Book review; [News items];

              56 HASKINS & SELLS
Book Review
Sells, Elijah Watt. The Natural Busi­ness
Year and Thirteen Other Themes.
(Chicago, A. W. Shaw Company, 1924.
276 pp.)
This is a collection of Mr. Sells' papers
and articles headed by the one which
probably made the greatest impression on
the reading public, namely, "The Natural
Business Year." As is quite generally
known, Mr. Sells had a theory that those
responsible for business enterprise do not,
as a rule, take cognizance of the fact that a
logical time to close the financial books is
when stocks of merchandise and operations
are at their lowest ebb. He referred to
this time as the close of the natural busi­ness
year and advocated the taking of in­ventories
and closing of books at such time.
With the advent of income tax for cor­porations
some organizations which had
previously closed their books at other times
changed to December 31, on the theory
that compliance with federal tax regula­tions
would thus be facilitated. This, how­ever,
is an erroneous idea, since the Trea­sury
Department permits returns to be
made on either the calendar or fiscal year
basis. In many lines the advantage of
using the calendar year basis is tremen­dously
outweighed by those which would
accrue from the adoption of the natural
business year as a basis for fiscal closings.
In the editorial notes which accompany
Mr. Sells' papers suggested fiscal years are
given for many lines of business and ad­vantages
of such basic period are explained.
In the other notes situations and conditions
as described and discussed by Mr. Sells are
contrasted with events which transpired
later and with conditions prevailing at the
time the editorial notes were written.
The book has much in its content of in­terest
and use to business men generally
and will be treasured especially by Mr.
Sells' many friends and admirers as a
means of preserving his papers.
Our congratulations are extended to Mr.
Donald Frisby, of the New York Broad
Street office; Mr. A. H . Beard, of the
Newark office, and Mr. J . W. Burrows, of
the General Practice office, on their recent
attainment of the C. P. A. certificate of
the State of New York.
We have noted with interest in the May
number of "The Certified Public Accoun­tant"
an article written by Mr. Raymond
C. Reik, manager of our Baltimore office,
entitled, "New Maryland Law Establishes
Public Accountancy as a Profession under
Complete Board Control."
Mr. J . R. Wildman has again been ap­pointed
Chairman of the Special Technical
Committee on Forecasting of the New York
State Society of Certified Public Ac­countants.
We announce with regret that Mr. T. R.
Young, former manager of our Denver
office, has resigned, effective May 31, to
enter into a partnership handling Ford and
Lincoln automobiles in Denver, Colorado.
Mr. W. L . Hagerty, formerly assistant
manager of our Providence office, has been
transferred to the Havana office as mana­ger,
effective upon Mr. Tompkins' depar­ture
from Cuba.
We have pleasure in announcing that
Mr. W. M . Trant and Mr. Morris B.
Kincheloe, of our Denver office, have been
appointed acting manager and assistant
manager, respectively, effective June 1, 1924.
Mr. Chas. S. Ludlam has been appointed
a member of the Special Committee of the
American Institute of Accountants to in­vestigate
the policies offered by indemnity
companies for protection of accountants.
PRESS OF WILLIAM GREEN, NEW YORK
July