Reviews the book "Business Decision Theory,' by Paul Jedamus and Robert Frame.

Reviews the book "Contemporary Thought on Federal Income Taxation," edited by Charles J. Gaa.

The purpose of this article is to describe a model of a forecaster's biasing behavior. The model should be of interest to accountants because the model provides a link between a forecaster's biasing behavior and the quality or acceptability of his forecast as an input to an accounting system. The article attempts to describe how a model which assumes that an individual bases his present action on his experience on the preceding trial can be applied to describe biasing behavior in a game theory-like situation. The individual forecaster (F) is asked to provide a forecast of some variable such as sales, cash flows or expenses for his area of responsibility. F works under a payoff structure which encourages him to intentionally bias his forecast within certain limits. F's desire to bias his forecast, and the desire of the recipient (R) to adjust F's forecast for the presence of bias places F and R in a situation not unlike a nonzero-sum game. However, most attempts by psychologists to use game theory as a descriptive theory of behavior have failed. The models discussed are abstractions of forecasting situations.

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.

There are two main reasons why an accountant should study mathematics. First, the use of mathematics in problem solving requires a consistent logical approach. This second reason is that certain areas of mathematics have useful applications in the study and in the practice of accounting. Accountants have found, for example, practical applications of certain topics in calculus e.g., profit-volume analysis when the total revenue and total cost functions are nonlinear. The basic reasons for studying computers are parallel to those for studying mathematics. First and foremost, of course, the computer is extremely useful in the solution of many problems confronting accountants and businessmen generally. However, study of computers, and particularly computer programming, also stimulates careful analysis of problems and approaches to their solution and it fosters the habit of organized problem solving. A computer user may call upon canned programs and subroutines for standardized mathematical and statistical calculations without even having to write the programs himself.

Reviews the book "Information Technology and Organizational Change," by Thomas L. Whisler.

Reviews the book "Depreciation: Accounting, Taxes and Business Decisions," by J.D. Coughlan and W.K. Strand.

Reviews the book "The Efficiency of Business Enterprises," by Lloyd R. Amey.

Reviews the book "Decision Theory and Information Systems," by William T. Greenwood.

Reviews the book "National Income and Economic Accounting," by William I. Abraham.