Reviews the book "A Study of Corporation Securities, Their Nature and Uses in Finance," by Arthur Stone Dewing.

Abstract This article focuses on the cost of distribution from the manufacturer's point of view. Distribution costs involve the total cost of carrying goods from producer to consumer, the costs of operating retail stores, the costs of operating wholesale houses, transportation costs and the manufacturer's selling costs. The author's remarks today are concerned chiefly with the cost of distribution from the standpoint of the manufacturer. When the individual manufacturer sets out to find ways and means of reducing his distribution expense, one of the first questions that canes to his mind is how do his costs compare with those of other manufactures in his industry selling the same or a similar type of product. And it was in an attempt to aid in answering this question that the Association of National Advertisers undertook a few months ago to assemble distribution cost figures from representative manufacturers in leading industries of the country. It was hoped that we could provide a yardstick by which each individual manufacturer could determine whether or not his own costs of distribution were in line with those his competitors.

Abstract The article focuses on the report and accounting approach. Undoubtedly the most difficult task which confronts the elementary accounting instructor is the presentation of an adequate concept of the balance sheet. The beginning student requires no great amount of imagination in perceiving that the typical business enterprise acquires and owns assets of various types. Furthermore, the thought that these resources may and do become charged with debts is comparatively simple to master. The difficulty arises, however, in distinguishing between the objective realities of assets and liabilities and the subjective reality of the proprietorship element. Again, the student in the first course of accounting perceives readily that the assets do, or should have some value to the concern and that these values are capable of expression in terms of the monetary unit. Furthermore, he has no difficulty in realizing that the initial value placed upon a resource is its purchase price. Difficulty is encountered, however, with the problem of revaluation which arises in the preparation of each periodic balance sheet.

Reviews the book "Business Law, Principles and Cases," by Thomas S. Kerr.

Abstract Economists and accountants have looked at the prospect of inflation from different basic points of view. Some have thought principally of the effects that inflation will have upon business profits, hence upon employment and power to pay debts. Others have thought principally of effects upon real wages and the standard of living. And others have concentrated their attentions on effects upon accumulated capital, such as savings, or upon stock-market prices or public finance. But none seem to have given any thought at all to the effect that inflation is sure to have upon the ability of the economic key men to choose wise courses of economic action for people. In practical business life these key men are managers of business enterprises, whether large or small. These men may be filling roles of entrepreneurs, or they may be merely paid servants of real entrepreneurs. But in any case the direction of economic activity and the amount and intensity of it, are determined by these men. If they decide to produce more or less of certain products and services, then land, labor and capital will be employed for those purposes.

T HIS discussion aims to indicate the implications, concerning the major consequences of the N.R.A., of selected broad statistical measurements of various factors in the business situation. Even under ordinary circumstances one cannot with assurance outline the causal connections between particular economic events or policies and the concurrent or subsequent course of business as revealed in statistics. In attempting to interpret these statistics, therefore, we must bear constantly in mind that some of the observed movements may be due to causes, natural or official, quite unrelated to the N.R.A. The main outlines are, however, so distinct that it seems safe to present tentative conclusions concerning certain chief consequences of the N.R.A. The discussion will be confined to fairly general aspects of the situation. Even if it were desirable to study the detailed effects of the N.R.A. upon numerous small or local industrial operations, significant statistics would not be available. As a matter of fact, it is clear that there is now in high places a realization, somewhat belated but very welcome, that the N.R.A. procedure, whatever the chance of its success for large industries operating on a national scale, encounters insuperable obstacles when applied to local enterprises.

Abstract The article presents a survey report of the status of the cost accounting in the colleges throughout the U.S. To secure the opinion of those actively engaged in the work, a number of letters were sent out to men in charge of the cost accounting work of large industrial establishments. The answers received are probably more confusing than those of the college instructors. A summary of the replies received from nine cost accountants shows that three out of the nine concerns think that a practical training in cost accounting cannot be given in the college classrooms. In answer to the question of how cost accounting instruction was defective in their collegiate or business education, the cost accountants unanimously condemned work because theory was not combined with practice. In view of this present confused status in the content of cost accounting instruction in collegiate schools of business, it seems desirable that the Association of University Instructors in accounting, appoint a committee to collaborate with the National Association of Cost Accountants in preparing suggested system to meet the varying needs and conditions under which cost accounting is taught.