Reviews the book "Accounting for Management Control," by William H.Childs.

Reviews the book "Personal Deductions in the Federal Income Tax," by C. Harry Kahn.

This article presents several news related to accountancy published in the journal of "The Accounting Review." Two substantial contributions to the American Accounting Association Fellowship Fund were accepted on behalf of the Association by President Charles J. Gaa at the annual meeting in Columbus. John P. Goedert, executive partner of Alexander Grant & Company, presented a check for $5,000 contributed by his firm. Mr. Goedert called the contribution a business investment in the future of our profession." He cited recent surveys indicating a shortage of qualified accounting teachers despite large enrollments of students in accountancy and increasing demands for trained accountants by industry, government, and public accounting firms. The accounting research division of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has added two items to its active research agenda: Accounting for the Costs of Pension Plans and Cash Flow Statements and Analysis. Anyone interested in submitting comments, suggestions, or other material for the use of the research staff is invited and urged to do so. Advance notice of the intent to participate in the projects in this way will be appreciated. All correspondence relating to the studies should be addressed to Mr. Maurice Moonitz, Director of Accounting Research, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 270 Madison Avenue, New York.

This article focuses on some facts of federal fiscal life and their importance to Americans. At present the United States Government owes about 288 billion dollars to the holders of government securities, and the annual interest expense for carrying that debt was estimated last January at around eleven per cent of the total budget receipts of the Federal Government anticipated in fiscal 1951 or 9.5 billion dollars. The Government is committed in the future for plenty of other costs. For example: first, merchant Marine subsidies and ship replacement just for currently subsidized ships will cost 4.3 billion dollars. Second, 5.4 billion dollars is already committed for future Federal contributions for public housing. Third, Federal civil public works projects al ready started will cost 7 billion dollars after 1961 to complete. Fourth, it may cost as much as 30 billion dollars or more to complete the inter state highway program. It is at this point that the matter of the country's rate of economic growth comes to the fore. For as the economy grows, tax revenues-at the same or even lower tax rates-increase. And that increase in Federal revenues could be used, if not for debt reduction then perhaps to absorb some of the additional costs of added public service.

In selecting a measure of activity to be used in applying manufacturing burden to product, a typical cost accounting text includes a few brief remarks about direct labor hours, direct labor cost, machine hours, and units of product. The fact that machinery is the main factor in production does not necessarily mean that machine hours is a measure of activity which provides more accurate costing than does direct labor hours. Cost accounting texts, in their discussion of machine hours versus direct labor hours, frequently seem to avoid the real issues. Very often, unless the instructor amplifies the textbook statements considerably, it is likely that the student will not get a satisfactory answer to the basic question. One of the issues which has not received its fair share of attention is the general superiority for product costing purposes of rates established by machine cost centers which include only homogeneous equipment over a single rate established for a department which includes heterogeneous equipment. It has been argued that machine hours is a better basis than direct labor hours under the following conditions, the process is a relatively continuous one; and cost responsibility centers include heterogeneous equipment and burden rates are established by cost responsibility centers.

Introduction, 63. — I. Growth of output and resources, 64. — II. Resource allocation and income distribution, 76. — III. Future problems, 83.