Courses in accounting occupy a distinctive place in the curriculum of every collegiate school of business. The particular location in the course of study, however, differs quite widely between the various institutions. Furthermore, the character of the subject matter taught under the title of accounting means different things in the several schools. In view of the fact that professional schools of business are still in the early developmental stage, one can hardly hope for anything approaching standardization in curriculum making. Annual revision of courses will continue until the various professional business occupations become more clearly defined than they are at present. One of the chief difficulties encountered in attempting to generalize on this subject is the number of different types of institutions offering collegiate instruction in business. There are the four-year schools which admit students directly from high school, the two-year courses to which students are admitted who have completed either two or three years in an arts college, and the graduate schools which offer instruction only to those who have completed a full four-year academic course. In addition to these, there are the schools, which have specialized in certain fields such as retailing, and personnel administration. Each of these institutions is attempting to adapt its course requirements to meet the demand for technically trained men in business.

Hawtrey, The Economic Problem Get access Paul T. Homan Paul T. Homan Cornell University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 42, Issue 4, August 1928, Pages 678–684, https://doi.org/10.2307/1882539 Published: 01 August 1928

It was in the main due to an accident that the efficiency idea was taken over by the engineering fraternity. The accountants, had they interested themselves in that direction, would have made better efficiency experts than the engineers, for they are by education and training better fitted for efficiency work. In the first place the accountant has a better grasp of business and economics subjects because of his education than has the engineer. Second, the accountant, coming constantly into contact with business men, has a better understanding of human relationships. He can deal better with people, whereas the nature of the engineer's work enables the latter to deal best with machinery and construction problems. An excellent judge of problems connected with bridges, roads, etc., he is more or less at a loss when confronted with problems involving human relationships. The efficiency engineer has tried to handle the workman as though he were a machine. The accountant on the other hand, accustomed as he has to deal tactfully with people, would never have antagonized labor against the whole efficiency movement as has the engineer.

Accountancy practice in this country has grown from a theoretical zero to an institution comprising, probably, 25,000 public accountants, and gross annual earnings estimated at from $ 350,000,000 to $100,000,000. Twenty-five years ago engagements were taken, work was performed, reports were prepared and rendered, bills were paid, and few, if any, questions were asked by clients. This condition may be attributed largely, perhaps, to the fact that clients had little knowledge of accounting, or of auditing, or of what the accountants were supposed to do. Today, the accountant's relation to business, and to the personnel of business is quite different. For twenty-five years university schools teaching accounting and other subjects have been pouring their products into the business world. These men have taken positions as accountants, company auditors, treasurers, comptrollers, and credit men. Some of them have risen to the ranks of presidents, vice presidents, secretaries, and chairmen of finance committee. Not a few have become substantial shareholders.

The certified public accountant's interest in the subject of appreciation is a practical one. He is forced to consider the matter in connection with his review of accounting and his certification of financial statements. The facts are, whether or not such procedure is justifiable, that physical property and intangible frequently are revalued by, or at the instance of, the owners of such possessions who attempt, in various ways, to give expression to the estimated increases in value. The certified public accountant, therefore, is confronted primarily with a condition; not a theory. The authority for the restated value may be either a report of independent appraisers, or a resolution of corporation directors. In as much as the certified public accountant does not attempt to act as an appraiser, to pass judgment on the work of such persons, or to assume responsibility for the values which they fix, he accepts their judgment and qualifies his statements accordingly. The occasions for revaluations which give rise to estimated increases in values are various.

The article focuses on the proceedings of the twelfth annual convention of the American Association of University Instructors in Accounting, held at Washington D.C., between December 28 and 29, 1927. After some introductory remarks by the organizers, papers were read by W. W. Nissley of the American Institute of Accountants, John R. Wildman of the company Haskins and Sells, David Himmelblau of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, William A. Paton of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and J. L. Dohr of Greene and Hurd and of Columbia University, New York, New York. The second program meeting was given over to a discussion of various features of the federal income tax law. Johns Hopkins University's, Baltimore, Maryland, professor presided at the session and opened it with a brief statement introducing the speakers of the afternoon, all of whom were representatives of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The third program session consisted of a joint meeting with the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. The general topic for discussion was "The Place of Accounting in Commerce Curriculum."