One who speaks with authority has said that no one should be allowed to write about writer William Shakespeare without a license. The author says he would be tempted to go further than that and omit the last three words. But perhaps a professional accountant has the right to inquire whether Shakespeare wrote about accounting. The word audit is used several times in the plays and sonnets. There is an interesting use of the word also by Anthony Browne, a contemporary writer of Shakespeare. He succeeded to his estates at an early age and when he was twenty-one wrote a book titled "Booke of Orders and Rules" for the guidance of his many servants and retainers which he ordered read aloud to them once each year about the audit time. The state of accounting records in the sixteenth century can safely be said to have been crude, for lack of a stronger term. That Shakespeare came into contact with them can hardly be doubted. His long career in London found him able to retire to Stratford at a comparatively early age with a fortune that at the time was considered large. He had been a member of a company of actors and was the leading and probably the most prosperous group of the period.

This article focuses on education for public accounting on the collegiate level. There is little opportunity ordinarily for comparing an accountant to an apple dumpling or to a can of tomatoes, but it can be said without hesitation that in either case the quality of the raw material can have a great effect on the finished product. In the case of the accountant, however, there are some qualities which are very difficult to detect or evaluate by casual observation, and which are nearly impossible to create if they are not present in the undeveloped material. Either an institution or an individual in outlining plans for offering or receiving an education for public accounting should think of the objectives of the educational processes. The objectives can be assembled after one has given much thought to the types of duties and contacts of the accountant in his professional world from day to day. In literature, sciences, and some of the social sciences, however, the accountant will find it necessary to renew his acquaintance with some phases thereof from time to time in order to feel at home in a discussion that might arise in some of his numerous contacts.

This article presents questions on accounting which were prepared by the Board of Examiners of the American Institute of Accountants. These questions were presented as the first half of the certified public accountant examination in accounting practice on November 7, 1943. Time limit and rating of each question is also given. In the first question, from the information given, examiners had to prepare income statements on the accrual basis for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1944, and for the seven months ended August 31, 1944. The second question asked the examiners to prepare working sheet showing balances of accounts of Municipal Garage Revolving Fund of Rhodes City as at February 28, 1945. The third question read that Johnson Meat Packing Co. desired to study its distribution costs which in the aggregate constitute 65% of the total cost of doing business. From the information given in the question, examiners had to prepare an exhibit showing the allocation of total distribution cost per hundredweight of meat products for each size-class of order. The article also provides solutions to these problems.

From the point of view of the methods of exchange, there were three main stages of economic development the prehistorical or early medieval stage of natural economy, where goods were exchanged against other goods; the later medieval stage of cash money economy, where goods were bought for ready money; and the modern stage of credit economy, where commercial exchange was based on credit. If credit has played its important role for so long, then surely the history of book-keeping should supply further evidence on the point. Credit without written reckoning is almost impossible; the first and most fundamental reason for keeping accounts is to aid in remembering what one has trusted to their debtors. Early bookkeeping records fall into two groups, namely, the accounts themselves, and textbooks on accounting. A bad monetary system was still no unusual thing-even England did not put her coinage onto a moderately sound basis until 1696. But the plight of the New England colonies was exceptional. Nominally, their money consisted of pounds, shillings, and pence, each of these units being (in Massachusetts) worth about three-quarters of its British namesake.

Modern internal auditing has been developed to provide the protection management needs, in the same sense that external auditing (public accounting) has developed to provide the protection investors need. Internal auditing is not new. Internal auditing staffs were maintained by a considerable number of concerns prior to 1900. Internal auditing functions have been carried on in one way or another down through the ages. Modern management is finding that modern internal auditing is not just a means of checking up on the petty cash funds and payroll bank accounts to see that the system of internal control of cash and receivables and merchandise is functioning. It is finding that the techniques of auditing, verification by test check, physical inspection, record analysis, and common sense appraisal in the light of the facts developed afford a means of doing something more than keeping the cashier honest. It is finding that sales managers, branch managers, and construction engineers, being human, all give a better performance and give more factual report.

This article presents several problems prepared by the Board of Examiners of the American Institute of Accountants in the U.S. and were presented as the second half of the Certified Public Accountants examination in accounting practice in May, 1946. The candidates were required to solve both problems. The weights assigned against each problems were specified. The time allowed was four and a half hours. A suggested time schedule was also provided. One of the questions is related to the preparation of a corrected balance-sheet of the Acme Trading Company as at December 31, 1944. Another question is related to taxable net income of Mart Co. Inc. for purposes of the 1945 corporation income tax return in the U.S. Mart Co. Inc. is a dealer in personal property and, for purposes of the U.S. income tax, reports gross profit on sales on the installment basis. Accordingly, gross profit realized and reportable each year is X dollars Worthless accounts are deducted in the year of default, a provision to a reserve for bad debts may not be deducted. With respect to repossessions, a deduction may be taken to the extent of the excess of the unrecovered cost over the salvage value of the repossessed merchandise.

The following problems were prepared by the Board of Examiners of the American Institute of Accountants and were presented as the second half of the Certified Public Accountant (CPA)examination in accounting practice on November 8, 1945. One of the questions asked was to prepare a consolidated balance-sheet of Holding Co. and its wholly-owned subsidiary as at July 31, 1944. The response to this began as; on June 30, 1944, A &Co;, partnership (profits and losses shared equally), and X Corp. consummated a consolidation agreement pursuant to the terms of which Consolidated Co., newly organized and incorporated with an authorized capital of 20,000 shares of $100 par value common stock, acquired for its common stock issued in the amount of $950,000 to A &Co; and $550,000 to X Corp. certain net assets of the companies. A &Co; All net assets (including buildings at an appraised sound value of $1,100,000), excluding notes payable X Corp. All net assets excluding buildings. The article includes the balance sheet as response to the question.

This article presents accounting problems which were prepared by the Board of Examiners of the American Institute of Accountants and were presented as the first half of the Certified Public Accountants examination in accounting practice on May 15, 1946. It gives an information and asks to prepare an income statement showing therein appropriate manufacturing cost variances of Bunson Co., for January, 1946, supported by journal entries of transactions for the month. The Bunson Co. makes unit M. The manufacturing of unit M is based on three successive and continuous operations in which the manufacturing cost of such unit is developed. The Eunson Co., operates a cost accounting system based on standard costs which are incorporated in the manufacturing cost accounts. The differences between standard costs and actual costs are reflected in appropriate variance accounts, namely, material price, material usage, direct labor rate, direct labor time, and over-all manufacturing overhead. The material price variance is assumed to be realized at the time of purchase, irrespective of time of usage.

Reviews the book "Taxable Income," by Roswell Magill.