By way of encouragement;

              ATLANTA
BALTIMORE
BIRMINGHAM
BOSTON
BROOKLYN
BUFFALO
CHARLOTTE
CHICAGO
CINCINNATI
CLEVELAND
DALLAS
DENVER
DETROIT
JACKSONVILLE
KANSAS CITY
LOS ANGELES
MINNEAPOLIS
NEWARK
NEW ORLEANS
NEW YORK
PHILADELPHIA
HASKINS & S E L LS
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
BULLETIN E X E C U T I V E O F F I C ES
30 BROAD STREET, NEW YORK
PITTSBURGH
PORTLAND
PROVIDENCE
SAINT LOUIS
SALT LAKE CITY
SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO
SEATTLE
TULSA
WATERTOWN
BERLIN
LONDON
MANILA
PARIS
SHANGHAI
HAVANA
MEXICO CITY
MONTREAL
VOL. IX NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1926 No. 12
By Way of Encouragement
JUSTICE BRANDEIS, of the United
States Supreme Court, has been quoted
as defining a profession in the following
terms:
"The peculiar characteristics of a pro­fession
as distinguished from other occupa­tions,
I take to be these:
"First, a profession is an occupation for
which the necessary preliminary training is
intellectual in character, involving knowl­edge
and to some extent learning, as dis­tinguished
from mere skill;
"Second, it is an occupation which is
pursued largely for others and not merely
for one's self;
"Third, it is an occupation in which the
amount of financial returns is not the
accepted measure of success."
Grave doubt has been expressed at times
by various persons that accountancy is a
profession. Apparent greed for financial
reward on the part of some who follow the
vocation has served to create suspicion of
the accountant's motives. Advertising,
soliciting, and charlatanism by some prac­titioners
have cast dense reflections on the
entire body. Gross ignorance of pro­fessional
and technical principles by others
have brought ridicule to the occupation.
Here and there, however, individuals in
the field of accountancy have been recog-nized
for their accounting ability and
honored for their professional attainments.
If the careers of these individuals were to
be analyzed, there is little doubt that the
guiding philosophy of one and all would be
found to correspond to the principles so
tersely stated by Justice Brandeis.
The outstanding men in accountancy
are not men who are able to foot three
columns of figures simultaneously. They
are not intellectual geniuses whose minds
have become so highly developed that they
cannot grasp the commonplaces of daily
life or perform the simple operations of
technical routine.
The outstanding men in accountancy are
men who are well grounded in the knowl­edge
which is basic to economic existence
and to their vocation, skilled in the
technique which is fundamental to their
practice, guided by the motive of service,
and more thrilled by achievement than by
the many dollars which their efforts bring
to them.
Lest the notions of the skeptics prevail,
here at any rate is the nucleus of a pro­fession;
a nucleus guided by the ideals
which an eminent jurist has enunciated as