As business operations become more complicated, the decisions of managers have greater impact upon people and conditions, and it would be expected the added demands upon management would be met by increasing search for more objective, dependable, and positive data upon which to base decisions. Quantitative methods have proved effective in the natural and applied sciences, and the use of accounting and statistical data in business would again lead one to expect that these two fields would feel some pressure for additional help in providing data for decisions. All this means a greater opportunity for those who gather, analyze, and prepare such data for the information of decision-makers, an opportunity that will not be overlooked. The purpose of the article is to explore the relation between accounting and statistics; how independent are these methodologies, with respect to the functions they really should serve, in the collection and use of managerial information. The answer to the question of interdependence of these disciplines may have much to do with the adequacy of service to be rendered by either the statistician or the accountant. Whether or not an accountant, or a statistician, regards his field as separate is largely a question of attitude. There are problems of importance on which both techniques should be used together.

Reviews the book "The Management of Corporate Capital," edited by Ezra Solomon.

Reviews the book "Budgeting: Profit Planning and Control," by Glenn A. Welsch.

The writer has no quarrel with cost accountants and their methods, nor is it implied that cost figures, because of their imperfections, are hopelessly useless. By and large, the cost accountant performs well a function that is essential to carrying on accounting in general and basic to the furtherance of intelligent management. There are, however, three general conclusions that may be drawn from the exposition presented in the article; these should be emphasized. First, there is a real need for research directed toward the establishment of principles for cost allocation, especially with regard to the allocation of overhead costs. Second, there is good reason for broadening the concepts that have been applied to the field of cost accounting, to embrace techniques of statistical and mathematical analysis. Third, and most important, the limitations of available methods, the compromises of expediency, and the conflicting objectives that enter into cost calculations should make the accountant more careful as to his terminology with respect to unit costs.

Reviews the book "Cost Accounting," by Clarence L.Van Sickle.

Reviews the book "The Practice of Public Accounting," second edition, by A.S. Donnelly.

Reviews the book "Accounting Theory," by Harry Norris.

Reviews the book "Cost Accounting," by W.B. Lawrence.