Reviews the book "Fundamental Statistics for Business and Economics," by John Neter and William Wasserman.

The two terms, microaccounting and macroaccounting, are created mainly for the purpose of recognizing the extent of the progress of accounting today. The term macroaccounting has the advantage over others in identifying explicitly the area to which accounting is applied. Macroaccounting is still expanding and the discussion of its six major branches in this paper is by no means exhaustive. Macroaccounting may be studied at two levels, business macroaccounting and economic macroaccounting. It is obvious that in this paper efforts have mostly been devoted to the former. Eventually, a set of conventions, assumptions, and standards for macroaccounting will be developed as in microaccounting. It is also suggested that most of the principles and standards of microaccounting may be applied to macroaccounting with modifications and additions. In examining the various branches of macroaccounting, one must note that the development of a national balance sheet has lagged behind in a manner that tends to cripple the entire system of macroaccounting. Another major task is to integrate the several branches of macroaccounting regarding classifications of accounts and systems of recording transactions. Only in this way can the full usefulness of macro- accounting be reached. The problem of the valuation basis is a complex one. No single method can answer all the questions. No matter what valuation bases are selected, the principles of consistency and comparability should be strictly observed. The need for offering macroaccounting courses in accounting departments was also suggested.

This article discusses about some common misconceptions relating to accounting education. There has been a considerable amount of discussion during the past several years concerning accounting education. Some notions advanced have been based on misinformation or misunderstanding. Others have resulted from a lack of knowledge of some of the factors present. Some of the misconceptions are concerned with the general nature of accounting education, some consider suggested objectives or specific proposals, and some relate to the teaching of accounting. Probably the most common misconception today is that the study of accounting should blindly follow the same pattern as the study of some other professional field such as law or medicine. A second popular misconception, is the notion that accounting majors have had practically no courses other than accounting. A third area of confusion, is that employers are anxious to have accounting majors that complete a five or six year program before seeking employment. Many so-called problems are being posed today which many pessimistically portray as insurmountable. If the experiences of the past are indicative, it can be expected that changes which evolve, will represent continued progress and that accounting education will keep pace with the increasing responsibilities assigned to it.

An accounting instructor's work is comparable to that of the football coach. The coach can teach his players the theory of football and get them to understand his diagrams but unless he conducts regular scrimmages, he will never develop a football team. The scrimmage for a student of accounting consists of the assigned problems, the workbook and the practice set. So it seems that it would be desirable for the student to work several problems in connection with each chapter. Apparently many instructors fail to face up to the situation. They recognize the desirability of the scrimmaging, but have found no satisfactory way to handle the grading problem. Often the instructor at least implies that the paper are being graded, but the students suspect that they are not. In a situation where objective tests are effective and in certain types of problem tests much time can be saved by having the students grade their own papers. It seems desirable to go over the test thoroughly with the students at the next class meeting anyway, so then is no loss of classroom time if the students grade their own papers.

The 1956 annual meeting of the American Accounting Association offered an ideal opportunity to combine a first-class vacation trip with the meeting of friends and members of the association. It was held on August 27, 28, and 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, with the College of Business Administration, University of Washington, as hosts. The morning sessions of the convention program were devoted to the topics of faculty development and the tentative statement of cost concepts underlying reports for management purposes. Special activities included a boat trip across puget sound and a salmon bake held at Illahee State Park on Monday afternoon and evening. The association is greatly indebted to the committee on arrangements and the ladies program committee for the excellent facilities and arrangements made for them. A motion was made from the floor and carried accepting the report of the committee on nominations and instructing the secretary-treasurer to cast a unanimous ballot for election.