Evening star., 1942-05-18

Rureau of In ~
ternal Revenue. David Lawrence.
Not merely once yea1 must a
comprehensive financial statement
be filed. but regularly hereafter, not
later than one month after the close
OF each quarter. must detailed bal
ance sheets and profit and loss
statements be filled out in the man
ner specified.
The o. P. A. says that all this is
voluntary" but in the same sem
tence attention is called to a p.o-
vision Of the statute giving the
administrator power Ito issue regu-
lation or order requiring such in
formation"
While the Official order of the
o. P. A. says that the Information
Is required with respect to COM
panies engaged in manufacturing,
construction, mining and quarry
ing, and wholesale and retail trades"
there are indications that all man
ner OF businesses have received the
forms with the request that they
be filled out.
Enormous Bookkeeping Task.
It Is an immense bookkeeping task
and the small business will doubt
less have to spend not less tnan a
week at the end of each quarIer
preparing the data. Whether there
are enough bookkeepers and audi
tors in America to take care of this
Job in war time Is problematical.
The larger corporations are going
to have to add to their staffs If
auditors and accountants to fill out
the forms. Detailed analysis and
Interpretation of significant changes
In the operation of q business must
accompany the financial statements.
Why are all these financial re-
ports required? No explanation ex-
cept in the most general terms has
been given, namely, that the ma
terial Is needed to assist the admin
istrator In fixing prices. There are
rumors that q number Of chiseling
individuals have comouf1aged their
costs In appealing for price orders.
It Is said, too, that the o. P. A. be-
Aeves it cannot tell what Is fair
price unless 1t knows what Is going
on inside competing businesses.
While the information will be
kept confidential If business so
requests, attention is called by the
administrator to the fact that even
so. Congress authorized him to use
his own judgment If the withhold
ing of the information appears to
him to be contrary to the interest
Of national defense and security"
Thus. there would appear to be
no reason why the administrator
cannot hand over to the War Labor
Board any data 1t asks for in con-
nection with wage sterilization
and particularly in allowing wage
increases to bring wage scales up
above "substandard" levels. Since
the c. I. o. and A. F. L. are mem
bers Of the board they could con-
ceivably have access to valuable
statistics for bargaining purposes
Detailed Information Asked.
It Is ironical that at time when
the A. r. L. and c. I. o. are sue
cessfully lobbying In Congress to
prevent the passage Of a bill re-
quiring labor unions to disclose
only the most general Of financial
data about their billion dollar in
take, the businesses OF America,
large and small, wholesale and re-
tail, are compelled to submit the
most minute financial data every
three months.
The o. P. A. forms ask not merely
for cost figures, but for the names
Of all executives getting certain
salaries, and the names of all stock
holders owning more than 10 per
cent Of any company who are en-
gagged in the management. Like
wise. detailed information is re-
quested by the o. P. A. on every
item Of importance In the capital
structure, the wage structure. The
production and distribution setup,
In fact, on all manner of expendi-
lures, irrespective Of whether they
are related to production itself.
It would appear that the in
formation could be used to regulate
profits as well as prices. 1t is pos
sible that all this may be needed
to win the war, but 1t is also pos
sible that the making of these re-
ports and the use made Of the in
formation may depress business
morale Much depends on the dis
cretion applied by the o. P. A. in
utilizing the data. Certainly the
latest developments indicate that
the o. P. A. Is about to excel in size
ANYTHING the N. r. A. ever grew
to be and perhaps may prove much
more inquisitive so far as business
Is concerned than the Internal
Revenue Bureau, Federal Trade
Commission, Securities and Ex-
change Commission or any of the
other trade agencies which hitherto
have asked for reports from Ameri-
can businesses.
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