Book review;

              Bulletin HASKINS & SELLS 99
Book Review
Harrison, G. Charter. Standard Costs,
Installation, Operation and Use. (New
York, The Ronald Press Company, 1930.
308 p.)
Magazine articles, professional papers
before various accounting and business
societies, and discussions before other
groups, indicate the interest in standard
costs. The fact that a number of large
and important corporations have installed
standard cost systems may be regarded as
reasonable evidence of the value of such
systems. The author, because of his years
of experience in this field, should be well
qualified to produce a book on this subject.
Business conditions in recent years
have brought increased keenness of com­petition,
with smaller profit margins, and
intensified the need for cost systems which
will aid in controlling costs. The standard
cost system is presented by the author as
a means or method of predicting costs in
advance, for checking actual costs against
the standards set, and for determining the
causes of variations.
The introductory material points out the
advantages of standard costs. It is stated
that they provide the means not only of
controlling costs, but of actually reducing
costs. A prime advantage is the reduction
in the clerical force necessary to operate
the standard cost system as compared to
other methods of. cost accounting. The
standard cost system is compared with the
older job-order cost plan, the disadvan­tages
of the latter being emphatically