Abstract Price changes have long been recognized in both accounting and economic literature as being a serious problem. One widely advocated solution has been general price-level accounting. This article reports the results of applying general price-level accounting techniques, as set forth in the FASB's December 1974 exposure draft, for each of 1,050 U.S. companies for each of 3 recent years. Summary income statements and balance sheets were developed for each company by using (1) data from the Compustat annual industrial files; (2) changes in the general price level as measured by the GNP Deflator Index; and (3) self-constructed computer programs intended to produce approximations of amounts which would have been reported had the firms been applying the FASB-proposed restatement techniques. Summaries of the approximated price level data and ratios based thereon form the empirical finding of the study which provides an overview of what the impact would have been for more than a thousand companies had the FASB's proposal already been in effect. In summary, that impact varied greatly among individual firms and industry groups.

Abstract This article presents a commentary in response to a critical note by Bart P. Hartman and H.C. Zaunbrecher, published in this issue, about the author's article on the comparability and objectivity of exit value accounting. The author appreciates the effort by Hartman and Zaunbrecher to observe several imperfections in the experimental design of the study illustrated in the said article. Hartman and Zaunbrecher suggest several alternative procedures which might have further validated the study's findings. The author clarifies that the entire discussion of the critical note was concerned with limitations in experimental design concerns only three issues, two of which were stated explicitly in the original article. The first criticism concerns the fact that all exit values were based upon a single asset, while book values relate to twenty-six different assets. The second criticism is that all the dealers were located in a limited geographical area, while book values were obtained from owners dispersed through out the United States. The third criticism concerns the manner in which surrogate exit value measures were derived.

Abstract This article assesses the relative comparability and objectivity of an exit value system in comparison with financial accounting practice. Assessments of relative comparability and objectivity of various market-based valuation systems, in comparison with traditional accounting practice, are needed for the following reasons. First, alternative valuation systems have received considerable attention by academic accountants in the past decade. Scanning the past ten years' issues of this journal revealed 54 articles concerning some aspect of an "unorthodox" accounting valuation system. Second, these alternative accounting valuation systems are receiving increasing attention from the nonacademic portion of the profession, as in the Financial Executive Institute study on Current Value Accounting. Finally, systematic efforts in evaluating alternative valuation systems with respect to either comparability or objectivity are extremely limited. The approach was to apply operational definitions of comparability and objectivity to both book values and market values of a single business asset.

Abstract In this article the authors solicited responses of questions relating to dissertation experiences of individuals who were awarded a doctoral degree with a major or emphasis in accounting during the period of September 1, 1965 to August 31, 1970. Questionnaires were distributed to 397 Ph.D. or DBA recipients from forty-four universities of which 297 (75%) of the questionnaires were returned. The first step in compiling the list of doctoral degree recipients to whom questionnaires were mailed was to identify those universities in the United States which offered accounting doctoral programs during the period of September 1, 1965 to August 31, 1970. This was done primarily by combining the lists of such universities reported by authors William F. Crum and Ralph W. Estes. Sixty-one universities were thereby identified as possible grantors of doctoral degrees in accounting. Of the sixty-one universities asked to provide names of degree recipients, forty-five did so, ten replied that they had granted no such degrees, and six failed to reply.

Abstract Reviews the book "Accounting in Perspective: Contributions to Accounting Thought by Other Disciplines," edited by Robert R. Sterling and William F. Bentz.