New Year's resolve;

              ATLANTA HASKINS & SELLS NEW YORK
PHILADELPHIA
BALTIMORE CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS PITTSBURGH
BOSTON PORTLAND
BUFFALO SAINT LOUIS
CHICAGO SALT LAKE CITY
CINCINNATI BULLETIN SAN FRANCISCO
CLEVELAND SEATTLE
DALLAS TULSA
DENVER WATERTOWN
DETROIT KANSAS CITY
LOS ANGELES
MINNEAPOLIS HAVANA
LONDON
PARIS
NEWARK E X E C U T I V E OFFICES SHANGHAI
NEW ORLEANS HASKINS & SELLS BUILDING
37 WEST 39TH ST., NEW YORK
VOL. VI NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1923 No. 1
A New Year's Resolve
WITH the passing of the Christmas
holiday and the coming of the New
Year the accountant begins the annual
grind. Nights, holidays, and all available
waking hours are directed towards the
eventful March fifteenth. Previous to the
fixing of this date by the federal govern­ment
as a time for the filing of tax returns,
the period from January one to March
fifteen was one of stress and strain. Since
the designation of this date the situation
which develops annually during this period
is all but unbearable.
Many corporations which before had
fiscal years different from the calendar
year promptly changed, in order to be in
the mode. The New York legislature, on
the occasion of introducing the state in­come
tax, brilliantly fixed March fifteen as
a filing date. It was a great idea to make
the date for the state return coincide with
that for the federal one. Thus the tax­payer
would have no difficulty in remem­bering
when his state return was due.
But apparently the idea made such an im­pression
and the gathering force of the
absurdity became so strong that the fol­lowing
year the date was changed to
April fifteen.
Would that the force of business senti­ment
might become so strong that the
federal government would give some con­sideration
to a revision of the filing date.
The classification of respondents accord­ing
to industries; or more liberal regula­tions
with regard to changing from the
calendar to the fiscal year would doubtless
accomplish much in the direction of stag­gering
the load.
Many industries have more logical clos­ing
dates than December thirty-first.
Lumber mills, particularly those located
where the calendar year closing means
taking the physical inventory in winter,
and perhaps in a snow storm, should wel­come
a change to summer. Paper houses,
whose quiet season falls in the summer,
might, it seems, select September thirty as
the most logical closing date. Machine tool
manufacturers, much of whose product,
like castings, is exposed to the elements,
would probably find some spring month
more acceptable for closing than December.
The benefit which would accrue, first to
accountants and second to clients, is im­measurable.
The quality of service ren­dered
by accountants would undoubtedly
be vastly improved. The difficulties which