Abstract Comprehensive auditing of government corporations had its inception in Section 5 of Public Law of the Seventy-ninth Congress. This law was originated as the George Bill. It was passed February 24, 1945. On December 6, 1945, a second law was enacted concerning corporations which contained somewhat similar provisions as to auditing but also provided for budgetary and other controls. This was the Government Corporation Control Act. The first fiscal year for which audits were to be made was that ended June 30, 1945. Reports are addressed to the Comptroller General and transmitted by him to the Congress, one copy to each house. That to the House of Representatives is sent to the Speaker of the House. That to the Senate is sent to the President of the Senate. Copies go to the President of the United States, the corporations, the Treasury Department, and the Bureau of the Budget. Each report is printed, and a limited number of copies may be obtained from the House Document Room. Whenever there is public demand for as many as 500 additional copies of any report, the Government Printing Office will print an additional supply for sale at from ten cents per copy up, according to the size of the report.

Abstract In an excellent article entitled "The Accounting and Treasury Functions in a Modern Organization," J.A. Campbell, a prominent accountant of Chicago, made the very sage statement that the accounting department pays its way by serving the business, not by trying to run it." The author doubts that anyone could frame in fewer words a more accurate and inclusive statement of the fundamental purpose of accounting than was thus expressed by Campbell. The author in this article indicates at least one important way in which accounting can be made to serve business. On the whole, the administration of public affairs does not require the use of involved accounting systems, procedures, or techniques; except in occasional, special situations, the requirements are simple. But many years ago somebody got the idea that the budgeting of income and expenditures called for special methods and techniques, and somehow or other enough public officials fell for the idea to give it a firm foothold. In most businesses the practice as to the classification of expenses is not even to ascertain the expenses of the accounting department as such, let alone the cost of the several activities that constitute the department.