At the request of Edwin N. Hurley, then Vice-Chairman and later Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, the President of the American Association of Public Accountants (predecessor of the American Institute of Accountants), J. Porter Joplin, appointed a special committee to confer with the trade commission on all questions of accounting. Robert H. Montgomery was Chairman of the eight-member committee. The most important accomplishment of the committee was the promulgation of a programme for audit procedure which was prepared at the request of the Federal Trade Commission, approved by the commission and transmitted to the Federal Reserve Board... . The audit program in its final form was unanimously approved by the members of the council.2 The Federal Reserve Board published the text in the Federal Reserve Bulletin (April 1, 1917) and reprinted it in pamphlet form in 1917 and again in 1918 for general distribution. The text also appeared in the Journal

Investment credit, Taxation, Income tax, Institutional environment

Investment credit, Taxation, Income tax

Price-level adjusted accounting differences, Historic costs, Consistency, Discussion

Reviews the book "The Law of Accounting and Financial Statements," by George S. Hills

Presents an obituary for William Joseph Vatter, a distinguished member of the American Institute of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Childhood; Career beginnings; Contribution to the accounting profession; Published works on managerial accounting; Personal character.

Presents an obituary for Carman George Blough, chief accountant of the U.S. authority Security and Exchange Commission, who died on March 9, 1981.

The article deals with the application of some of the elements of measurement theory to the problem of reporting the financial effects of price-level changes. Among other matters, measurement theory concerns itself with different "scales" of measurement and their interrelationship. There is a major concern related to the notorious shift in the exchange-value of money, country by country, decade after decade. In price-level accounting where one is trying to measure the change in the "exchange-value of money," the change in the unit employed in accounting to measure the power of money to command goods and services in the market. The means most frequently used to measure this change is an index of the level of prices in general. One further feature of scales of measurement is pertinent to the price-level problem in accounting. Furthermore, one should not underestimate the extent of the change required in the thinking habits of businessmen before one can expect enthusiastic acceptance of "price-level accounting."

Ever since the rise to prominence of the income statement in the late twenties and early thirties, the underlying concept of business or accounting income has been the subject of searching analysis and criticism. There has been a type of criticism which seems to accept the objectives of profit measurement but which asserts that accounting is not doing the best job of which it is capable. A growing disillusionment can be detected with respect to the validity and significance of calculations of periodic net profit. Firstly the rules for the realization of revenue and of profit are too narrow and restrictive. Secondly some of the classifications employed in accounting, like distinction between fixed and variable costs, are inappropriate. Thirdly more attention should be paid to statements of the source and application funds as the scope of reporting procedures is too narrow. Further a second major type of criticism centers on the income concept itself by asserting that income is ultimately a matter of the expectations of individuals. As a consequence, the inference is drawn that the measurement of these subjective expectations is impossible by any means known to accounting or to economics.