IN THIS PAPER we consider procedures for going from several individual preferences among several alternatives, called candidates, to something which may be called a collective preference. The individual preferences take the form of (total) orderings of the alternatives, and the collective preference is to take the form of a (total) weak ordering (i.e., ties allowed). We consider certain properties which seem desirable in such and investigate which have these properties. The of view taken here differs from that of other work in this area (e.g., [1, 2, 3, 4]) chiefly in asking that the procedure work for all possible sizes of the voting population, rather than for a fixed population, given in advance. This permits us to require, for example, that if each of two bodies of voters prefers candidate A to candidate B under a given procedure, then the combination of these bodies should prefer A to B under the same procedure. In Section 1 we give the formal definitions of an aggregation procedure and discuss certain desirable features, namely neutrality (treats candidates symmetrically), (the condition mentioned above), monotonicity, and an Archimedean property which says, roughly, that a sufficiently large body with a given distribution of preferences can impose its will on any body of fixed size. In Section 2 we introduce certain procedures: point systems and systems (roughly, allowing infinitesimal points), which are neutral and separable. They are monotonic if and only if the points are arranged in the natural order, and the are, in addition, Archimedean. In Section 3 we prove a converse, namely that any neutral and separable procedure can be realized by a generalized system and, if it is Archimedean, by a system. This part requires some familiarity with the notions of least upper bound of a set of real numbers and bases of vector spaces. In Section 4 (which is largely independent of Section 3), we consider point which use in a succession of eliminations. Such are neither separable nor monotonic but do satisfy some very weak separability and monotonicity conditions. While these probably do not characterize runoff systems, we know of no other satisfying them.

The proposed course constitutes an introduction to the discipline of accounting as a whole, and has a concentration in financial accounting (meetings 6–24 and 26–32). All parts contain conceptual, mechanical, analytical (quantitative and qualitative) and evaluative emphases, and the course is also somewhat issue oriented. Coverage of social and management segmentations in addition to financial accounting, serves the purpose of introducing the student to the whole discipline. Coverage of financial accounting is not as intensive nor extensive as some aspects of the traditional introductory course, but includes an evaluative dimension in the form of various valuation methods, as well as coverage of the final stage in the communication process (attest function). This specific coverage taken together with the different manner in which all aspects of the financial accounting function are introduced, provides an appropriate perspective of the financial accounting segmentation.

This article presents information on the results of a survey which reflects the views of practicing auditors on the issue of appropriate content for a second course in auditing at the university level. The results of the survey constitute some thoughts on an appropriate direction for auditing and professional education at the graduate level. A questionnaire was sent in batches to participating coordinators in 19 offices representing 16 different CPA firms in Texas. These coordinators distributed the instrument randomly to their respective audit staff personnel. In the analyses of responses which follow the mean importance response was used to rank the topics in order of descending importance, educators may thus be able to compare their judgments with the opinions of practitioners. The mean time assignments for each topic may give educators a starting point for design of the desired auditing course. For purposes of this study, the desired course was viewed as being a part of the fifth year of accounting study by reason of its coverage of material beyond the introductory theory and elementary principles of auditing.

Presents a reply to a comments made on the article "The Need for and Scope of the Audit of Management: A Survey of Attitudes," which was published in the April 1972 issue of the journal "The Accounting Review." Lack of understanding on the objective of the survey; Difficulty in implementing an audit of management; Involvement of a subjective judgment in any internal control evaluation.