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The Accounting Review Vol. 32 No. 3 1957

"DEPRECIATION"-BETTER LEFT UNSAID.

Frank A. Singer

Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts. 1

Abstract

Beyond anything else, successful communication of fact and opinion is an essential for accountants. Nor is it likely that the attention of the profession is properly focused when it tries to refine a technical terminology so as to make it understandable to the nonspecialist. The layman requires, upon occasion, a personal interpretation of a special matter. The accountants and other specialists must be sure that their understanding of each other is such that all are able to give the layman his explanation. A recent study indicates that this understanding does not always exist. As an example the article considers how the term, depreciation, is used by accountants. In this study all issues of the periodicals, The Accounting Review, Journal of Accountancy, and Bulletin of the National Association of Cost Accountants from 1930 until October 15, 1954 were scrutinized for intended or implied definitions of many accounting terms, of which depreciation is one. Also examined were miscellaneous publications and all textbooks in accounting which were published currently on October 15, 1934.

DOI
10.2308/tar-7058097
Volume
32
Issue
3
Pages
406-412
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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