This brief survey will serve to indicate that cost accounting is not a newly developed off- spring from its parent, the accounting process, but rather has been going through its "growing pains" for many decades. In view of its long and interesting evolution, the Committee feels that cost accounting now occupies such a prominent place in the business community that it is opportune and highly desirable for its principles and concepts to be stated in tentative form. Or, to express it differently, the Committee believes that cost accounting has now "grown up" sufficiently to warrant the serious attention which the Committee has given to its area and purposes. The present paper, therefore, will attempt to set the stage for those to follow, and show that many of the cost accounting developments which are often considered to be modern have their genesis in many past decades. It should be emphasized, however, that only the highlights of this evolutionary aspect of cost accounting can be presented in the brief time available. Elaboration on these highlights must be postponed to some future time

Reviews the book "Business Budgeting and Control," by J. Brooks Heckert.

An examination of the statements of condition published by twenty-five representative Chicago banks as of December 31, 1946 reveals the continued publication of condensed statements with stereotyped arrangement and terminology which compare most unfavorably with the published financial reports of industrial and commercial concerns. The arrangement and terminology of these statements are undoubtedly influenced materially by the current regulations, instructions, and uniform forms prescribed by the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. But, to explain the paucity of data, one must probably look to the influence of heritage, traditions, and customs on the current practices of the modern commercial bank. Since the qualitative and quantitative features of the reported financial data correspond closely to those found in the pocket-sized folder usually distributed to depositors, the published statements may be judged fairly in the light of their services to the interests of the depositors as well as the stockholders.

Reviews the book "Management of the Federal Debt," by Charles C. Abbott.

A professional qualifying examination such as a state bar examination for lawyers or the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination for accountants, can have one, or both, of two purposes. The examination can be designed for the purpose of determining those whose basic technical knowledge and ability are adequate to warrant their being qualified as members of their chosen profession and held out by that profession as: members; or the examination can be designed arbitrarily to restrict membership. Few, if any, professional examinations are deliberately planned for the latter purpose, but in so far as the form or content of any qualifying examination is such that the resuits do not give a fair evaluation of the real professional abilities of the candidates, to that extent it is serving no purpose other than to restrict membership. The CPA examinations have been honest, in good faith, attempts to qualify as Certified Public Accountants only those candidates having a thorough knowledge and grasp of approved concepts, techniques, and procedures of their profession.

Reviews the book " Financial Statements," by Ralph Dale Kennedy.

The method used for calculating price and quantity variances in standard cost procedure deserves more explanation than is given it in cost accounting textbooks and current accounting literature, as of July 1947. The student in a standard-cost accounting course is likely to be perplexed by the glibness of the instructor in arriving at the amount of variation attributable to price on one hand and quantity on the other. The formula used in commercial practice demands a reasonable explanation since it is mathematically questionable. The purpose of this article is to justify the current practice, and to point out the theoretical issues that are involved. Some accountants, aware of the mathematical biases in calculating price and quantity variations, compute only the total amount of variation, and do not attempt to calculate the amounts of the individual variations attributable to price and quantity. But if the amounts of the individual variations are sufficiently significant to require administrative attention, this expedient will not, of course, prove satisfactory.

Accounting as it is commonly understood is the art of recording, classifying, summarizing and interpreting transactions and events which are, in part at least, of a financial character. The roles which the art of accounting plays in taxation are both varied and important. Only the most elementary estimates of revenue needs can be made unless they are supported by comprehensive accounting classifications of expenditures by the taxing unit for a period of prior years together with similar classifications of the estimates of its current needs. In controlling and reporting upon the collection and disposition of public revenues, accounting is, of course, a commonplace. But it is in the field of income taxation, the revenues from which play such a dominant part in the financial programs of the Federal Government and of many of the states, that the role of accounting in the taxing process attains its greatest importance. Without accounting, the administration of an income-tax program would be impossible.

Reviews the book "Studies in Income and Wealth," Vol.8.

Reviews the book "Financial Administration of Municipal Utilities," by Irving Tenner.