Reviews the book "Cost Administration cases and Notes," by Earl D. Benett.

Reviews the book "Scientific-Programming in Business and Industry," by Andrew Vazsonyi.

This article discusses the concept of internal control in auditing. The basic purposes of internal control are to bring reliability into the financial information system and to safeguard assets. The true nature of internal control can be identified and observed in the setting of the financial information system. It is generally accepted that a financial information system can exist with little or no internal control. Nevertheless, it is often stated that the financial information system can be strengthened by the addition of internal control. What must be done to strengthen a system in a situation in which internal control has not previously existed? The strengthening of a system is the direct result of adding internal control duties. Internal control duties are prescribed to safeguard assets and to make the system more reliable. Such duties reduce the opportunities for people to make errors or to perpetrate various types of fraud and other improper actions. Internal control duties are necessary because of the mental, moral, and physical weaknesses inherent in people.

Data processing can be defined as treating or preparing data by some particular method to obtain desired facts and to produce reports. Business data processing is much broader than computing alone and the requisite equipment for it involves the people, procedures, and communication network to cover the gamut from data origination to report utilization. Accounting instruction in data processing should deal with existing problems rather than futuristic problems and rely upon an evolutionary approach. The instructional objectives of a course in business data processing are to define and delineate the area; to show what is possible; to give an awareness of the problems involved; to describe the experience of others in systems analysis, design and installation and to develop skills in computer programming including the use of programs prepared by others, if well understood. The committee recommends that accounting departments introduce courses dealing with business data processing and new equipment developments.