Abstract The article discusses the differences between the profession of accounting and the profession of accountancy. It lists the definitions of the terms which brings one to the conclusion that there is no profession of accountancy but there is a profession of accounting, namely public accounting. The article suggests that a profession should exist if practitioners are to receive full professional recognition and status. It defines the profession of accounting, a controller's obligation to judge, measure and disclose which extends through the internal and external fibre of the organization. It discusses the question of whether a controller can obtain true professional status and enumerates the four specific requisites against which the professional status of a controller can be measured, which are, special training for a degree distinct from the usual degrees in Arts and Science, principally mental rather than manual or artistic skill, recognizing the duty of public service and the compliance to a code of ethics for controllership.

Abstract This article focuses on federal income tax practice in the uniform certified public accounting (CPA) examination. The uniform CPA examination has had a major role in establishing and maintaining today's high standards. The purpose of the examination is to determine the technical qualifications of young men and women to enter the field of public accounting. If the uniform examination is analyzed through the years, the development of a dynamic profession will unfold through the evaluation of the technical information required of candidates. There are many interesting relation- ships connected with the rapid expansion of accountancy as a profession. One of the more interesting is to note that the expansion of the profession occurred in the period when Federal income taxes were influencing an increasing number of business decisions and claiming a substantial portion of business profit. The CPA is a qualified tax practitioner to the public, and no distinction is made between the tax specialist and the general practitioner. Professionally, this is probably an ideal situation, however, as in the case of accountants and attorneys alike, it could have its disadvantages if all practitioners were not qualified in income tax matters or were not aware of their own limitations and responsibilities.

Reviews the book, "Systems and Procedures: A Handbook for Business and Industry," edited by Victor Lazzaro.

Abstract This article discusses the concept of internal control in auditing. The basic purposes of internal control are to bring reliability into the financial information system and to safeguard assets. The true nature of internal control can be identified and observed in the setting of the financial information system. It is generally accepted that a financial information system can exist with little or no internal control. Nevertheless, it is often stated that the financial information system can be strengthened by the addition of internal control. What must be done to strengthen a system in a situation in which internal control has not previously existed? The strengthening of a system is the direct result of adding internal control duties. Internal control duties are prescribed to safeguard assets and to make the system more reliable. Such duties reduce the opportunities for people to make errors or to perpetrate various types of fraud and other improper actions. Internal control duties are necessary because of the mental, moral, and physical weaknesses inherent in people.

Abstract Reviews the book "Lasser's Business Tax Handbook," by J. K. Lasser.

Abstract The Committee on Long Range Planning and the Executive Committee have substantial data not previously available to assist in fulfilling their responsibility to the membership. Special thanks are extended to the hundreds of members who assisted by sending in a completed questionnaire.

Abstract The article presents information about the report of the 1959 Committee on Management Accounting. The 1959 Committee has directed its efforts toward an amplification of this view of the nature and significance of management accounting by stating in more definite terms the functions to be performed by accounting in a business entity organized for profit, and by a listing of the major problem areas in which management accounting is of prime importance. The role of management accounting is to provide the management of a business with analyses and evaluations to assist in the fulfillment of this basic responsibility for effectively planning and controlling profits and investments. It is a service which is oriented toward the evaluation of the financial soundness of the future operating plans and programs of the enterprise and the anticipated profit consequences of alternative courses of action. The Committee believes that a significant need exists for a better and more general awareness of the proper role of management accounting in a well-managed business.

Abstract The article presents information on the report of the Committee on Courses and curricula-General of American Accounting Association. The Committee's task, briefly, was to develop a comprehensive body of liberal arts and general business knowledge to include in an accounting major's college curriculum. The Committee believes that the development of a professional accountant should be viewed as an amalgam of formal and informal education in which college education plays only one important part. The prime objective of the accounting major's college education is not to train him for a specific job or even to train him for his chosen career, but rather to create a capacity within him for gradual development in the years which lie ahead as he faces the challenges of his profession. Thus, the development of abilities to reason, to communicate, to organize and act when confronted by various business situations become important considerations in structuring knowledge for an accounting curriculum. The conclusions reached in this report are obviously of a subjective nature rather than being based on empirical evidence. They may be colored by personal opinions and biases. Yet, these conclusions have run the gauntlet of approval by an eight-man committee constituted, as the reader may see, of a wide variety of experiences and interests.