Reviews the book "Inventories--A Guide To Their Control, Costing and Effect Upon Income Taxes," by Raymond A. Hoffman.

Abstract The further a man goes in accounting, whether public or private, the more his technical knowledge as an accountant merges into and, at times, become an almost indistinguishable part of his knowledge and ability as a businessman or a businessman's consultant. But the qualified professional today can not be merely a technician. He must also be an educated man in the true sense of the word. The formal accounting education courses, i.e. a curriculum at the college level leading to a bachelor's degree with a major in accounting, are intended to qualify the graduate for entrance into the beginning levels of his profession as an accountant. The author opines that formal education in accounting should not be regarded as an end in itself but rather as a quicker and more efficient means of acquiring necessary knowledge. He references the Ford and Carnegie reports and attempts to answer--How great a cost in terms of time and effort can a young man afford to spend in formal education and how much should be left to be obtained through self-education and experience? He also attempts to explore the parts of the desired level of general and technical education that can best and most efficiently be handled formally and the parts, that are more efficiently left to self-education or to experience and on-the-job training?

Abstract There can be no doubt that administrative agencies have been a significant influence in the development of the accounting concept during most of the last half century. To the very considerable extent that they have enforced recognition of the interests of unorganized or inarticulate groups, and have accelerated progress in accounting thinking their influence can only be regarded as beneficial and their continued existence desirable. To the extent that they have curtailed freedom of thought in accounting matters or have kept accounting in outdated molds or have required observance of principles well suited for limited purposes but ill-suited for most uses, their influence must be regarded as hurtful. On balance, it seems probable that accounting thought and practice has progressed farther and faster under the stimulus of such agencies than it would otherwise have done.

Abstract The article focuses on recent developments in accounting. The present age is an age of transition. Economic conditions prevalent in this transition period have been such as bring about a very large number of new registrations. In many cases, companies are taking advantage of current low interest and dividend rates to refinance their bond issues or to replace high-dividend preferred. Many more are seeking new capital for the first time, or at least for the first time in many years. In still other cases, the owners of closely-held businesses are seeking to sell part or all of their holdings to the public. In these last two groups are a great many small or medium-sized concerns in which there has never before been any major investment by the general public. Since a large percentage of the day-to-day accounting problems currently concern this type of case some typical accounting questions which such cases present can be outlined. In addition to their own special problems, the mine-run of such cases will include illustrations of nearly all of the major accounting problems arising in any of the accounting work.

Abstract The article presents information about current deficiencies in financial statements. One of the principal functions of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to make available to investors reasonably complete and accurate information about the business affairs of issuers whose securities are listed on national securities exchanges and issuer whose securities are publicly offered for sale in interstate commerce or through the mails. To this end, the Securities Act requires such issuers to file with the commission reports that are designed to furnish some of the basic information needed in appraising these securities. The Commission's examination of these filings culminates either in their becoming effective without amendment or in the issuance of a memorandum which will either cite deficiencies to be corrected by amendment of the instant filing, or note suggestions to be observed in the preparation of future filings. Failure to correct deficiencies cited may result in stop-order or delisting proceedings.

Abstract This article aims to select from the everyday business of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission some frequently recurring situations not as yet controlled by well-defined accounting principles. A very simple example of the problem is the case of a recovery of bad debts and balances in closed banks written off at the date of the reorganization. The registrant had credited these items to earned surplus and profit and loss while our examiners of the statements felt that the credits should have been to capital surplus. A much more important case involving several problems was that of a large investment company holding substantial blocks of stock of several companies. This company restated its capital and wrote down the values of its securities to market, first eliminating earned surplus and charging the balance partly to capital surplus and partly to reserve for investments which had been created from capital surplus. If investments representing control are held by the reorganized company, a question is raised as to the proper treatment of the surplus of the subsidiaries existing at the date of the quasi-reorganization.