Public demand;

              ATLANTA
BALTIMORE
BOSTON
BUFFALO
CHICAGO
CINCINNATI
CLEVELAND
DALLAS
DENVER
DETROIT
KANSAS CITY
LOS ANGELES
MINNEAPOLIS
NEWARK
NEW ORLEANS
HASKINS & SELLS
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
BULLETIN EXECUTIVE OFFICES
HASKINS & SELLS BUILDING
37 WEST 39TH ST., NEW YORK
NEW YORK
PHILADELPHIA
PITTSBURGH
PORTLAND
SAINT LOUIS
SALT LAKE CITY
SAN FRANCISCO
SEATTLE
TULSA
WATERTOWN
HAVANA
LONDON
PARIS
SHANGHAI
VOL. V NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 15, 1922 No. 11
The Public Demand
PROSPECTIVE purchasers of securi­ties
have a right to ask certain
pointed questions. What about safety
of principal, rate of return on investment,
continuity of return, saleability? Have
the accounts of the company, whose se­curities
are being offered, been audited
by a reliable firm of accountants? What
do the financial statements show?
Seldom are all the questions answered
in the information issued to the public.
Newspaper advertisements offering securi­ties
vary greatly in form and content.
Such information as appears usually is
summarized from letters of officers who
many not be said to be disinterested. An
examination of several hundred newspaper
announcements which have appeared
within the past six months shows that
only one-fourth of such announcements
referred to accountants as having audited
the accounts. In some cases where ac­countants
were employed their names were
not mentioned; nor was reference made
to the fact of the employment. In not
one case was an offer made to furnish a
balance sheet or income statement.
The investing public is but an aggre­gate
of individuals. Funds for invest­ment
originate with the individual. The
demand of the public is but the demand
of a certain number of individuals. Where
is the individual investor who is not con­cerned
with the questions propounded?
There is a big demand for securities,
but they must be securities properly ac­credited;
not merely issues in which some
distributing agency is particularly inter­ested.
The public is demanding a clean-cut
showing on the questions raised.
Thus, the financial statements and certif­icate
of the unbiased public accountant
prove a strong force to the worthy entre­preneur
seeking funds, and his agent who
markets the securities, in satisfying the
demands for information on the part of
the wise investor.
It is not sufficient that offerings are
based on investigation or audit. Such
procedure is but an incident in establishing
the issue in the estimation of the investor.
Regular and systematic examination of a
company's financial affairs is essential to
continued peace and satisfaction of in­vestors.
Making every allowance for petty
mistakes which only minute and wasteful
checking will discover, swiftly transpiring