Acid test;

              NEW YORK
CHICAGO
DETROIT
ST. LOUIS
BOSTON
CLEVELAND
BALTIMORE
PITTSBURGH
HASKINS & SELLS
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
BULLETIN SAN FRANCISCO
LOS ANGELES
SEATTLE
DENVER
ATLANTA
WATERTOWN
LONDON
VOL. I N E W Y O R K , N O V E M B E R 15, 1918 No. 9
The Acid Test
THE test of the adequacy and fitness of
a report is its passage through the re­port
department. The test of a man as
an accountant is his ability to successfully
defend his report under the cross-examina­tion
to which he submits when the report
is reviewed. The ordeal may be trying,
but it is necessary.
The practice of reviewing reports rests
on several theories. One is that the ac­countant
who knows what he has been do­ing
should be able to justify his work and
his conclusions. Another is that if the ac­countant
would express himself so that he
may be understood by the client the report
should be clear to any other person who,
without previous knowledge of the facts,
may read it. Further, the critic in the re­port
department may review twenty-five
reports while the accountant in charge is
preparing one. Constant attention to this
work renders the reviewer expert in this
particular so that his examination of the re­port
is likely to be far more searching than
that of any client. In addition, the expe­rience
of the reviewer is made available to
the accountant. The work has immense
educational value.
It is probable that too many account­ants
look upon the reviewing of a report
as a personal matter. It should in reality
be regarded as an opportunity to gain ex­perience.
The attitude of both parties to
the review should be to make the opera­tion
an educational one as well as one of
practical business. Changes in the report
may be necessary. They should not be
made ruthlessly. They should not be
made if unnecessary. Reasons and expla­nations
should be given if they are to ben­efit
the accountant. The man who can­not
stand a change when, in the opinion of
someone better fitted than himself to
judge, a change is necessary is a small
calibre man whose progress and success
will be meagre.
To submit to the review of one's report
requires nerve. It requires preparation.
It calls for a measure of the right kind of
fighting spirit; not the militant kind which
is disagreeable, but the calm, deliberate,
determined kind which brings out the best
which the situation offers. Each successive
experience should stimulate the man in
question to better efforts; to more thor­oughness
in his work; to greater determi­nation
to prepare himself so that he may
successfully withstand the searching in­quiry
of the reviewer.
For the man who has the nerve to stand
the acid test confident that it is making a
better accountant of him and thereby con­tributing
to the general effectiveness of
the staff there is unlimited opportunity.
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