Wealth," by A.A. Berle and Victoria J. Pederson.