Recasting procedure;

              42 HASKINS & SELLS June
Recasting Procedure
NEVER perhaps in the history of the
accountancy profession has oppor­tunity
knocked harder at the door. The
opportunity exists in rendering to clients a
service more distinctly helpful, more genu­inely
valuable, and manifestly more useful
to business administration.
It is traditional of the public accountant
that he has looked upon his functions
largely as confined to reviewing and verify­ing.
For some unknown reason he has
thought it unfitting that he should go be­yond
the accuracy and truth of recorded
financial transactions and their statement
in technical form. His sphere has been
considered to preclude him from possessing
business intelligence and judgment in
matters outside of accounting technique.
Here and there, however, certain ac­countants
have broken away from the
hide-bound notions which circumscribe the
traditional accountant in his work. To
the amazement of their fellow practitioners
such presumptuous accountants have be­come
eminently successful in the estab­lishment
of practice. Why they are so
sought after by business men and bankers
is a mystery to those whose concepts of
practice permit of no change.
To paraphrase a well known advertise­ment,
"The client's nose knows," and there
is abundant evidence to show that this dis­criminating
sense has detected a bad odor
on the part of the accountant who persists
in selling clerical service and typewritten
sheets at professional rates.
Is there any wonder, when an accountant
approaches an engagement with some busi­ness
intelligence and not only verifies facts
and figures but tries to interpret the data
and results examined, that he is preferred
over the one who leaves nothing helpful
with the client who pays the fee?
Is there any comparison in the matter of
respect on the part of a client between an
accountant who gives him a copy of his
books with a recital of the verification pro­cedure
and one who in addition to verify­ing,
points out trouble-spots, inefficiencies,
unsound policies, and wrong practices, and
suggests remedies? Is there any doubt if
such suggestions are practical and sensible
that they will be favorably received?
Naturally, an accountant who recom­mends
tearing down and reconstructing all
the plant buildings in order to adapt them
to some advanced scientific production
scheme will find little favor with a client.
But such suggestions are not compre­hended
in the sensible class and breed
contempt rather than the confidence on
which professional service rests.
There is a growing tendency on the part
of those who have occasion to utilize the
services of public accountants to expect
more constructive service. Accounting is
a means to an end. It has too long been
regarded as the end. The accountant is
presumed to know not only how to obtain
results but what the results mean. Busi­ness
men are coming more and more to
expect that accountants will tell them what
interpretations may be placed on the
figures which the accounting process pro­duces;
how the conclusions may be applied
to the future conduct of the business. Post­mortems
in the practice of medicine do
more than satisfy curiosity. They afford
a basis for more intelligent future practice.
The growing expectations of clients place
a somewhat new and heavier responsibility
on public accountants. Somewhat clumsy
in their methods, steeped in traditional
technique, woefully weak in their ability to
interpret, and frequently devoid of business
judgment, accountants who would meet
the demands of modern practice are con­fronted
with the task of getting busy on a
new program of thought, study and
methods of procedure.