All roads seem to lead to the law;

              Bulletin H A S K I N S & S E L LS 3
All Roads Seem to Lead to the Law
THE certified public accountant has been
charged in the past with the necessity
of acquiring many qualifications, if he wishes
to merit approbation from all and sundry
who have occasion, or seize an opportunity,
to pass judgment on him.
In the past it has been held, that he must
be educated liberally and professionally;
trained for his calling and work; careful,
clever and skilful, He must be strong in
health; happy in disposition; poised in
the many trying situations in which in­evitably
he will find himself. Like Caesar's
wife, he must be above suspicion. Now, it
seems, he must have considerable knowl­edge
concerning common law.
Statutory laws of various kinds affecting
the work of the accountant, have had his
attention for many years. He has known
that it was his duty to be familiar with
them and to be guided by them. Instances
of these are the tax laws, the interstate
commerce laws, corporation laws, and laws
governing bankruptcies, negotiable instru­ments,
etc.
Only recently, however, has the con­sciousness
of the accountant been pricked
with the necessity of finding out some­thing
about negligence and fraud. This
necessity arises because of the accountant's
relationship to clients in contract and to
those in the general public who may have
occasion to consider and perhaps act on
the representations in his reports.
Negligence and fraud, in their applica­tion
to accountancy, are governed by com­mon
law; not by statutes. By common
law is meant the decisions which have re­sulted
from litigated cases. Out of these
decisions certain doctrines have been de­veloped.
The doctrines have been revised
as new light has been thrown on the sub­ject
matter by new cases and as further
thought has been given by the learned jus­tices
who have considered them. Attor­neys
try the cases. Juries find the facts.