Book Reviews;

              Bulletin HASKINS & SELLS 27
Book Reviews
Scovill, Hiram T. Farm Accounting.
(New York. D. Appleton & Co., 1918.
429 p.)
The available data on the subject of farm
accounting, up to the appearance of this
book, was somewhat meagre, consisting as
it did of bulletins and brochures dealing
with the preparation of farm statistics or
discussing some special branch of the sub­ject.
The author, after a wide experience in
farming communities, has prepared a book
which appears to have two main purposes;
first, to simplify bookkeeping and render it
intelligible to farmers who have not had the
benefit of any commercial training and who
can grasp the technicalities of the subject
only if it is presented in a common sense
manner, and, second, having laid this
foundation, to discuss transactions peculiar
to agricultural operations, and to suggest the
method of making the original record of
them, types of accounts to take care of
them, and statements to express them.
The first part is of interest not only to
the farmer but to any one beginning the
study of bookkeeping; the second part (em­braced
in chapters on "Special Accounts and
Entries" and "Cost Accounting") is of
value to the accountant handling a farm en­gagement
as well as to the farmer who is
endeavoring to operate scientifically.
A bibliography on farm accounting and
allied subjects is included.
Ficker, Nicholas Thiel. Industrial Cost
Finding. (New York. Industrial Exten­sion
Institute, 1917. 511 p.)
Cost accounting is a subject which may
be viewed from the accounting, the engi­neering
and the managerial points of view.
The accountant normally emphasizes the
first and third, the engineer the second and
third, and the management specialist. the
third only.
This volume, however, approaches the
subject from a point midway between ac­counting
and engineering and treats but
briefly the management side of the question.
The essential topics treated are: the clas­sification
and discussion of plant accounts;
the labor factor-—both as to its relation to
product and as to its control (with a chapter
on mechanical time recording devices); the
accounting for purchases and stores, and the
analysis of shop expenses.
Although the topics are treated in an in­teresting
and at times a semi-popular man­ner,
it is a book for those who are already
familiar with general cost work.
In connection with the subject of interest,
it is worth noting in passing that the author,
contrary to the views of most engineers
who have discussed the subject, is opposed
to the inclusion in costs of interest on in­vested
capital.
An index which is complete and compre­hensive
adds to the value of the work.
Walker, Frank R. Practical Cost Keep­ing
for Contractors. A Book Giving a Sys­tem
of Accurate Cost Keeping and the
Methods Used for Adapting it to A l l Classes
of Construction Work. (Chicago. Frank
R. Walker, 1918. 275 p.)
Another essentially practical book on cost
systems for a special industry. Giving but
the briefest comment on the theory of cost
accounting, the book proceeds to an exhaus­tive
analysis of the labor operations and ma­terial
used in construction work, and in the
body of the treatise reproduces special
forms for cost finding in all the varieties of
construction work, and gives specific in­structions
for their use.
Smith, Clarence G. Cost Accounting for
Oil Producers. (Washington, (Department
of the Interior), Government Printing Of­fice,
1917. 120 p.)
With a thoroughness which one has come
to expect in the Bulletins of the Department