Reviews the book "Government and Business," by Ford P. Hall.

Reviews the book "Beginning Accounting," by Dana F. Cole.

The question whether premiums paid upon the redemption of an entire issue of preferred stock should be charged to earned surplus or capital surplus, has been the subject of difference of opinion among accountants for a long time. Even at present, many members of the accountancy profession seem to take opposite points of view in the matter. This study is based on the reasoning developed from the economic concept of profit and loss in business and from the single entry method of calculating profits. The conclusion, that the premium paid upon the redemption of an entire issue of preferred stock is properly chargeable to earned surplus to the extent that the total premium paid exceeds the amount of premium paid into the issuing corporation on the same issue of preferred stock at the time it was issued. The question under consideration does not deal with the treatment of discount on preferred stock when an entire issue is redeemed at a discount. Accordingly, no comment is made on that phase of the subject.

The outstanding Federal administrative trend is, of course, the enormous increment of new responsibilities, which has accrued to national administrative agencies. The familiar fact that the budget of Federal expenditures is twice as large as ten years ago and over six times as large as twenty-five years ago is but an indication of this growth. The mere recital of a quantitative measure, however, does not by any means tell the entire story. The problem of maintaining and improving accountability in the Federal government is one that requires continuous vigilance and a strong concentration on the importance of balance in the administration as well as in the entire national life. The democratic system if properly implemented should assure this balance because of its guarantees of freedom of expression, of responsiveness and compromise in the legislative process, and of continuity and coordination in the executive process. It is for this reason that the author regards recent administrative trends in the Federal government as of major importance because they are, in his opinion, a great step forward in operating free institutions.

Reviews the book "Introduction to Investment Analysis," by Kenneth Field.

Reviews the book "Executive Compensation Practices of Retail Companies: 1928-1937," by John C. Baker.

Before a department or agency of the Federal Government can obtain funds it must convince the United States Bureau of the Budget, the President, and the U.S. Congress, that the amounts requested are necessary. Planning is based on the financial period beginning July 1 of a particular calendar year and ending June 30 of the succeeding calendar year. This period is always referred to as the "fiscal" year and is given the number of the calendar year in which it ends. The author in this article briefly outlines several objectives in administrative appropriation accountkeeping. The truth about the accounting system of the Government is that it is not nearly so bad as a great many people believe it to be, nor quite so good as people long in the service consider it to be. The science of accounting is not static in the Government. In many departments noteworthy improvements have been made during the past decade. With recognition of certain deficiencies, accompanied by a desire to improve conditions, still greater gains can be realized in the next decade.

Reviews the book "Federal Income Tax Accounting," by Stewart Y. McMuller.

Reviews the book "Municipal and Governmental Accounting," by Carl H. Chatters and Irving Tenner.

It is the purpose of this paper to discuss some of the outstanding problems of organization and procedure in the conduct of the accounting functions of the national government above the departmental level, that is to say, of central accounting and control as distinguished from the fiscal administration of individual operating agencies. The theme of this paper is the development of improved practices, and while few citizens are interested in forms of government as such, abstracted from the results they tend to foster, significant progress toward essential improvements in practice in this field is inextricably bound up with changes in the machinery of central financial control. Present practices are the logical result of present organization. The starting point is, then, an analysis of that system. The reorganization bills before the U.S. Congress in 1938 contained sweeping proposals deigned to meet the kind of difficulties that have been noticed here: the divorce of control and audit, vesting the one in an executive agency and the other in an independent office safeguarded as the Comptroller General now is; and the establishment of a Congressional Joint Committee on Public Accounts