C. Lowell Harriss, Revenue Implications of a Progressive-Rate Tax on Expenditures: A Study of Selected Aspects of Irving Fisher's Proposal to Eliminate Savings from the Income Tax Base, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Aug., 1943), pp. 175-191

Abstract War conditions as in 1917 and 1918; have again focused considerable attention upon obsolescence. Most of this attention is directed to obsolescence as it affects income taxes. In 1918 the Bureau of Internal Revenue first permitted the accruing of ordinary or normal obsolescence through the depreciation rate. During the present conflict the granting of war-necessity certificates and the use of accelerated depreciation rates result in part from the recognition of the desirability of accruing obsolescence, even though such accrual is merged with physical depreciation. Conversion of facilities to the manufacture of war supplies, and other changes which have been required in manufacturing processes forcibly bring to the attention of accountants and owners certain factors which are present in a lesser degree at all times. If a product or service is no longer in demand, then producers are forced to abandon equipment at once. This condition would cause compulsory obsolescence. However, in the case of improvements or the appearance of new techniques in production, a producer may often exercise the choice of using the old equipment for a longer period of time or of substituting the new equipment at once.

Abstract The fact that the complicated business of making war can be epitomized for certain purposes into a few guiding principles suggests that accounting also may rest upon certain leading ideas which we may call principles. The military strategist would not thumb through a pocket list to choose the principle to be applied next to his situation. Neither would an accountant. Principles probably serve their purpose best after their essence and their interrelations have been made so thoroughly a part of a man's thinking processes as to have been forgotten as verbal propositions. In times like these, generalizations about the science of making war are interesting for their own sake to laymen. But they can be of more than passing interest to accountants because they illustrate so well the useful art of generalization. About a year ago a compact summary of the principles of war was published, as of October 1943. The nine principles stated in the summary are briefly summarized in this article to give further emphasis on the factor of interdependence.

Abstract This article focuses on the structural fundamentals of financial statements. Financial analysis sometimes goes astray in assuming that the balance sheet at the year-end represents the average condition prevailing throughout the year, a condition which in some respects is usually not the case. An average balance sheet for the entire year would provide a better basis of comparison. Consistent treatment of the various classes of elements in all financial statements would soon lead even the casual reader to a better appreciation of the basic financial aspects of business activities and their results. The primary relationship expressed in accounts is that of equality. Entries are equations, ledgers "balance." Accounting starts, then, with the primary proposition that this equals that. Naturally many accounting statements stress this feature of "equality of factors." In the balance sheet attention is directed to the fact that property is equaled by ownership. A cash statement may show that the opening balance plus receipts equals disbursements plus the closing balance.

Abstract Accounting is such a field, and, like other fields of knowledge and of work, it stands to benefit from a continuing exchange of views. The range of the exchange need not be confined to the results of extensive research, or to the analysis and reporting of complex experience. Exchange of opinions can also make a contribution. What one thinks at the moment need not commit him irrevocably to a certain position, nor is his idea necessarily put forward with the purpose of securing converts to the view presented. A good perspective on professional attributes would be helpful, for example, whenever the problem to be faced had to do with setting and maintaining standards of admission to the profession and standards of professional practice after admission. Good perspective would also be useful whenever organization activities or educational programs are under consideration. When and if the profession might be under fire of criticism, perspective would be indispensable. A number of tests could perhaps be devised and tried on experienced accountants in an experimental way. Those tests that seemed most revealing could then be subjected to further observation by using them experimentally with young men recently accepted for professional work and still under training and scrutiny, and by using them experimentally upon college students who wish to major in accountancy and may later be further observed in class and office.

Abstract The U.S. Federal Government uses both definite and indefinite-quantity contracts, the latter being known also as "term contracts" and "open-end contracts." An indefinite-quantity contract ordinarily is one by which the government promises that, during a stated period, a specified agency or group of agencies will buy certain specified commodities only from a particular supplier. The supplier promises that he will sell to the agency or agencies as little or as much as they wish to buy of those commodities during the period named. A minimum-quantity contract differs from an indefinite-quantity contract only in involving a commitment by the government as to the minimum amount that it will buy. The Procurement Division of the U.S. Treasury Department is the nearest approach which Federal procurement has to centralized buying. It effects or aids in a far smaller percentage of the War and Navy Departments' total purchases than of civilian agencies' total purchases, and at present is of course overshadowed, in importance as a buying agency, by each of the former two agencies' vastly increased procurement.

Abstract In this article the author presents an interpretive observation of the examination questions in auditing. He analyses, whether the examination questions changed as auditing has developed during the past forty-five years. According to the author, the observation of the studies conducted in this field shows the tendency for questions on auditing procedure to grow less prominent. Auditing theory and non-auditing questions increase. The ranking of question types in these studies also provide some suggestions of the change. The first ranking item in the earlier period was number ten in the list for the lastest period, the second later became fifth, the third was seventh, the fourth practically disappeared later, the fifth item became fourth, and the sixth became eleventh. It is clear in the studies that changes are taking place. Broad general questions on the nature and purpose of auditing are of late being replaced by questions that are more pointed and specific. Earlier auditing examinations made frequent use of questions on the theory of accounts. The trend has been away from this type of theory question and toward theory as it involves accounting statements.

Abstract Buying for the government is subject to a vast aggregate of statutes, Executive and administrative orders, legal interpretations by the General Accounting Office, and court decisions. Some rules, such as those relating to standardized specifications, have their parallel in private business enterprises. Others have, but only if one forgets that a rule-making power vested in Congress and a separate administrative responsibility vested in a department head are likely to afford much less flexibility of rules than exists where not only administrative responsibility but also a generous measure of rule-making power are vested in a single manager. The contrast is all the greater if the business concern which the manager runs is not itself a body of such great size as to have the sort of complexity which characterizes governmental organization. Funds for procurement or for non-procurement purposes are usually made available in and for a single fiscal year. In the enforcement of the laws with which Federal procurement is hedged about, the General Accounting Office figures much more largely than the courts. Infractions of those laws usually are less classifiable as criminality than as inept or culpable administration, or as an admirably motivated if indiscreet effort to get a job done even at the cost of scissoring some red tape.

Abstract According to an old adage, competition is the life of trade. Exchange of ideas provides a surplus to improvement of educational processes. It is hoped that material dealing with the broader aspects of accounting education may be forthcoming for use in this department. Opinions might be exchanged on a variety of matters in connection with educational policy, curriculum alterations, course content, and the like. There are very few people who would favor a highly specialized education in accountancy to the exclusion of all general subjects. In some cases necessity rather than choice produces that unfortunate result. Public accountants, as customers of the colleges supplying graduates, are mud like other customers. They know what they like. They are not sure just why they hesitate to make suggestions for improvement. Manufacturers often try to learn to serve better by stirring customers to analyze the basis of their choices. Accounting teachers could do likewise. One of the advantages of work in a foreign language is the enforced contact with the mechanics of language structure. In addition, in many courses frequent papers and reports are expected which give further practice in the use of language.