Abstract This article presents views of the author on various activities carried by the American Accounting Association in the year 1953. According to the author this has been an active year for the American Accounting Association. It has gone forward on many fronts to meet not only the objectives set out for ourselves but the responsibilities which it must assume. The work of the Association this year has been based upon the recognition that accounting education with all of its ramifications is the primary task of our group. As steps toward accomplishing this purpose it has reorganized the committee structure, expanded accounting research efforts and increased attention to Association publications. Association activities have been carried on by many members. The activities of the association in the past few years expose problems for the future course of the Association and in doing so they reveal some of the challenges of the future. The Association must be a vital force of leadership in developing and integrating accounting education and research within the widening responsibilities of the accounting profession.

Abstract The Harvard Business School and the case method are so commonly associated, that anyone teaching at Harvard should be considered, per se, an expert in the case methods, according to the author. In this article the author describes various aspects of teaching of accounting by the use of case methods. Most proponents of the case method refer to its complete opposite as the lecture method, in which the instructor occupies the center of the stage and sets forth his views as if from on high. The case method of teaching, of course, uses a case as its teaching vehicle and a case has been defined as a written exposition of one or more business problems. Case method teaching techniques do vary widely from the lecturer to the devotee of the non-directional method who acts mainly as a moderator never expressing an opinion. These techniques vary due to the differing personalities and abilities of the instructor as well as with differing course objectives and data. Probably all forms of teaching have as their objectives the imparting of a fund of knowledge and a development of the personal skills and abilities of students to utilize this fund of knowledge.

Abstract The present Standards Rating Committee of American Accounting Association was appointed in 1949 for a period of five years upon the authorization of the Executive Committee of the Association Committee. The present committee was officially constituted and began functioning on January 1, 1949. Meetings of the committee have been held at intervals throughout the last five years. After extended discussion and rewriting over a period of two years this committee published an interim report in the January 1951, issue of Accounting Review. Full publicity was given to this interim report; suggestions, comments, and criticisms were solicited. Several members of the Association and other interested persons responded to the invitation. This committee appreciates the excellent suggestions made by correspondents. Their recommendations have been reviewed carefully along with the further thinking of the committee members themselves. After further weighing for about a year the problems confronting the committee, it was decided in early 1953 to prepare a final report in order to bring its current activities to a conclusion. Following this decision the committee has quite actively pursued its objectives and the present report represents the culmination of its efforts for the past five years.