Report on accounting in Germany;

              Dr. Karl Red is a principal in
TROBAS-Germany and has his
headquarters in the Bielefeld Of­fice.
Among his other professional
and social activities, Dr. Red finds
time to be an active member in
the Rotary Club of Bielefeld.
A Report
IN THIS COUNTRY the profession of the auditor originated in the second
half of the last century from two different sources. Unhampered by
legal restrictions, the profession developed its own professional rules
and placed itself from the very beginning under strict self-discipline in
order to preserve independence, responsibility, and expert knowledge.
Public accountants were one of the sources. At first they were entered
in court registers, but later were admitted and supervised by Industrie-und-
Handelskammer (chambers of industry and commerce). These
chambers are public cooperatives and organs of self administration for
the members. They are independent of the government although they
perform some functions which in the United States are considered
government functions.
The other source was Treuhandgesellschaften (trust companies one
of whose functions was audit work) established by banks, which con­sidered
the formation of such companies advisable because the internal
auditing departments of the banks did not seem to be independent
18 THE QUARTERLY