Knowledge that Transforms

Reviews the book "The Elements of Statistics," by Elmer B. Mode.

Reviews two books on trade. "Quantitative Trade Controls: Their Causes and Nature," by Gottfried Haberler and Martin Hill; "Trade Relations Between Free-Market and Controlled Economies," by Jacob Viner.

Cost accounting as such is of comparatively recent origin. Cost concepts are intermingled with expense in general, with value concepts, with economic theory, with legal decisions and statutory expression and with war emergency directives to the extent that basic cost accounting, if such there be, becomes increasingly difficult to untangle from the confused, related, but not identical strands. Costs chargeable to purchases of materials should include invoice costs plus incoming transportation, insurance, customs taxes and duties, and similar direct charges, in so far as they can be identified with the material. If they cannot be so directly identified, there is no point to forced artificial identification and they should be listed with other unidentifiable costs as part of the overhead. Returns and allowances and trade discounts are proper deductions about which there is not so much controversy. Purchases discounts should be deducted in entirety, or on all amounts above a reasonable percentage for prompt payment, say one per cent, or not deducted at all.

There is a great variation in the methods and extent of administrative supervision over local finance in the different states of the U.S. Each of the states exercises supervision to some extent. The purpose of this article is to examine the systems in use that are indicative of the better present-day conditions. It is planned to deal with only four phases of financial administration, namely, budgeting, accounting, auditing and reporting. It should be noted that there is a great variety in the name of the supervisory agency, in the appointment of the supervisory officer, in the term of office and in the salary. In most states the supervisory agency is in one of the already existing departments which is under the direction of either the State Auditor or the Comptroller. Since the agency is often in one of the department, the supervising officer is named after the department. The salary, the term of office and the method of selection all depend upon the state and upon whether the supervisory agency is a department in itself or is in connection with another department.

The article presents information about accounting principles and the current classification. The current classification is primarily a classification for credit granting, which was popularized to meet needs of credit men many years ago, at a time when single entry book keeping was probably more prevalent than double entry, when there was no well-organized internal accounting worth mentioning, and when the statement of assets and liabilities furnished to creditors consisted substantially of estimates unsupported by anything approaching modern accounting records. The classification of current assets is bad classification from almost any viewpoint. The total of current assets is not homogeneous, for it is built up of unlike elements and unlike values. Accountants have not been unaware of complaints against the current classification nor have they been unaware of the need for reconciling this specialized credit concept with general accounting theory. Remedial measures which have been or are being proposed, however, do little to improve the situation from the accounting viewpoint, while at the same time they do much to diminish the credit utility of the current classification.

Reviews the book "Internal Auditing—A New Management Technique," edited by John B. Thurston.

The Arthur Lowes Dickinson Fund was established in January, 1929, at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration by the firm of Price, Waterhouse & Company, in recognition of the debt due by the accounting profession in general, and particularly by this firm, to a former partner, Arthur Lowes Dickinson. The income from this fund was for a number of years used exclusively for the purpose of conducting research in the field of accounting. In 1936, terms of the Fund were modified to provide that in addition there may from time to time be appointed, for one year, a man outstanding in accounting who shall deliver at the Graduate School of Business Administration one or more lectures, and shall be designated as Dickinson Lecturer. Professional standing comes not so much as a result of claims as it does from works of such character that professional standing is conceded by the public, and one of the tributes paid by the public is recognition of the fact that the subject matter in the field of the group in question deserves a place in the higher educational program which the public, through gift or taxation, supports.

Reviews the book "Recent and Prospective Developments in Accounting Theory," by William A. Paton.

Reviews the book "Foreign Trade — Principles and Practices," by Grover C. Huebner and Roland L. Kramer.

A logical and coherent system of standards for income determination must be constructed if one has to judge the adequacy of income tax provisions for calculating income. If the economic concept of income is modified to fit practical business conditions and difficulties, it becomes a concept which is, in reality, a logical accounting conception. Since both economics and accounting deal with business, they should furnish the basic outline for determining taxable income. There appears to be sufficient reason for prescribing accounting methods, in general, for measuring income for tax purposes. Caution must be exercised, however, not to assume arbitrarily that income tax methods must conform in their entirety with accounting methods. Since a business enterprise measures its progress or retrogression by accounting methods, greater convenience, simplification, and cooperation will exist if taxable income is computed in the same manner rather than by an arbitrary or illogical statutory system. The methods followed by accountants and businessmen are tied up rather closely with economic facts and conditions, the tax system, likewise, should be so related.