Abstract The article focuses on the objectives and material contents of elementary accounting courses. The objectives and material contents of an accounting course depend upon the emphasis to be placed on accounting in the school. Some liberal arts colleges offer courses in elementary accounting as a part of a well-rounded program. In other schools, this type of accounting is offered as a segment of the preparation for students going into the business world. There are still other schools in which basic accounting is given as the foundation for building professional accountants. The discussion has been divided into three parts based on the three types of schools as previously noted. First, accounting may be a part to complete the whole of a balanced curriculum. In this case, accounting should be highly integrated with other courses on the various fields of study. In a course of this type, emphasis might best be placed on the individual needs for some practical accounting knowledge to enable the student to live more successfully in a business, social, and economic community.

Abstract The article presents information on the report by the American Accounting Association (AAA) 1971-72 and 1972-72. Most of their data relate to the supply aspect. The authors also have collected data which can be used to evaluate the accuracy of the functions used by the AAA committee. Those who witnessed the brisk recruiting activity at the 1975 AAA National Convention in Tucson and heard from both recruiters and those being recruited that there continues to be a strong sellers' market might conclude that even the Optimistic series projection by the AAA committee was in error. This series predicted that annual supply would exceed annual new demand by the 1976-77 academic year. An important consideration which should not be ignored is that whenever a field or discipline goes through a period of short supply, a backlog of demand (the cumulative excess of demand over supply) will build up, and this takes some time to eliminate. If one were to accept the Optimistic series projection and were to assume a zero backlog at the end of the 1971-72 academic year (which is not very realistic in view of the short supply situation of the 1960's), there would be a backlog demand of 112 by the 1975-76 academic year.

Abstract Reviews the book "Cost Accounting Planning and Control," 5th ed., by Adolph Matz, Milton F. Usry and Othel J. Curry.