Since the beginning men have been engaged in producing things necessary for subsistence and have been confronted with the problem as to what things to produce and how to produce them. As soon as several persons combined their efforts in production, there has been the problem as to what each should do and how the product should be distributed among them. The order or condition under which men decide and carry on their activities with reference to production and distribution characterizes an economy. An economy is said to be free when the members of a community, each according to his ability and situation, freely make decisions and carry on economic activities. In a social economy production is undertaken mostly by separately organized business enterprises which constitute the cells of the entire economic organism of society. Individuals take part in these business enterprises in various specialized capacities. Production is no longer for the direct consumption of persons participating in each business enterprise, but for sale to consumers or to other business enterprises which in turn produce for final consumption.

In view of the purpose and nature of business operation, the conventional cost theory of value stands well the test of logic and should be maintained. The disparity between cost and revenue caused by changes in the value of money does not Affect the validity of cost but gives rise to the problem of conversion of cost figures to the current dollar level. The primary purpose of conversion of cost is, therefore, to bring cost into identical dollars with revenue so that real income in the sense of increase of economic well-being may be reflected and that figures of cost and revenue may continue to be relied upon as barometers of operating efficiency. This being so, revenue which sets the limit to income need not be converted as sometimes recommended, except for purpose of comparison between periods. The accounting effect of cost conversion is a segregation from income of what represents, in the case of rising price levels, but a recovery of current dollar cost necessary to maintain the integrity of economic capital. Conversion of all forms of "investment" assets such as buildings, machinery, equipment and inventories is desirable for a correct statement of value of resources in terms of current dollars and incidentally also, placing the costs of successive acquisitions of assets, especially fixed assets, to homogeneous dollar nines as basis for cost computation.

The article discusses problems and theories of teaching elementary accounting. One of the difficulties in discussing the teaching of elementary accounting arises from the fact that the first course in accounting at the college level is offered under varied circumstances. In some universities it is offered to beginning freshmen as the first of a brief series of accounting courses required of all commerce students. The students take a minimum of three or four accounting courses and at a later time decide whether they wish to specialize in accountancy. Another possible circumstance for the teaching of elementary accounting exists in colleges that offer this work only at the sophomore or perhaps the junior level. Again the students are a mired group consisting of those who look forward to a series of more advanced courses in accounting and those who will take only a few additional accounting courses. The beginning accounting course has as its framework the elementary accounting textbook. Elementary textbooks are similar in that they all contain for the most part explanations of record-keeping procedures supported to some extent by reasons for these procedures.

The article focuses on the valuation of intangibles in business practices for the purpose of purchase and sale. There have been a large number of variable factors that have to be taken into account in the process. However, there are several general considerations which are to a greater or less extent taken into account in all case of valuation of intangibles. In buying a business with an established earning power in excess of what is considered ordinary in the particular line of industry, the purchaser expects to pay for the capitalized value of the estimated excess earnings which may be judged to continue for a fairly definite number of years. In computing this value, a number of factors have to be considered, like, the earnings of the concern; the value of investment or which a normal rate of income is to be allowed; normal rate of earnings for the industry concerned; the amount of the excess earnings that can be transferred; the number of years during which the transferable excess earnings may be expected to accrue; and the rate for capitalizing the excess earnings thus determined.

Reviews the book "Capital Budgeting: Planning and Control of Capital Expenditures," by John J. Clark, Thomas J. Hindelang and Robert E. Pritchard.

The enrollment in accounting programs in the United States has increased significantly during the past 2 years, as of April 01, 1976. Recent studies indicate a large number of unfilled teaching positions in accounting departments across the country. Increasing accounting enrollment presents many potential problems. Among the more serious are an excessive supply resulting in accounting majors becoming "gluts" on the market and a waning in the quality of accounting education. One of the most pressing problems is faced by accounting educators, the ability to adequately provide an education for all those wishing to major in accounting. A number of schools either have considered or are considering modification of their standards for students majoring in accounting. Even though the standards modification approach is not without its challenges, it appears to be economically feasible, politically acceptable and offers hope for short- run solutions to problems that have serious long-run implications.

In this paper a distinction is drawn between national income statistics and social accounting, despite the close relation that exists between the two fields. The former field is viewed as being concerned with compilation and publication of isolated aggregate figures such as national income or gross national product which purport to provide over-all pictures of a nation's total economic activity. The latter field is concerned with details of structure and intra-sector flows in the context of a double-entry system of accounts. As a proper part of the system of social accounts various national income statistics may be synthesized. The purpose of a national system of accounts is to provide information concerning the economic activity of a country in concise and comprehensive fashion. This requires a systematic method of classifying economic transactions. This may be done in a variety of ways. One classification may be by type of economic activity, another classification may be by type of economic function and the formation of capital.

Those who teach beginning courses in accountancy know that students frequently have difficulty with simple arithmetical computations. Some of the instructors of students in beginning accountancy at the University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois, believe this difficulty indicates that the average beginner in accountancy has an inadequate background in ordinary arithmetic, and further, that this lack of arithmetic has an important influence upon his ability to do satisfactory work in accountancy courses. In an attempt to determine whether these beliefs are warranted, an examination in arithmetic was given to all University of Illinois students registered in the first three elementary accountancy courses on the first and again on the last day of class of the first semester, 1939-40. The grades achieved by each student in each of these tests were tabulated and compared, where possible, with his accountancy course grade. The article presents the results of the arithmetic examinations and a comparison with course grades together with such explanatory material as seems necessary to assist in the understanding of the results and conclusions.

We posit that a change in analyst interest in a firm is an early indicator of the firm's future fundamentals, capital market activities, and stock returns. We measure increases in analyst interest by obser.ving analysts who do not cover a firm but participate in that firm's earnings conference call, and we measure decreases in analyst interest by observing analysts who cover a firm, yet are absent from that firm's call. We find that increases in analyst interest are positively associated with future changes in firm fundamentals and capital market activities, while decreases in analyst interest are negatively associated with capital market activities. We also find that increases (decreases) in analyst interest are positively (negatively) correlated with future stock returns over the next three months and that a hedge portfolio yields a significant abnormal return. Overall, our study shows that analyst interest is a novel and early indicator of future firm fundamentals and capital market consequences.