The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-05-25
BrownF Failed to Report Irregular Payment to Purcell
State Witness, Brown, GiDes
 Reluctant Answers Today

|sO AO~~I 1 A. I have. Q. Do you want that to stand as your answer? A. Yes.
 o. Then you didn't make any au- dits of any municipalities in this state.
 A. That isn't true. One Department o. When did you audit the public welfare department of Hartford? A. 1892.
 Q. That was five-year audit? A. Yes.
 Q. You confined your audit, did | you, to that one department?
 A. That was my engagement.
 Q. What was the nature of that audit?
 A. A complete investigation of all the affairs of the department. Q. Did you say it was an in- vestigation? A. A complete investigation.
 Q. A complete investigation? A. Yes, and it went further than an audit. Q. And an investigation does go further than an audit?
 A. Quite frequently it does.
 Q. Quite frequently?
 A. Yes.
 o. Does 1t always?
 A. Sometimes it might not con- tain audit.
 o. This work that you did in Hartford was an investigation as differing from an audit? A. It was termed an investigation
 o. And it was confined to one department? l A. That's right.
 o. And was that investigation one of a statistical nature?
 A. No.
 Q. Will you distinguish for me the difference between an account ant and an auditor? | A. That is pretty difficult ques- tion to answer.
 Q. Just try to answer the best you can. I am not trying to con- fuse you. | There's A Difference | A. I don't think you are.
 @. just want you to tell me the difference between an auditor and an accountant.
 A. Well, there is a difference, of course. The difference is probably somewhat slight and in the minds of most people there isn't probably a great difference but the differenti- ation possibly is that an auditor is one who checks figures. An account ant is one who cannot only check those figures, but can also do work of constructive character.
 o. In your various employments that you referred to, did you ever work as an apprentice in a law office?
 A. No. Q. Did you ever go to a law school?
 A. No.
 @. You have no legal training, have you?
 A. None whatever.
 o. You're familiar with the fact aren't you, MT. Brown, that muni- cipal accounting or municipal audit ing is specialized field of account ing?
 A. It might be to certain ex- tent, but in accounting, no.
 o. Do you know that some states recognize that it is a specialized field of accounting to the extent that not even c. P. A. can make municipal audits.
 A. I think New Jersey has such rule.
 o. Do you know that special ex- aminations are given for men who make municipal audits?
 A. No. o. Would you say that an &C., countant or an auditor who is used to making regular routine commer- cial audits would have no difficulty in making municipal audit-that he would find nothing difficult?
 A. I don't think he would have any great amount of difficulty. It might be considered as a specialized field but I don't feel that 1t is so entirely specialized or so entirely difficult that anyone might not be able to do it.
 Further on:
 o. Let's assume that you were qualified to evaluate legal service because of some training or experi- ence you had. You are now making an audit of a municipality and you saw lawyer received a payment of $10,000, which you considered was excessive-in your opinion it was excessive. Would you be so pre- sumptious as to criticize that pay ment in your audit report?
 A. I would, yes, sir.
 o. Is it correct to say that an accountants duties are measured by the circumstances surrounding each engagement?
 A. To a certain extent, possibly yes.
 0. Are you and I agreed on prin- ciples of accounting as certified public accountants? | In Doubt
 A. I don't know whether I agreed on anything.
 o. You and I studied the prin- ciples of accounting; therefore we might apply the principles different ly.
 ALCCRN: How does the witness know if the gentleman from New Jersey studied accounting, if I may submit?
 SEAMAN: I'll tell him that I did.
 (The last remark was stricken out by Judge Inglis.)
 o. Assuming that you studied principles of accounting and I studied principles of accounting, isn't it probable and isn't it true that we might both apply those principles differently?
 A. I assume that is possible, yes.
 Q. Even though we applied it