Doctoral dissertation abstracts

              Hans Johnson, Editor UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS
The Development of Accounting Principles for Business Com-binations, 1932-1973 (U. of North Carolina, 1976, 342 pp.; 38/2, p. 863-A*) by Wesley Andrews has as one of its three objectives the addition to the accounting literature of a "concise, critical descrip-tion of the evolution of present thought regarding accounting for business combinations." The dissertation "is arranged chronologi-cally into time periods" which are "separated by significant pro-nouncements of the accounting profession regarding (a) the pur-chase versus pooling of interests dichotomy and (b) goodwill in consolidation." Further, "for each time period, the following sub-jects are discussed: (a) the economic and political environment of the period, (b) the thrust of the general development of accounting principles during the period, (c) specific writings during the period bearing upon the issues of accounting regarding the purchase ver-sus pooling of interests question, and (d) specific writings during the period bearing upon issues of accounting for goodwill in busi-ness combinations." Finally, "the basic conclusion of the study is that present generally accepted accounting principles for business combinations and goodwill have developed largely along deductive lines, characterized by a tendency to borrow traditional, general principles from accounting theory and the law, applying these prin-ciples to business combination situations specifically."
Government Regulations and Professional Pronouncements: A Study of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ameri-can Institute of Certified Public Accountants from 1934 Through 1974 (NYU, 1976, 282 pp.; 38/2, p. 865-A) by William Coffey has as its purpose the determination and assessment of "the contributions of the two groups to the establishment of accounting standards ad-dressed to revenue recognition." He notes that, "uniformity was the criterion used to assess respective financial reporting prac-tices . . . ." Source material for the SEC portion consisted of
*Volume/Number and page in Dissertation Abstracts International.