Knowledge that Transforms

The accounting profession has claimed squatters rights to certain key words and phrases which have become a basic part of the accountant's vocabulary. Accountants express their views with an economy of words. They summarize the scope of the audit and state their opinion within the framework of a few paragraphs which usually contain three words of concentrated significance "in our opinion." Every public accountant has undoubtedly experienced in his years of practice each of the various phases of knowledge. Nescience is at times unavoidable, is subject to correction, and is often irrelevant to professional responsibility. Most accountants would readily admit that the presence of privative ignorance has no basis for justification in the professional man where it can be remedied. It is possible to conceive of situations where the state of doubt may persist and remain unresolved in spite of the best efforts of the conscientious accountant. The area of knowledge in which most accountants operate after they have concluded their examination is probably the sphere of opinion.

Twenty nine universities in the U.S. offer doctoral programs that will "fit the needs of a student whose primary interest is to prepare for a career of either the teaching of accounting or research in accounting." A survey of these programs was undertaken by the Task Committee on Standards of Graduate Instruction, formed early in 1957 to succeed the Task Committee on Standards of Accounting Instruction. The article summarizes the information the committee gathered during its first year of operation. At three universities the students whose primary interest is accounting pursue their doctoral studies under the jurisdiction of the economics department. In two cases the program is jointly conducted in economics and business administration. In all other instances, the Department or School (College, Division) of Business Administration offers and administers the degree program, subject, in most instances, to general, university-wide requirements. The Committee was interested in institutional practices with respect to any student who wished to major in accounting in his doctoral program without having had the minimum course requirements for a master's degree in accounting.

The formal accounting laboratory in elementary accounting should be eliminated as a part of the curriculum for college credit toward graduation. The trend in the past has been to eliminate the formal laboratory in such classes as advanced and cost accounting, statistics, and economic research in special fields of business administration. The laboratory should be voluntary; in place of a required session each week there should be a recitation or discussion period. Such a policy will raise the standards of the elementary accounting program at the university level. The plan also will provide more efficient use of the laboratory facility and the faculty member's tune. The effectiveness of the accounting program is not impaired by the adoption of such a plan. It is impossible to judge the difference in the student's acquisition of elementary accounting knowledge, whether the laboratory is formal or voluntary. The students prefer the voluntary basis of study rather than the supervised and scheduled period because it gives them more flexibility in the budgeting of their study time. It also gives the student the feeling that the standard is comparable to that for other courses in his program, and that elementary accounting on the university level has one training characteristic which differs from that of the high school or the business college.

Reviews the book "Mathematics of Investment," By William L. Hart.

More than 600,000 young men and women are expected to pursue programs in collegiate business education by 1970. This will double the present enrollment, according to the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. Unless drastic steps are taken there will be a shortage of 2,800 teachers in business schools and departments alone. Accounting departments will be among the first to feel the impact of this "impending tidal wave" of students. A round table discussion to consider what accounting departments could do to meet the many problems associated with increasing enrollments was conducted at the 1957 American Accounting Association Convention. In preparation for the session the chairmen undertook an analysis of present teaching practices in elementary accounting throughout the country in the hope that the information collected would be useful in evaluating the different solutions that might be proposed. At the same time, accounting teachers should be preparing themselves for the parts which they are to play in planning their participation in the education of young people in and out of college about the developments in the field of electronic data processing. The purpose of this article is to give accounting teachers a point of contact with electronic data processing, omitting specialized terms and techniques, with sufficient information, so that interest may be created and action may be taken in changing curricula in accounting.

Accounting analyses and generally accepted accounting practices have been influenced to a considerable extent by the law. The article presents a report of the survey of the legal literature to determine the extent to which those in the field of law have accepted the concept of the corporation as a legal entity, which has an independent existence quite separate and distinct from its officers and stockholders and the extent to which other concepts have been advocated. Because the significance of a legal concept ultimately depends upon its application in arriving at judicial decisions, the survey induced the examination of cases where the court's concept of the corporation was a material factor in arriving at its decision. The results of the survey suggest that considerable caution is warranted in the evaluation of the acceptability of accounting procedures that hinge upon a particular legal interpretation. Specifically, the results of the survey suggest that the acceptability of accounting analyses cannot with confidence be based entirely upon a particular legal concept of the corporation.

Reviews the book "Electronic Computers and Business Indicators," by Julius Shiskin.

The article presents information on details of various programs that lead to a Master of Accounting Science degree given by the Department of Accountancy at the University of Illinois. The increased emphasis on professional training for accountancy indicates the need for a fifth year of study designed to prepare the candidate for a professional career in public, governmental, or industrial accounting. The Master of Accounting Science (M.A.S.) program has been designed to provide such training. It permits qualified students to complete the requirements for this degree and to prepare for the C.P.A. examination in one year. It will be offered for the first time in September, 1958. The Department will continue to offer, as in past years, work leading to the M.S. degree and the Ph.D. degree. Those intending to enter public accounting ordinarily should take, in addition to the required courses, at least three of the following courses, including the first two named: Accountancy 472-Auditing Standards and Techniques, Accountancy 477-Professional Problems, Accountancy 471-Accounting Reports, Accountancy 372-Auditing Problems and Cases, Accountancy 374-Advanced Income Tax Problems, Business Administration 373-Electronic Data Processing for Business.

Reviews the book "Current Practice in Accounting for Depreciation."

Reviews the book "Essentials of Accounting," by William A. Paton and Robert L. Dixon.