Policies;

              ATLANTA PHILADELPHIA
BALTIMORE HASKINS & SELLS PITTSBURGH
BIRMINGHAM
BOSTON PORTLAND
PROVIDENCE
BROOKLYN SAINT LOUIS
BUFFALO
CHARLOTTE CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS SALT LAKE CITY
SAN DIEGO
CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO
CINCINNATI SEATTLE
CLEVELAND BULLETIN TULSA
DALLAS WATERTOWN
DENVER _ _
DETROIT BERLIN
JACKSONVILLE LONDON
KAN8A8 CITY PARIS
LOS ANGELES SHANGHAI
MINNEAPOLIS
NEWARK E X E C U T I V E O F F I C ES HAVANA
NEW ORLEANS 30 BROAD STREET, NEW YORK
MEXICO CITY
NEW YORK
MONTREAL
VOL. I X NEW YORK, JUNE, 1926 No. 6
Policies
POLICY may be defined as a plan of
action which will serve as a basis for
guidance in human endeavor. An in­dividual
working alone, unless restrained
by laws, or force of other circumstances,
may act from hour to hour as the spirit
of the moment moves him. When individ­uals
begin to work together, necessity arises
for some mutual understanding which will
guide them in their common efforts.
The importance of having business
policies has become manifest more than
ever before in history with the develop­ment
of the modern corporation. Matters
such as complexity of organization, geo­graphical
spread, heterogeneity of per­sonnel,
changing notions and demands
of the purchasing public create a situation
which corporation officials would have
little hope of controlling were it not for
the enunciation of certain guiding prin­ciples.
Large scale accountancy organizations
find themselves in the same economic
group as industrial and other corporations.
What with serving a clientele ranging from
individuals to mammoth corporations,
with service being rendered over the entire
civilized world, with business conditions
constantly changing, and with a personnel
made up of all sizes, ages, types, tempera­ments,
degrees of education, experience,
and intelligence, the problem of pleasing
everyone would not be simple even if it
did not involve a technical subject con­cerning
which there are, at the present
time, many differences of opinion. With
this added technical difficulty, the task
assumes monumental proportions.
An organization facing these problems
without policies is like a ship without a
rudder. And if it has policies, but they are
locked up in a safe, they are of no more
service than if they had not been formu­lated.
The late Frederick W. Taylor once
remarked, substantially: "If you expect
a workman to do a piece of work the way
you want it done, you must tell him how
to do it."
Accountancy organizations well may
take a lesson from the experience of in­dustry.
Executive, managerial, and tech­nical
policies should be evolved, pro­mulgated,
and put into practice. No
policy will fit every case under any and all
circumstances. Deviation in application
at times will be necessary. But any devia­tion,
perforce, must first call for con­sideration
of the necessity therefor and of
the pertinent circumstances affecting the
case.
Policies are principles which serve as a
guide to conduct. Most human beings
work more intelligently when they have
principles to guide them. The implication
is that accountants who observe certain
general laws will be more successful in
their endeavors.