Challenge to accountants;

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VOL. X NEW YORK, DECEMBER, 1927 No. 12
ACCOUNTANTS, it has been said, with
their fifty years or more of professional
existence have yet to develop a single
fundamental economic principle. The ex­planation
given was that attention has been
focused too much upon individual business
operations and experiences and not enough
upon the underlying principles of which
these are but tangible expressions.
Economics under the old school was
made up chiefly of classical theory and
generalizations. Very little attention was
given to the application of such theory to
practical situations.
Today, the method of approach is
through the observation and collection of
numerous facts, then to measure them,
analyze them, and apply the conclusions
reached wherever they are applicable. The
result is that the new theory depends for
its validity, not upon its true deduction
from given principles, but upon its rele­vancy
as a generalization of existing
facts.
The works of Smith, Ricardo, and Mill
attempted to explain economic life as ob­served
by those men, but they were handi­capped
by the limited amount of data
available. Economic theory must be re­vised
from time to time since the world
which it endeavors to explain is changing
continually. With the wealth of informa­tion
which is available today, it should be
possible to make a clearer exposition of
economic principles than has ever been
made before.
For the observation of facts the oppor­tunities
of the accountant are unequaled.
The accountant is at all times in close con­tact
with business transactions, the very
foundation of our economic life. His
ability to analyze, his impartial point of
view, further qualify him for the task.
Accountants have not overextended
themselves in the lines of discovery and
research. The doors are still wide open.
Even in the development of the technique
of accounting procedure, specialized studies
of a research nature have had too little a
part. The need for a systematic approach
to the problems of the day increases as our
economic organization becomes more com­plex.
The world is an ever-changing one.
Research is an invaluable aid to proper
adaptation, lest we fall behind in the
general progress of events.
An interpretation of economic theory
which would be understandable to ac­countants,
business men, and others not
specializing in economics, is much to be
A Challenge to Accountants