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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. X N E W Y O R K , A P R I L , 1927 No. 4 The Faculty of Observing T H E story of how a band of desert thieves was traced through having stolen a half-blind camel with a front tooth missing, represents the acme of refinement in observation. The story is old. It may have no basis of fact. Perhaps it was devised by some ingenious educator merely for the purpose of leaving an imprint on the minds of youthful readers. But it has its point. The substance of the story is that a robber-band, preying on a settlement of peaceful Arabs, seized and made off with all the available camels. Among the camel booty was one which was blind in one eye and minus a front tooth. When the desert police took up the trail, they had little more than this description, and the general direction taken by the robbers, to guide them. Coming to an oasis, they noticed, where camels had been cropping at the grass, that one line of cropping veered constantly to the left. Also that there were blades of grass which remained uncropped along the center of the line. From these observations they deduced that the veering line, with the untouched blades, was the result of the grazing of the partially toothless camel which was blind in its left eye, and so traced the herd until the robbers were apprehended. The accountant admittedly is absolved from the necessity of having to possess all the knowledge of a lawyer, or of an engineer. He has no particular duty to act as a detective. In most of his engagements, however, it will do him no harm to cultivate more intensively the faculty of observing and to consider more carefully the significance of what he may observe. Auditing, if one is not careful, may become a matter of merely checking figures. It is an easy matter to pass over signs, which if observed, would point the way to startling disclosures. Slight inconsistencies often serve as clues to gross irregularities carefully concealed. Only recently, concealment of a substantial shortage was attempted by the use of some fifty forged notes. The forgeries were clever and the notes, hastily examined, had every appearance of being genuine. But there were slight inconsistencies, noticeable upon careful observation. A certain name was written "Carey" on the face of the note; "Cary" on the reverse side. A certain French name was written as pronounced, not as spelled. Numbers on the notes were out of line with numbers in current use. The date February 29 was used in a year having but three hundred and sixty-five days. Unless documents are carefully and
Object Description
Title |
Faculty of observing |
Author |
Anonymous |
Subject |
Fraud |
Citation |
Haskins & Sells Bulletin, Vol. 10, no. 04 (1927 April), p. 25-26 |
Date-Issued | 1927 |
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 10-p25 |