From the outset the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been sympathetic to this point of view and has sought the advice of leading accounting authorities in teaching, public practice, and among executives of corporations investment bankers, and financial analysts in the preparation of rules, regulations, and forms necessary in the administration of the acts which authorize the Commission to prescribe the forms, items, and details of financial statements to be filed generally, uniform systems of accounts, principles to be followed by registered investment companies in maintaining their accounting records and in preparing financial statements. On individual problems, however, where experience has disclosed serious discrepancies in practice as between companies and accountants and one has felt that uniformity in procedure would benefit investors by rule or regulation of the Commission or in an opinion of the chief accountant. It is imperative, therefore, that the Commission make certain that the financial statements contained in registration statements be completely unequivocal and are not used as a proving ground for innovational presentations

Business leaders are beginning to realize that it is just as important to have highly trained accounting technicians on their accounting staffs as it is to have lawyers on their legal staffs and engineers on their engineering staffs. These business leaders have learned through costly audits, system installations, federal tax assessments, and the like, that the old type "bookkeeper" who knew little more than a debit from a credit was, despite his low salary, a costly investment. They have found that their business will fail to prosper as it should unless their accountants can grow with it, assume new responsibilities, revise systems to meet operations, and help guide the business through the intricacies of modern government taxation and regulation. The disadvantages of a small concern are usually the advantages of a large one, and vice versa. In the large firm, probably a comparatively greater number of well paid accounting and other positions are open to the accountant there is theoretically no job ceiling below the president and there is a much broader field of business activity in which to acquire experience