Report of Committee on Terminology;

              Accounting Research
BULLETINS
Issued by the Committee on Accounting Procedure, American Institute of Accountants, 270 Madison Avenue, New York 16, N. Y.
Copyright 1941 by American Institute of Accountants
No. 9
(Special)
Report of Committee on Terminology
FOREWORD
THE MEMBERS of the committee on accounting procedure have read and approved this report of the committee on terminology for presentation to the Council and for publication, but the statements herein contained are not to be regarded as formal pronouncements of the committee on accounting procedure.
At its May meeting the Council of the Institute received the report, and authorized its publication as a research bulletin.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TERMINOLOGY
MIDYEAR, 1941
To THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ACCOUNTANTS:
GENTLEMEN: Definition of "Accounting"
Of the topics discussed in earlier reports of the committee, its defini-tion of the term "accounting"1 has provoked the most notice. Several suggestions have been received, chiefly to the effect that the definition should be made more explicit by mention of other details of account-ing. The committee for the most part agrees with the substance of the suggestions made, but questions the desirability of writing its defini-tions in terms which, while they may sharpen the presentation, yet may also limit the scope of the term unduly. One suggestion, however, has seemed deserving of consideration, and that is to mention in the definition the interpretative aspect of the accountant's work. The committee's definition might therefore be amended to read:
Accounting is the art of recording, classifying and summarizing in a significant manner and in terms of money, transactions and events which are, in part at least, of a financial character, and interpreting the results thereof.
1 Accounting Research Bulletin No. 7, p. 58.
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May, 1941