Abstract The article presents views of the author on accounting participation. To date this work has progressed almost entirely without participation from accountants. This lack of participation has, I think, been unfortunate. Accounting participation might have served to accelerate certain developments. It should not have taken so long to realize, as scholar Andrew Hagen notes that national-income measurement is best thought of as double-entry bookkeeping, a perception that at once made clear that the exact relationship between income and output. Moreover, the process of analysis has not been carried through to its ultimate conclusion. It is particularly deficient on the balance-sheet and especially the equity, side. In hands of economists it was only natural that emphasis should rest on income measurement. Only recently and imperfectly, has attention begun to be devoted to the balance sheet. To date, however, resolution to the equity accounts hits not been successfully carried out. It is difficult to believe that this balance sheet backwardness would have occurred if accountants had participated more systematically in these developments.

Abstract The author in the article discusses the progress of the Bureau of Placements of the American Institute of Accountants as he received a number of letters from teachers of accounting which indicate that some are not in entire sympathy with the work of the Bureau. The author attempts to give first a brief summary of the purpose for which the Bureau of Placements was organized and of what it has accomplished to date. He then attempts to answer the questions raised in the letters received from accounting teachers. However, the author also notifies that these comments do not represent the official opinion of the American Institute of Accountants nor of the Committee for Placements, and should be regarded as his personal comments. In a letter to the author, an accounting teacher objects to the statement by the author that "It has been the experience of accountancy firms that men graduated from cultural courses in the liberal arts and science develop quite as rapidly as men who have devoted most of their time to technical accounting study." The author clarifies that this sentence does not refer to men who have had the combined cultural and technical study previously referred to. This statement, moreover, was intended to encourage the academic man with desirable natural qualifications to make an application.

Abstract Network characterizations are developed for effecting contacts between accounting and mathematical programming. En route to these objectives some of the customary uses of double entry accounting are altered and related to suitable generalizations of classical network ideas such as the Kirchhoff node conservation laws. Extensions of the usual node-link incidence relations provide a basis for effecting these contacts. Concrete illustrations are supplied including a goods-flow-funds-flow model which is preceded by a simpler example involving a PERT-Critical Path application. The latter is examined in the context of a physical flow of task or project times, while the former suggests haw double entry can be extended to flows that involve a variety of different dimensions. Issues of accounting in different dimensions are thus examined and further issues of accounting for multiple objectives in different and even non-commensurable measures are also indicated. A possibility for joint coordinated uses of programming and accounting in management planning is indicated and amplified and some of the implications for alterations in accounting practice are then examined. Suggestions for further extensions include probabilistic formulations and related risk considerations and evaluations. In an addendum the node-link incidences are further related to node-node incidences in the context of dyadic representations such as are encountered in the transportation type models of linear programming or the spread sheets and articulation statements of double-entry accounting.(n1)

[This study examines the choice of a regulatory accounting principle (RAP) in contrast to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) with respect to loan loss recognition in the savings and loan industry. RAP was permitted by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board for Savings and Loans (S&Ls) in the early 1980s. Many S&Ls selected this alternative to GAAP. We examine four factors, conditioned by accounting regulations in the S&L industry setting, hypothesized to explain the accounting choice. All of the factors are significant in logistic regression tests in which the choice of RAP or GAAP was the dependent variable. The results are consistent with the conclusion that S&Ls chose to violate GAAP when regulatory constraints induced a conflict between GAAP requirements and the economic welfare of the firm.]

[This paper reports the results of an investigation into the relationships between certain CPA examination candidates' attributes and these subjects' performance for 280 first-time candidates writing the November 1977 and May 1978 examinations in Texas. Findings indicate that scholastic aptitude test scores, accounting GPA, accounting hours completed, school attended, hours of self-study, and completion of a CPA review course have consistently significant associations with examination performance. Attributes lacking significant associations with examination performance include candidates' work experience, age, and completion of an audit course.]

Abstract The article discusses the application of statistical methods to accounting, auditing, and management control problems. It is part of a study in this area by a small group in Pittsburgh. The group, consisted of accountants and statisticians who reflect both academic and practicing points of view. The article reports on the progress of the work, and invites suggestions and appraisals from members of the accounting profession. The article focuses on the organization and general approach of the research, studies completed or under way, together with results achieved, and possible directions for future work. The significant points include the importance of the team approach, the need for obtaining guidance from fundamental requirements of accounting and auditing, and the necessity for proceeding in a fashion which protects the professional integrity of the statistician, as well as that of the accountant. The more rapid progress achieved in the areas of accounting procedures and management control devices, as contrasted with purely audit problems, has been specifically noted.

Abstract 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.

Abstract The article presents information on accounting in the war program. War demands have made necessary central planning and control for the materials of war. Intelligent planning and control are dependent on accounting data. To obtain accounting data, recourse has been had to formal reports, questionnaires, surveys, telephone calls and conferences. Information secured has covered production, stocks, consumption, population and labor figures, costs and other financial and accounting statistics. In the stabilization and procurement programs, many new applications of accounting techniques have been devised. It is the purpose here to review a number of the more important accounting developments in the war program and to consider some of the possible long-range effects, particularly the use of accounting in establishing social controls. There have been long-standing requirements for accounting reports in income tax laws and various regulatory enactments. In addition, permissive legislation such as the Federal Trade Commission Act 2 demonstrates that Congress years ago had become aware of the necessity of financial reporting in the establishing of even the most general business controls.

Reviews the book "Capital-Expenditure Decisions: How They Are Made," by Donald F. Istvan.

Abstract The article presents information on the contractor's organization for terminations. The past several months have seemed to me very much as the pre-invasion months must have seemed to some of the officers and men charged with the responsibility of preparing for the Allied invasion of France. The constant planning and the uncertainty of the exact date when we would be called upon to test our plans have created a feeling of tension quite unlike anything the author has ever experienced before. In great measure, our success in handling contract terminations will depend upon how well we have laid our plans and what we have learned from the little experience afforded us so far. From the observations that most of us have made, it must appear inevitable that the capitulation of Germany will result in drastic cutbacks and cancellations. It will do little good for us to yell and howl that our contracts should not have been canceled. We entered into these contracts. They specifically provided for termination at the convenience of the government- not at our convenience.