Knowledge that Transforms

Reviews the book "Business Balance Sheets," by Francis R. Stead.

Reviews the book "Federal Tax Practice," by R.H. Montgomery.

Reviews the book "Accounting by Machine Methods," by H.G. Schnackel and Henry C. Lang.

Reviews the book " Bookkeeping and Accounting," by James O. McKinsey.

Reviews the book "Der betriebswirtschaftliche Gewinnbegriff in seiner historischen Entwicklung," by Franz Josef Dusemund.

Abstract There is an evident tendency nowadays to crystallize accounting standards and essentials of business and financial practice in the form of explicit legal statement. State corporation acts, for example, have been steadily becoming more exhaustive and technical with respect to such subjects as form of capitalization, issuance of shares, dividends, valuation of assets, sale of property, and so on. The following is an outline of points which may well be covered in the dividend code or which should, at any rate, be carefully considered by those charged with the duty of framing the dividend section or sections of the act. The source and measure of dividends is profit, current or accumulated, or,.in special cases, increase in value of assets not yet converted through sale or other disposition. Disbursements by corporations in excess of this measure are reductions in capital and should be labeled as such, and should be charged to stated capital or to a special contra account modifying stated capital. There should be no exception to this definition in the case of wasting enterprises such as mines.

Abstract Replacement-cost is the basic value which properly expresses business capital and income. It is not always easily determined, at times can only be approximated. But even the arguments in favor of other bases of valuation are predicated on the assumption that they are very near to replacement-cost. The replacement-cost of an asset is the estimated expenditure necessary to secure another similar in nature and equivalent in economic value. It frequently is more or less than original cost, usually it varies from sale-price, which is the amount realizable through disposal. The importance of replacement-cost in the balance sheet and the statements of business operations will be illustrated with respect to the accounting entities namely merchandise inventories, fixed assets, trading profit and fixed charges. The replacement-cost of merchandise is the price for which merchandise of similar kind and sales value could be brought into the stock rooms of an enterprise. It is the so-called market-value contemplated in the widely quoted and applied cost-or-market rule of evaluating merchandise inventories.

Abstract The attention of economists, accountant and business men has of late been directed more and more to the behavior of overhead costs, and in particular to those consequences which result from the fixed character of a large part of them. Everyone is familiar with the fact that an increased volume of output results in a decreased unit cost, as far as overhead is concerned. But another economists used the term differential costs to indicate those specific increments of expense which will accompany any specific increment in the output. Before analyzing this theory, or presenting any practical applications of it, the relation of differential costs to other economic concepts ought to be considered. Another economic concept which is related to differential costs, though inversely so, is the idea of quasi-rent. This term is employed to include all those extra earnings derived from the possession of rare natural abilities on the part of a business man. It follows that producers will be earning high quasirents when their production costs are low and low quasi-rents when their production costs are high, thus making an inverse ratio between quasi-rent and costs.

Abstract The article presents information on appointments and resignations of faculty of major universities in the U.S. as of June 1, 1929. William T. Crandell, assistant professor at Carnegie Institute of Technology, is to be on leave for the year 1930, to continue graduate study at the University of Michigan. His position will be filled by R. W. Coleman, who comes from the College of the City of Detroit. H. C. Dames has been appointed Assistant Controller of the University of Chicago and will continue his teaching on a half-time basis. Earl A. Saliers, formerly of Yale and Northwestern Universities and editor of the journal "Accountants Handbook," has accepted the position of head of the Accounting Department for the coming year, in the newly organized School of Business Administration at the University of Louisiana. L. B. Raisty, professor at the University of Georgia, received his Certified Public Accountant Certificate at the November 1928 examinations. Olin E. Thomas has accepted a position as assistant professor of accounting at the College of the City of Detroit. He will begin work there at the beginning of the summer term.

Abstract This article provides information about various Universities. In the University of Alabama, Harry V. Mitchell has been added to the staff as instructor In accounting. A new course in "Accounting for Merchandising Concerns" is being offered this year and a course in "Office Management and Control" will also be given. In the university of Maryland, accounting courses have been thoroughly revised during the year. New equipment for the laboratory and recitation rooms has been purchased. Sixty students are now enrolled in the courses and a second year course has been opened to meet the request of students interested in carrying on advanced work. Bernard T. Dodder is in charge of all accounting work. In the Southern Methodist University, new courses in Investments and in Public Control of Business are being offered this year. The registration in accounting counts is over 600 this year and the advanced courses show a very substantial increase in enrollment. In the university of Texas, Professor Lay is this year serving as visiting professor at the University of Chicago. Herschel Walling, instructor in accounting, has been transferred to the bureau of business research.