The omnipotence of historical costs in financial accounting is traditional. Traditions tend to be unyielding and revered; they cannot and should not be overturned lightly. Inroads, however, have already become well established. To the extent that accounting for the historical costs of current assets is presumed to embrace the attributes of relevance, objectivity, and inviolability, it is treacherous as well as traditional. If the primary goal of financial accounting is objectivity in the meaningful measurement of income and financial position, historical costs must give way to current market values and replacement costs. In the vast majority of situations such measurements are objectively feasible. Their use could go far in eliminating the manipulative aspects and inconsistencies in financial statements and in restoring their economic relevance. The inadequacy of historical cost information becomes less obvious to the outsider and the discrepancies between accountants' measurements and current exchange prices become less directly observable by the outsider, accountants' defenses seem to stiffen and conservatism and realization and historical costs are embraced as being of paramount importance.

One of the most popular laws of learning is that the learner's active participation is essential. This is reflected in the growing tendency in education to downgrade the lecture method, the formal discourse in favor of some type of discussion method. In accounting classes, the discussion method usually entails the use of problems or cases as the principal materials for engendering student participation. Although most accounting teachers will maintain that they basically use the discussion method, day-to-day classroom pressures tend to dull its application. Fortunately, the teacher usually knows a great deal more about the subject matter than the student. To sum up, perhaps one should conceive of participation as being of the mind rather than of the mouth. It is somewhat like enjoying a joke. Some people will laugh uproariously at almost any story that is remotely funny. It is recognized that the brilliant, enthusiastic teacher achieves his objectives regardless of the teaching method he uses. On the other hand, the mediocre, uninspired teacher finds that no teaching method can make up for his deficiencies. Still, it seems obvious that periodic, open-minded appraisals of the potential of various teaching methods are very likely to enhance teaching skills. If nothing else, they serve as examinations of conscience.

The article presents information on a theory examination of accounts. The theory of accounts part of the May, 1963, Uniform Certified Public Accountants Examination was given on May 17, 1963 from 1:30 to 5:00 P.M. Suggested time allotments were as follows: twenty-five to thirty-five minutes for problem 1, twenty to twenty-five minutes for problem 2, twenty-five to thirty minutes for problem 3, twenty-five to thirty minutes for problem 4, twenty-five to thirty minutes for problem 5, twenty-five to thirty minutes for problem 6, twenty-five to thirty minutes for problem 7. Blacken the appropriate space on the separate answer sheet for each of the following items. Only electrographic pencil should be used for marking this answer sheet and only one answer should be selected which best states a logical conclusion based on the facts stated. Blacken the appropriate space on the separate answer sheet to indicate whether the statements is true or false. The grades on the true-false questions will be determined by deducting the total number of incorrect answers from the total of correct answers; if an answer is omitted it will not affect either total.

The theory of accounts portion of the November 1962, Uniform CPA Examination was given Friday, November 9. All questions were required to be solved by the candidates. A detailed note on all the questions and their respective answers is mentioned in the article. Suggested time allotments of all the questions were as follows: Problem 1, 25 to 30 minutes; Problem 2, 20 to 25 minutes; Problem 3, 20 to 25 minutes; Problem 4, 25 to 30 minutes; Problem 5, 25 to 35 minutes; Problem 6, 25 to 35 minutes; Problem 7, 25 to 30 minutes.