Some predictions: Management Science in accounting;

              Some Predictions:
Management Sciences
in Accounting
by H. Justin Davidson
The public accounting profession, throughout its his­tory,
has provided advisory services to management in
addition to its commonly recognized services of auditing
and tax consulting. These advisory or management ser­vices
have generally had a strong financial orientation
and have drawn heavily upon the accountant's general
business experience.
In recent years, an expansion in management services
offered by public accountants has taken place. The
amount of traditional management services work has
increased. Moreover, the scope of management services
has gradually changed. Many services now performed
draw widely on quantitative techniques employed in the
physical sciences, mathematics, and other disciplines not
historically associated with the practice of accounting.
Loosely called operations research or, perhaps more
correctly, management science, these new management
services include the application of such knowledge as
inventory control theory, linear programming, statis­tical
theory, and perhaps most importantly, electronic
data processing to management problems. To an impar­tial
observer, it is fairly clear that the use of management
science is continuing to expand today at a rapid rate,
both in accounting and in business.
In this article, the broad sweep of this management
science movement and its relationship to public account­ing
is examined. In particular, an assessment of what
the future holds for the practice of management science
in public accounting is set forth.
A Review of the Past
Before turning to the central topic of the future role
of management science, its past history in accounting
practice should be reviewed.
We are pleased to publish another article by
H. Justin Davidson, whose articles have ap­peared
in Quarterlies in the past and in a number
of outside publications. Mr. Davidson, manage­ment
services partner in the Chicago office, has
been appointed a member of the newly formed
Planning Committee of the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants. The Committee has
been charged with the responsibility of develop­ing
specific plans to meet the problems and op­portunities
of the profession in the next ten to
twenty years. Mr. Davidson's article, written be­fore
this new assignment, is particularly timely in
its presentation of some of the problems con­fronted
by the profession.
JUNE, 1965 33