The sun., 1916-12-31

on every available occasion.
Promptly at II 80 O'Clock Prof. John
f.. Treleven tTexasC presented the fret
paper. This very appropriately out
lined the present status Of accounting
instruction In colleges and universities.
After commenting pom the rapid
growth OF accounting instruction In the
United States during the last decade he
classified the 154 degree granting insti-
tutions giving accounting instruction
which had answered his Questionaircs.
While II would be impossible to classify
these institutions on any very satisfac-
tory basis II was possible. however, to
group them in four sections. Eliminate
ny rs schools from which he received
insufficient data. Is which were Sec
sndary and 5 which give no accounting
instruction. the remaining 105 were class
sined as follows: Ftfty-One give pro-
fessional training for two full years /:
ii Civ training to the fundamentals Of
business not designed to prepare stu
dents for the professional practice Of
accounting: IS teach accounting be-
cause OF Its Connection with economies or
because OF Its general business applica-
ton and 8 teach accounting because
or Its application to some specialized
training given by the college, such. for
example. as engineering. These schools
were also classified geographically,
two-ifths OF them being in the northern
central States, three-tenths in the East
ern States; one-fifth in the Western
States and one-tenth in the Southern.
throughout the country city schoois pre-
dominate except In localities where the
school Is n part OF n state university
supported by public funds. Prof. Trelcven
commented upon the fact that the great
majority of students were securing "A
fundamental training for business rather
than n specialized training for profos-
sional practice and noted that very few
students took certified pubic accountant
examinations In the various States. lie
commented upon the lack Of correlation
with preparatory schools, which results
In much unnecessary duplication Of
instruction. There seems to be no uni
versity requiring bookkeeping as a pre-
liminary requisite for the study of ac-
counting.
This paper was received with much
interest by the members and was very
generally discussed. The most promi-
nent point Of the discussion was whether
or not schools should provide specialized
training to meet the need Of students In
their vicinity. 1t was generally agreed
that that was desirable. and Dean Nor
ton tOreEon) explained how In his in
stitution they were giving special courses
In lumber accounting. retail store ac-
counting and bank accounting, as dis
tnguished from banking practice or
courses in finance.
The atmosphere Of the afternoon ses-
sion may be characterized as one Of
rarehed intellectually raised To the nth
power. Prof. David Friday New York
University devoted one hour and five
minutes to giving a thirty miAute talk
on The Relation Of Accounting TO
economies" Al the Gloss Of the talk the
majority or those present were willing
to take Prof. Fridays word for IL. A
very lively discussion followed. which
was stimulated from time to time by
certain practical questions asked by
member with practical turns Of mind
until finally Dean Hotchkiss NORTH
westerly arose benignly and said that in
MS opinion accountants should not
worry too much about their fundamental
economic concepts but should strive 10
report facts as they found them and to
interpret them accurately. II they fol-
low that course. In his opinion. they
would contribute much to the field OF
economies. II seemed to be generally
admitted that advanced courses in value
and distribution would be rather beyond
the scope OF schools OF accounting, but
that elementary economics should Ger.
tainly be taught. Prof. Friday main
tanned, however. that a thorough course
In value and distribution was indispens-
able Tor the accountant, since II dealt
with prices and the accountants func-
ton was to state financial facts In auan-
titative terms and thus to r%ationalize
economic conduct.
frof. Friday called attention 10
the fact that there was no satisfactory
correlation In the schools between econ
omics and accounting. Sometimes econo-
mics ts required as n prerequisite for
the study OF accounting. but as far as
he knew In no school was an accounting
course a prerequisite to the study OF
economies. The nearest approach to that
was In those schools which do not per-
NIT freshmen TO study accounting. The
speaker did not read his paper, but
spoke without notes In a delightfully."- IN
formal and entertaining manner. He re-
buked accountants for permitting engi-
neers to absorb so much of the field OF
utility valuation, and he rebuked econo-
mists for their lack Of interest in nc.
counting. The authors OF accounting text
books were censurcd because they did
not incorporate In them enough economic
theory. but devoted too much attention
to the mere technique Of accounting.
Prof. John e. Duncan U'niver-
sity OF C~incinnatI) opened the discus-
sion OF Prof. Fridays paper by
calling attention to the fact that the field
or accounting was a broad one and that
The accountant was necessarily COM
PEELED to confne his attention To his W
field and TO call upon economists and
engineers for assistance. Prof. Mar
TIN j. Shugrue Massachusetts Institute
Of Technology, who was listed to axe
part in the discussion. was unable To b~
present. but he sent a paper which was
read by Dean Morton University Of
Oregon and was we'll received by tho
members. The discussion became very
general and was participated in by u
number Of economists who left their
own meeting to see what progress the
young association was making. Interest
In the discussion ran so high that 1t was
with some reluctance that the session
was brought to a close ut s o'clock.
In the evening after the reports of
committees Prof. Fayette H.. Eiwell
University Of wisconsin, presented a
paper on the problem OF standardizing
university courses In accounting. In this
paper Prof. Elwell made n strong
plea for Handardizing the names and
contents OF courses and the allowance OF
credits for work done IN other institu-
tions. II was interesting to learn from
his paper that the University OF Wis
consin is sometimes called upon to pro-
vide curricula for high schools and even
TO recommend instructors for them. He
suggested n tentative outline of account
ing courses, which. rs was to be eX-
pected. was thoroughly dissected by
those who partook In the discussion fol-
lowing the paper.
Prof. John Bauer Urinceton), who was
to have opened the discussion. was UNI