Knowledge that Transforms

Reviews the book "Applied General Statistics," by Frederick E. Croxton and Dudley J. Cowden.

Reviews the book "Manual of Teachers College Accounting," by Edward V. Miles.

Abstract The article presents information on recent developments related to accounting in various universities of the United States. S. Paul Garner, associate professor of accounting, has collaborated with professor G.H. Newlove of the University of Texas in the writing of a text entitled Elementary Cost Accounting, which is expecting to get published in January 1941. Chester K. Knight, professor of accounting, and currently secretary of the Alabama Society of C.P.A.'s, will address the Birmingham, Albama chapter of the National Association of Chartered Accountants next February. Professor E.J. Kirkham of the University of Illinois, and professor Ray Sadler of the University of Indiana, has received appointments as instructors in accounting. J.M. Charitori, instructor, has resigned to become an officer of the United States Army. The University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California sponsored its second annual accounting institute on November 7, 1940. The general theme was Clarity, Brevity, and Realism in Reporting. Speakers, including participants as leaders of round tables, numbered well over thirty, and represented many lines of industry operating in the Los Angeles area.

Abstract The twenty-fourth annual convention of the American Accounting Association was held at the Adelphia Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 28-29, 1939. The president of the association opened the session with the following remarks: "We are assembled in the twenty-fourth annual convention of this group. We have come to the end of our fourth year as the American Accounting Association. It is customary for the president to present to the annual meeting some report of the Association's activity during the year. It is on the record of the year 1939 that I wish to comment briefly." "For the purpose of establishing a background against which to evaluate the current performance, it may be well for you to have some reminder of what has gone before. In December of 1935 at New York, the American Association of University Instructors in Accounting was reconstituted as the American Accounting Association." In the development of accounting research the Association stands ever ready to lend all help within its power. Cooperation with any and all interested individuals or groups or associations is assured. It was the hope of those who were instrumental in changing the character and name of the Association in 1935 that the Association would ultimately become the one organization recognized as most fully representing the study of accounting as a field of learning.

Abstract Accountants have been troubled in recent months over their responsibility in the matter of auditing inventories. It now appears to be settled that whenever no physical verification of inventories has been made, the auditor's report will contain an appropriate qualification. Furthermore, it is not an unreasonable prediction that auditors will become more and more insistent upon physical verifications. Inventories are the life-blood of an enterprise organized for profit; but this is not the case in an organization devoted to the task of furnishing public services. In the field of municipal government the primary revenue source is from taxes levied on property valuations. Inventory verification has a peculiar application in municipal post audits. Procedures outlined in the article should not be unduly expensive. And if the result of this addition to the municipal audit is to help obtain assessments reasonably close to full value, the outlay should be returned to the municipal treasury many times over. If gross inequities and low-ratio assessments go hand-in-hand, the social values of this auditing addendum should be given due weight in determining its usefulness. Of course, whether or not full-value results can be obtained is a moot question. There can be little doubt, however, that the additional auditing procedure would be a step in this direction.

Reviews the book "Papers on Auditing Procedure and Other Accounting Subjects."

Reviews the book "Organization and Management of Production," by William N. Mitchell.

Abstract The article presents information about various activities taking place in various universities in the U.S. Professor R.D. Swick, R.E. Strohelm and D. Thompson are leaving the staff committee of the Indiana University. Professor John G. Blocker of the University of Kansas has taken a year's leave of absence in order to teach at the University of California, Berkeley, as visiting professor of accounting. Associate professor of accounting R.D.M. Bauer in the University of Missouri is absent on leave for one year. Professor H.K Olson of the University of South Dakota has received his Certified Public Accountants (CPA) certificate recently. Professor T.W. Leland of Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was re-elected as secretary-treasurer of the Texas Society of CPA's. Leland will continue as editor of the journal The Texas Accountant. Professor J.R. Taylor has accepted a position at the University of Tennessee. Professor R.K. Mautz passed the Illinois CPA examination in November 1939.

Reviews the book "Business Arithmetic for College Students," by William S. Schlauch.

Abstract Time was when accountants looked upon the balance sheet as a presentation of the current financial position of a business enterprise. They thought of the left side of the statement, when it was presented in account form, as a summary of the assets of the enterprise. It is true that they avoided the inclusion of intangibles whenever possible but they made a virtue of that just as banking institutions made a virtue of writing their buildings and physical equipment down to one dollar. In the taking of inventories the accountant insisted upon a lower-of-cost-and-market valuation and he made a virtue of that too. In an earlier period of business enterprise, balance sheets prepared upon the basis of traditional principles and techniques did show assets and liabilities and proprietorship within the limits of accuracy demanded by the business management of that time. This general character of the valuation process is not peculiar to economic valuation. The present article is not the place for a general discourse on value but it may be said in passing that all valuation involves a reconciliation, integration or adjustment of different interests.