Abstract Use of employee stock options by large American corporations is widespread. The Courts and the Congress have pondered long and produced complexity in their tax treatment. Financial analysts have been baffled by their possible effects. The accounting profession has once reversed itself as to the effect of issuance of stock options on income, and even yet is far from agreeing that present practice is satisfactory. At least five points of view may be distinguished relative to the accounting aspects of employee stock options: (a) Tax accounting; (b) "Generally accepted" accounting, as reflected by pronouncements of the American Institute of CPAs and the SEC; (c) "Cash value of services" concept; (d) "Accrual of value" concept; (e) Option value concept. This paper initially will look at the effect of the method involved on the reported net earnings of the employer, both in terms of amount and timing. It will then try to set forth a definition of accounting purpose, and test each of the five approaches against that definition. This paper will conclude with its own proposal, based on tax deductions foregone.

Abstract The article focuses on the definition of accounting. The author states that to the advanced accounting student or practicing accountant, the art of recording, classifying and summarizing business transactions conveys much more than simply the routine recording of business events in an accounting system, these activities would seem to be clearly in the realm of bookkeeping. Generally, an accounting system is designed to collect, classify and summarize business transactions, as well as business activities. An accounting system may be a manual system, a semi-mechanical system, or an electronic computer system. The study of the more recent developments in accounting systems, such as electronic systems, or computer systems, is especially interesting in regard to their potential in the area of analysis. Education for accounting must involve the study of all reasonable alternative systems, principles, standards and methods of measuring the effects of business activities. Accounting systems may be divided into two main types, financial accounting and administrative or managerial accounting.

Reviews the book "Advanced Accounting, an Organisational Approach," by Norton M. Bedford, Kenneth W. Perry and Arthur R. Wyatt.

Abstract During the past decade, the Federal Government has made considerable progress in improving the management of its financial affairs. A substantial part of this progress is attributable to the professional caliber of the accounting and auditing personnel who have aided and counseled Federal executives during this decade of improvement. This paper has presented the highlights of the program of one governmental agency to further the professional training and development of its auditor staff. This Agency, the U. S. Army Audit Agency, has developed and strengthened a planned, purposeful program for developing personnel of a high professional stature. In the years ahead, it is expected that the Agency's training and development methods and programs will continually be sharpened and will be rightfully recognized by the accounting profession as a significant contribution to the totality of excellence that is the hallmark of the profession. The progress achieved by government internal auditors during the past decade attests to the fact that professional auditing has come of age as an instrument for furthering the cause of good management in Government. It is not too far fetched to suggest that the general approach and training program for auditors such as that followed by the U. S. Army Audit Agency might be useful to other organizations, public or private, in developing their staff.

Abstract For many years certain accounting theorists have suggested that an asset's value might be measured by the discounted value of its future services. This approach has been given several names, including "time preference analysis," "economic valuation," and "direct valuation." Theorists differ somewhat in the way in which they explain this approach the discounted services approach should be abandoned for theoretical purposes. All we have seen is that it must be imprecise or irrelevant in actual accounting practice. Precision and strict relevance are not necessary qualities in an analytical approach. The approach merely must be able to give us insights into the process this paper is examining. The discounted services approach does this admirably. It fails only when we ask the process examined to model itself on the approach used to examine it. The theorist should feel free to use the discounted services approach whenever it may clarify his thinking. But he should scrupulously avoid using it as a standard of comparison for actual accounting practice.

The economic meaning of conservation, 99. — The maximum efficient rate and well spacing, 101. — State regulation, 110. — The intensive and the extensive margin, 118.