Editors' book-shelf;

              I HE EDITORS
The Rise of the Accounting Profession
To Responsibility and Authority,
1937-1969,
by John L. Carey.
American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants, 1970,545 pages, $10.00.
Volume 1 of this history, published in
1969 and covering the years 1896-
1936, averaged nine pages per year. In
this second volume the average goes up
to sixteen, and that difference is one
measure of how fast things in
accounting have been happening
recently. The difference also reflects
the fact that Mr. Carey was the
executive director (or the equivalent)
of the AICPA during all these latter
years and was thus able to observe at
first hand the details and the interplay
of most of the developments.
A comment by Charles Rockwood in
his review of Volume 1 is just as
appropriate to a review of Volume 2:
"Anyone pursuing a satisfying career
as a public accountant ought to know
the background of the organized
profession." How to glean that
background from these books offers
choices. People who have been in the
profession for some time might read
right through, recalling "how it was."
On the other hand, because the books
are structured to deal in separate
chapters with each line of historical
development, and because there is
now the index that was lacking in
Volume 1, many young readers might
avoid trying to read the books as a
whole. They might, instead, go to them
as second nature when the mood or a
question strikes: Have professional
ethics been considered as a CPA
examination subject? See page 2:446.
Is it a function of the Institute tax
committee to propose broad tax
corrections as well as refinements?
See page 2:411. How did the APB
come into being? See page 2:90.
Once into a chapter, of course, chances
are the reader will go on for a bit,
because these books are about a
people-intensive activity, and the
human side shows everywhere, like
the agonizing over the investment
credit, the protracted contention with
lawyers over tax practice (in which
John Queenan's successful peace
efforts are recorded), the deep
analyses of what is a common body of
accounting knowledge.
Some who have been intimately
connected with the various
developments these books record may
find here and there an interpretation
not to their liking. But to see the broad
tapestry of the accounting profession,
enthusiastically woven, these books are
a "must."
—Ian K. Lamberton