Abstract The article focuses on the national flow-of-funds analysis. The flow-of-funds accounts indicate whether the proceeds of a sector's saving were used for capital formation or for acquisition of financial assets, whether a sector's capital formation was financed by saving or by borrowing and they also depict the financial channels by which one sector's saving is made available to another for investment. In the flow-of-funds accounts, the economist casts a systematic body of statistics in an accounting framework utilizing such accounting tools as debit and credit and fund flow analysis and summarizes the results in accounting statements of sources and applications of funds. The appearance of "A Quarterly Presentation of flow of Funds, Saving and Investment" in 1959 and "Flow of Funds Seasonally Adjusted" in 1962 marked the third and fourth milestones respectively in the American development of the flow-of-funds system of national accounts. The 1959 version of the flow-of-funds accounts gave evidence of considerable reconstruction and came closer to conformity with the concepts of national income and product accounts. By way of contrast, the 1962 presentation did not introduce any major change in respect to basic concepts.

Reviews the book "The National Economic Accounts of the United States."

Reviews the book "Economic Accounting," by John P. Powelson.

Abstract The scheme of social accounts presented and discussed in this paper has made provision for subsistence and family production but has done so within the framework of a separate and segregated sub-sector. Likewise the same scheme of proposed accounts provides for the segregation and separate reporting of barter transactions. As a consequence of the above, provision is made for separate and segregated reporting of all items which have to be based on estimate and imputation and which consequently are subject to a considerable degree of possible error. This facilitates interpretation and evaluation. The remaining segments of an industrially backward economy should be subject to the same scheme of social accounting as that for the Western nations.

Abstract The article discusses some of the basic assumptions underlying social accounting. The basic idea is simply that the social accounting data must be scrutinized thoroughly before the results of social accounting can be interpreted properly. If this is not done and social accounting data are taken at their face value, they are apt to be misused and misinterpreted because of incomplete awareness of their underlying assumptions. In social accounting, as in private accounting, one must make some initial decisions. Social Accounting, that is, a system of accounts for a community, has three main functions: to provide a running, historical record of the community's economic operations; to measure the efficiency with which the community's economy operates; to provide a periodic inventory. The basic assumption concerning goals of economic activity can thus range from recognizing none except sheer increase of capacity as measured by population and capital to recognizing several so that the flow of several categories of products is taken at their gross value.

Reviews the book "Social Accounting Systems," by Moshe Yanovsky.

Abstract This article presents an accounting analysis of balance of payments. There are many problems in the field of accounting specifically, the application of the principles of double-entry and of debit and credit has been especially unsatisfactory. Moreover, accounting wise, there are many gaps; the treatment is incomplete. That is to say, there is need for someone to define carefully the accounting unit; provide an out-line of the applicable classification of accounts; discuss the similarities and contrasts between business accounting and balance-of-payments accounting and to emphasize the cautions needed in the interpretation of balance-of-payments statements. This paper is an attempt on the part of the authors-to correct the above shortcomings. In accordance with the U.S. Department of Commerce, a balance of payments is defined here as a statistical tabulation of economic transactions for a given period, between residents of one country and residents of the rest of the world.

Abstract The article presents information about teaching methods in accounting systems. Any student with normal intelligence and aptitude can comprehend the general topics of elementary and advanced accounting and their associated relationships. However, when the student advances to specialized accounting courses, such as cost accounting, accounting system design and installation and auditing, he often loses perspective and fails to grasp the associated relationships present in the specialized courses. Often a student is half way through a specialized course before these relationships comprising the complete course are unfurled in fairly clear fashion. If the student is confused on this matter in the classroom, then how much more confused is he going to be when he takes an accounting position in a going concern? While it is true that the student first of all must know the why of it in all accounting courses from an academic viewpoint, it is also equally true that he must know the how to do it when he obtains a position after graduation. This latter point is particularly true if the student is to make rapid advancement in his chosen work.