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ATLANTA BALTIMORE BIRMINGHAM BOSTON BUFFALO CHICAGO CINCINNATI CLEVELAND DALLAS DENVER DETROIT KANSAS CITY LOS ANGELES MINNEAPOLIS NEWARK NEW ORLEANS NEW YORK HASKINS & SELLS CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS BULLETIN EXECUTIVE OFFICES HASKINS & SELLS BUILDING 37 WEST 39TH ST., NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA PITTSBURGH PORTLAND PROVIDENCE SAINT LOUIS SALT LAKE CITY SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SEATTLE TULSA WATERTOWN HAVANA LONDON PARIS SHANGHAI VOL. V I I N E W Y O R K , M A R C H , 1924 No. 3 The Business Point of View ONE hears sometimes a distinction made between the business and the accounting points of view. Wherein the difference lies is seldom made clear. What may be done from an accounting viewpoint which is not correct from a point of view of business? Conversely, how may the business point of view differ from that of accounting? Accounting is intended to give expression to the financial facts of business. It exhibits financial results, conditions, relations, leads to conclusions, and indicates tendencies. It should disclose substantial information of interest to any and all parties related to an enterprise, whether the parties are inside or outside the organization. Granted only that the parties have either a legal or a moral right to the data, accounting, to be true to its purpose, must present the facts to anyone who may read in a manner which is clear, understandable and frank. A balance sheet, as well as any other financial statement, should be fair, honest, impartial, simple, straightforward, truthful, and one might almost say unreserved, if it were not for the technical significance which the last word has. But occasionally a statement half as ingenuous as the limit set by the foregoing prescription would bring about consequences detrimental, if not disastrous, to certain business concerns. A business man who has an agreement to submit a financial statement to banks, trade-creditors, or anyone else at interest, is obligated by the moral code to produce a statement which fulfils all the conditions demanded by accounting. There is no warrant for hiding behind technicalities. Any such procedure but defers the day of reckoning, and in the meantime leaves a smirch which further damages his case. Open, fair, honest disclosure of facts, with a determination to face and meet the problems, if any, involved therein, has been found by wise business men to be the best policy. The points of view of business men and public accountants should be identical, if both run along the same moral plane. Accounting and business procedure should coincide absolutely when guided by the same moral standards. When business results, or business success, would become prejudiced by accounting statements true to facts and moral ideals, the relationship between business man and accountant becomes impossible unless one becomes subordinate to the other. The accountant has
Object Description
Title |
Business point of view |
Author |
Anonymous |
Subject |
Accounting as a profession |
Citation |
Haskins & Sells Bulletin, Vol. 07, no. 03 (1924 March), p. 17-18 |
Date-Issued | 1924 |
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 7-p17 |