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82 HASKINS & SELLS November ACCOUNTANTS, if they would advance with business and with their profession, eventually must acquire more than a mere knowledge of accounting. With the ever-increasing variety of services he is called upon to render, the accountant must develop a keen insight into the other conditions surrounding accounting, in fact, into business management in general. Many cases arise which are on the border line between accountancy and law and for which the accountant should have at least a general knowledge of the law in order to apply the proper accounting procedure, or to make a fair judgment of the correctness of the accounts. The growth of corporations national in scope not only has complicated the accounting procedure required for recording the numerous transactions, but has introduced other problems which directly, or indirectly, affect the public accountant and his work. As corporations developed they became the popular target for taxation among the states because they afforded the easiest avenue of taxation open to the legislatures. Then, too, the general public always has preferred indirect taxation, and heartily approved of saddling the burden, on the so-called big business interests. Naturally enough, foreign corporations offer the state legislatures an even more popular object for taxation. By the very instinct that prompted it to prefer indirect taxes, the public will always favor taxation of "outsiders" and especially "outside" corporations. The very name "foreign corporation" suggests to the general public the idea that the corporation is an "outsider" which has come into the state to exploit its resources and take them out of the state, and consequently it should be made to pay dearly. The legislatures have not been slow to react to this sentiment and now practically every state in the Union has laws regulating foreign corporations "doing business" within the state. In the language used by the state legislatures "foreign" corporations are those organized in another state, while "alien" corporations are those organized in a foreign country. The name "foreign" is a very poor one to apply to the class of corporations to which it is applied, since it carries the implication of an alien corporation to the minds of the public, and undoubtedly makes taxation of such corporations more popular. There are two principal types of commerce within the United States—interstate and intrastate commerce. Interstate commerce is regulated by the Federal government, and as long as business is conducted along interstate lines the individual states have no power to regulate it. However, when a business approaches the border line between interstate and intrastate commerce it is getting into the danger zone, for if it oversteps the line it subjects itself to the regulations, taxes, and penalties of the state in which it is found to be "doing business." Just what is "doing business" in a foreign state is a matter of interpretation, and no clear-cut definition has been given thus far. Ordinarily, it involves the thought of continuity of conduct and requires more than a single act to constitute doing business before the law. Yet a number of cases could be cited in which a single business transaction has been sufficient to convict a corporation of doing business within a state. The mere selling of goods within a foreign state by salesmen and shipping the goods from outside the state do not come within the definition of "doing business" in a state. However, it was held in one state that if a salesman sells goods which he carries, even if they be only samples, that act constitutes doing business within the state in behalf At Home and Abroad
Object Description
Title |
At Home and abroad |
Author |
Anonymous |
Subject |
Interstate commerce -- Accounting |
Citation |
Haskins & Sells Bulletin, Vol. 10, no. 11 (1927 November), p. 82-84 |
Date-Issued | 1927 |
Source | Originally published by: Haskins & Sells |
Type | Text |
Collection | Deloitte Digital Collection |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Libraries. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2009 |
Identifier | HS Bulletin 10-p82 |