utterly ignorant system-rather say lack of system-prevails in this country peopled by what we complacently regard as the most practical business men in the world? Students of public finance have long called our attention to the lack of system and coherency in raising our national revenues and disbursing them for national expenses. Time and again there have been disputes and quarrels over treasury statements of balances. There has been no lack of trained and expert supervision; it is an acknowledged fact that every cent expended by the national treasurer has been accounted for from the founding of the republic. Yet it is impossible for a citizen to obtain a plain and intelligible statement at any time of what Uncle Sam owes, what he has in cash, what is owing to him. The climax has been reached in this year of grace 1917 when on the adjournment of congress estimates as to the amounts which congress has appropriated for the coming fiscal year differ as widely as ten billion dollars!

It is high time that all patriotic Americans irrespective of party affiliations should unite in a demand that congress adopt what even Japan, the youngest of modern nations, has-a national budget system. The cause should appeal particularly to public accountants for obvious reasons. It is not sufficient, however, to base our plea on the mere point of correct and scientific accounting-the average man, much less the average legislator, has little interest in our point of view. The question must be discussed on the broader plane of public economics and administrative efficiency.

In a handy little volume of some 150 pages Mr. Collins presents a succinct statement of what a national budget is, illustrated by the systems in use in more enlightened countries. He also tells us of the hap-hazard manner in which the United States makes appropriations and raises revenues. Finally, he indicates how a true national budget system can be adopted under our constitution if congressmen can be persuaded or forced to take a national, not a local, view of the country's finances. Under a proper budget system "log-rolling" and the "pork-barrel" would be speedily relegated to the world's museum of barbaric relics. There is not a word in the book that cannot be easily understood by the plain business man, the man who has the vote. It is the patriotic duty of every public accountant to arm himself with this little book, and prepare himself to "talk budget" in season and out of season. W. H. L.

ACCOUNTING THEORY AND PRACTICE. A First Year Text; by ROY B. KESTER, M.A., B.C.S., C.P.A. The Ronald Press Company, New York.

As the title implies, and as further stated in the preface, this book by Roy B. Kester, who is an instructor in the school of business, Columbia university, is a text-book for first-year students, and presumably is based on his course of instruction. Owing to the author's radical departure from the traditional methods of teaching accounting it will undoubtedly attract much interest and comment from teaching accountants

generally. The fate of Columbia graduates who may take the American Institute of Accountants' examinations in future will be carefully observed, for while it may be easy to approve or condemn Mr. Kester's method on general principles its success or failure will depend entirely on his students' ability to pass. The orthodox method of teaching in business schools and colleges is to start the pupil with the simplest forms of business transactions, teaching him how to record cash receipts and disbursements, etc., and carrying him step by step through the journal and ledger up to the final profit and loss statement and the balance-sheet. In a word the student is taught through fictitious transactions in exactly the same way as a young man is trained through real transactions in a business office. The only difference is that the student has the opportunity to get some idea of various forms of business while the apprentice is confined strictly to the particular line in which he is working. Mr. Kester's method is best explained in his own words in his preface:

"The method of approach as given in this volume is perhaps not orthodox, but it has seemed that the student, given an understanding of the purpose which the accounting records are to serve, will be able to make that record with real intelligence instead of by rule of thumb. Accordingly, the balance-sheet and the profit and loss statement are presented first, as the goal towards which all record-keeping looks. The student is taught to analyze business facts and conditions from the very beginning. He is then led, step by step, through the use of non-technical terms, into the ledger, where he sees the way in which the data which he has been using are summarized. The books of original entry are next explained and the method by which the information is classified as it is brought on to the books. Finally, the business papers and documents which constitute the source of all entries are described."

Accordingly, after a preliminary chapter on the history of accounting which will prove interesting to many of us who are not students, the book proceeds along the lines as indicated above for about half its length The rest of it is devoted to more detailed study and illustration of the general principles already enunciated. At the end of each chapter problems are given the student to work out that he himself may learn to apply the theory covered before. An appendix contains review questions for each chapter, and another a set of problems which will have a familiar appearance to those who have taken accountancy examinations. It is easy to see from an inspection of all the problems and review questions that the Columbia student will have had a thorough drill to prepare him for examination.

Mr. Kester's classification of accounts into asset, liability, and proprietorship accounts strikes the reviewer as eminently sound and less likely to confuse the student than the customary one of assets and liabilities only, or of real and nominal accounts. Under proprietorship we have the further sub-classes of temporary proprietorship and vested proprietorship accounts, the former covering all accounts during their temporary work of increasing or decreasing the value of proprietorship, and the latter

the ultimate summarizing of them at the close of fiscal periods. Much fine-spun theorizing, particularly over the elusive idea of the proprietor being both the owner and a creditor of his business is thereby eliminated. The fundamental equation posited is the statement form of a balance-sheet, viz:

Assets minus Liabilities = Proprietorship,

and we should imagine no student who has this idea firmly in mind can thereafter have any doubts as to the nature of proprietorship. Incidentally Mr. Kester makes the acute observation that the account form, i. e.,

Assets Liabilities plus Proprietorship

is responsible for the large amount of time and ink wasted in attempting to find points of similarity between liabilities and proprietorship accounts. It is not an agreeable task to criticize such an admirable piece of work as this book, but there are some points which seem to need amending. It is rather curious that Mr. Kester has failed to mention a subsidiary book which is widely used by business concerns-the perpetual inventory. With this book kept by the store-keeper or stock-clerk monthly statements of profit and loss are easily compiled. Again, it would seem better technical form to show net profit from operating the business before taking in other income. (See equation, p. 46.) And most seriously do we question the statement on page 100 that an entry below the closing (double) lines of an account balances the contra entry above the lines. This heterodoxy is carried to an extreme on page 225 where Mr. Kester instructs the student to make a journal entry which is posted to the credit of the account as of Dec. 31, and to the debit of the same account after closing it as of Jan. 1. This error is partly redeemed on page 383 where the correct methods of treating deferred charges are given, but in the meantime the mischief has been done; the student has been given to understand that it is correct to post a journal entry of one period into a ledger account of another after the books have been closed.

Nevertheless the book is an excellent piece of work and we shall await the second volume for second-year classes with much interest.

W. H. L.

Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants

The annual meeting of the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants was held on Friday, October 5, 1917. The following officers and directors were elected: Henry J. Falk, president; G. C. Stumm, first vicepresident; George Best, second vice-president; Alfred B. Bell, third vicepresident; F. H. Bentley, treasurer; Chester G. Weston, secretary; C. H. Fulton, assistant secretary; Ralph M. Fishel, auditor; directors: Clem W. Collins, Henry J. Falk, W. L. Pitcaithly, Page Lawrence, S. R. Schaeffer, Alfred B. Bell, F. H. Bentley, Harry T. Hughes and Frank B. Reid.

Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants

A semi-annual meeting of the Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants was held in Hartford, October 10th, the president, William P. Landon, presiding. A paper was read by Frederick W. Child on Present values in inventories. The following were elected to the society: fellows, Frederick Fischer, Hardy S. Waters and Harry K. Schwartz; associate, Nina P. Hudson. The meeting was followed by a dinner at the Allyn House at which George L. Vannais reported on the annual meeting of the American Institute of Accountants in Washington.

Oregon State Society of Certified Public Accountants

At the annual meeting of the Oregon State Society of Certified Public Accountants on October 29, 1917, the following officers were elected: Seth L. Roberts, president; George P. Clark, vice-president; Joseph G. Gillingham, secretary and treasurer. Directors elected were H. A. Moser, W. R. Mackenzie, S. S. Barker and E. H. Collis. Walter D. Whitcomb, the retiring president, has joined the colors.

Wisconsin Society of Certified Public Accountants

At the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Society of Certified Public Accountants, held in Milwaukee, November 5th, the following officers were elected: president, Gladstone Cherry; vice-president, S. E. Barry; secretary and treasurer, H. D. Sampson.

John B. Fewkes and Franklin P. Steed announce the formation of a co-partnership for the practice of public accounting and auditing under the firm name of Fewkes, Steed and Company, 706 Marsh-Strong building, Los Angeles, California.

Thomas Upshur Hare

Announcement has been received of the death on November 16, 1917, at Norfolk, Virginia, of Thomas Upshur Hare, C.P.A., member of the American Institute of Accountants.

Mr. Hare had been an accountant for many years and was prominent in the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. He had always taken great interest in the national organization as well and had done much to forward the progress of the profession.

George L. Vannais, William P. Landon and Edward I. Petze, certified public accountants, announce the formation of a partnership under the firm name of Vannais, Landon and Company, with offices at 252 Asylum street, Hartford, Connecticut.

Barrow, Wade, Guthrie & Co., New York, announce the admission of the following partners in the firm: Rupert S. Hughes, P. W. R. Glover, Arthur Bentley, Charles Thompson, Barclay Mackinnon and Charles W. Allen.

Horwath and Horwath, public accountants, announce the removal of their offices from 1416 Broadway to the Tilden building, 105 West 40th Street, New York.

Louis E. Stander, C.P.A., announces the removal of his office to 200 Fifth Avenue, New York.