Abstract Changes in the economy have prompted changes in the information needs in all areas of accounting. New cause and effect relationships develop and new concepts emerge which must be given accounting expression. The accounting profession is therefore faced with a need for accounting data which must be accommodated. The magnitude of the challenge reveals the magnitude of the opportunity. There is every reason to believe that socio-economic accounting will provide the thrust necessary to tremendously expand the world of accounting. In this connection, there is an old Hindu saying which seems appropriate here, that "There is no door, but only a small window, that leads to a great new world." However, the saying requires a bit of paraphrasing for, actually, in this case, there is no window. Nevertheless, accounttants do have access to, perhaps, a key hole. The light provided by this small key- hole reveals that there are numerous answers to the challenges posed by socio- economic accounting and they all focus on research.

Abstract In this article the author illustrates the possibility of preparing different measures of income by application of the previously proposed concept of realization and to examine the uses and the conceptual nature of each measure. A scheme of financial statements expressing different concepts of income measured from different points of realization and serving different, though often related, purposes is presented. The author argues that the interest in dividends is well founded. Dividends are the only truly final stage of income from operations of the enterprise. The ultimate fate of retained earnings is indeterminate but the distribution by the firm of earnings as dividends is final. Conventional income computations for vertically integrated firms measure the net income attributable to the firm's entire sequence of processes. According to the present generally accepted income concept, income is viewed as realized at the point of sale. It is often said that a completely definite report of income for an enterprise is not possible prior to final liquidation and that all interim reports are of a tentative nature.

Abstract Realization is a controlling concept in the measurement and reporting of enterprise income. In its broad meaning, it includes all of the possible points in the activity of the enterprise at which revenue may be viewed as having emerged or been realized. However, the broad meaning cannot he applied to specific situations. A specific point of realization must be selected from all of the possible points. This article suggests that there are several important points of realization that produce several different, significant and useful measure of income and that the selection of any single set of tests in the hope of producing the appropriate income measure unnecessarily restricts accounting to serving only those purposes which that single measure tends to accommodate. Realization should not be viewed as a restraint that requires an either point of recognition. It should be regarded as a useful device that permits accountants to observe, measure, and report on the enterprise from several points of interest.

Abstract The article stresses that accounting for values should be viewed as reliable if it is accomplished within the framework of the same basic requirements, which have contributed to the reliability of cost data. In accounting for values to be realized by the specific enterprise, the continuity assumption renders irrelevant any value, which does not relate to managements plan, normal operations, and the specific market commanded by the firm. Hence, it is value to the owner, not value in general, that is of interest in this proposal; and this value is the amount, which the owner will realize from his assets in their planned use, not the amount for which others in the industry are buying similar or identical assets. Therefore, valuations based on economy or industry indexes are irrelevant to this analysis. The most vital issue in selecting a valuation basis is, therefore, one of determining whether the particular valuation basis depends on information to which we have present access that presumably holds the most valid relationship with the future flow of revenue.

Abstract Reviews the book 'Corporate Social Accounting,' edited by Meinolf Dierkes and Raymond A. Bauer.

Reviews the book "College Accounting- Intermediate/Advanced," by Horace Brock, Charles E. Palmer and Fred Archer.