This article raises one of the top problems of present-day accounting; this is the purpose of the accountant's work. The question is whether the accountant will continue to operate within a system of his own design with little attention to the effects of the results attained; this reflects the widely held opinion that the accountant's job is to prepare statements and that it is up to those receiving the statements to interpret them in a manner suitable from their point of view. the other approach to the accountants work is to consider it as a vital part of the information system of the enterprise; then it is up to the accountant to integrate his specific system into the broader one and attempt to develop data which should be of greatest value to operating management in its task of making the best possible decisions. The author of this article apparently shares the first point of view. He pays no attention to managerial requirements but proposes a technique which, although consistent in itself, is bound to confuse rather than to clarify the essential issues. His model is interesting from a purely theoretical point of view in the sense that it emphasizes one particular approach to the problem. It was suggested earlier in this paper that there is nothing wrong with this type of model as long as it is used in the realm of theory only. But to apply it to the solution of practical situations without carefully considering the practical needs of management could he very harmful. There is an urgent need to reduce the gap between the task of accounting to serve managerial decision making and the somewhat narrow and self-centered attitude of many accounting practitioners who are in danger of losing sight of those really important tasks of the profession.

Publication of the long-awaited report on standards of education and experience for CPAs is bound to lead to a review of the present system of professional accounting examinations in the United States. Since the accounting profession in this country is a direct descendent of the earlier development in Great Britain, a brief description of the system of examination in that country should make a useful contribution at this time. There are seven organizations of professional accountants in Great Britain which conduct their own professional examinations as a pre-requisite for admission to membership. The peculiar feature of the Institutes is their rigid reliance on the apprenticeship system. A candidate for membership must serve for five years as an articled clerk with a member who is called the principal. In the past it was customary for principals to charge a premium for the apprenticeship. The Association of Certified and Corporate Accountants was formed through the merger of a number of smaller accounting groups.

The article focuses on updating of accounting curriculum. Many accounting departments in schools of business have adjusted their curricula to meet these modern requirements or are working in that direction. The reasons for the unsatisfactory situation can be traced back to the early growth of accounting practice and the teaching of accounting at the college level. New professional organizations were established such as the Controllers Institute of America and the National Association of Cost Accountants. But none of these has been able to match the strongly entrenched prestige of the organizations of certified public accountants. Free the accounting curriculum from the present predominant orientation toward financial accounting and the topics included in the CPA examination, and give equal space and time to the other major applications of accounting, particularly in the managerial field. Recognizing what the needs of students are and then adapt the curriculum to meet these needs. In order to do this, it will be necessary to do research to determine what areas of knowledge, if any, can best be imparted in the classroom, and which areas might better be more efficiently and effectively carried on by doctoral students.

Reviews the book "Neue Wege der Betriebswirtschaft," edited by Erich A. Weilbach.