Reviews several books on FORTRAN programming language. "FORTRAN IV: A Programmed Instruction Approach," by J. Daniel Couger and Loren E. Shannon; "FORTRAN and Business Data Processing," by Hector R. Anton and Wayne S. Boutell; "FORTRAN Logic and Programming," by Fritz A. McCameron; "FORTRAN Primer for Business and Economics," by Gordon L. Nielsen.
The article examines several factors of the total social environment, which influence educational philosophy for accounting. To be sure, many changes have occurred in American education during the almost two hundred years of our national existence. But most of the significant changes in American education during the 20th Century have dealt with form and techniques rather than with primary purpose. In light of the continuing turmoil on college and university campuses, it is timely to note that more and more educators are questioning the validity of higher education for everyone. It is commonplace that the objectives of accounting education are interrelated and intertwined with the objectives of education for life in general and, in particular, with the objectives of education for involvement in business. One of the revered members of the accounting profession in addressing a group of accounting educators a few years ago pointed out that the greatest educational problem of the profession is that there are almost too many things that accountants should be taught. The concept of standardized curricula and uniform knowledge for the accounting graduate should be abandoned.
The article presents several observations on the philosophy, plans, activities and status of the American Accounting Association for 1969 to 1970 year report. The Executive Committee of the Association has directed the President to render an annual report to the membership on Association activities. Resulting from these objectives were new Association Committees dealing with the foundations of accounting measurement, methods of theory construction and verification, non-financial measures of effectiveness, socio-economic accounting, and auditing concepts. In addition, committees in the area of education were directed to the behavioral science and quantitative aspects of the accounting curriculum. Reports from these and the continuing committees of the Association in the areas of financial and managerial accounting are expected by the time of the annual meeting at the University of Maryland, August 17-19, 1970. The Association continues to grow. Membership exceeds 15,000 of which 3,000 are student associate members. The enthusiasm and interest of the membership in Association activities is probably the most gratifying experience accruing to the President during his term of office.
The article discusses some of the limitations of residual income in internal reporting and then describes interest-adjusted income, a modification of residual income, which mitigates some of these limitations. The residual income of a division is the net income of the division less the product of the capital of the division times a required rate of return. Despite its many advantages there are at some limitations of residual income. This can be that residual income is subject to all the imperfections of historical cost net asset valuation. There are some pitfalls in using residual income in conjunction with generally accepted accounting rules for performance evaluation. However, residual income can be used in conjunction with other accounting rules, eliminating some of the problems associated with it. Moreover, the allocation of imputed interest to accounting periods is arbitrary under residual income in that all imputed interest is expensed. But some imputed interest may have future service potential and therefore should be capitalized.
Accounting information influences many decisions, but little is known about the way in which this influence is exerted in particular classes of decisions. If the facilitation of decisions is taken as the purpose of accounting, then accounting measurement methods ought to be evaluated in terms of their influence on the decision-making process. The article looks at permitted rates of return for privately owned natural gas distribution utilities. It attempts to relate differences in these rates of return with differences in accounting methods used. It is observed that as compared to many other decisions, the regulatory decision is fairly well standardized. In addition, the output of the decision is a single unambiguous number. For these reasons the regulatory decision is studied with expectations of a greater probability of obtaining meaningful results than would be the case with well-structured decisions. Finally, whether decision-makers are influenced in their decisions because of fixation or because of their choice of a particular method of measuring an accounting variable, the fact that decisions may be influenced by the related accounting process points to a need for greater research efforts directed at finding objective criteria for selection among alternative accounting methods for particular purposes.