Page images
PDF
EPUB

The American Association of Public Accountants.

SUMMARY OF THE MORE IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING, OCTOBER 15, 16, AND 17, 1907, ST. Paul, Minn. For the information of those who were unable to attend the Annual Meeting held recently at St. Paul, and pending the issuance of a new Year Book and the printing of the full proceedings in THE JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTANCY, the officers of the American Association have issued the following summary of the more important features of the proceedings:

MORNING SESSION:

Monday, October 14.

There was a special meeting of the Executive Committee for the purpose of disposing of the routine business.

AFTERNOON SESSION:

A special meeting of the Board of Trustees was held for the purpose of considering the reports of officers and committees to be submitted to the general meeting and for the purpose of passing on applications for membership.

The public accountants of Louisiana were admitted to membership subject to the provisions (1) that they should form an unincorporated body, with the word "Certified" omitted from the title, composed of members of the incorporated society called "The Certified Public Accountants of Louisiana," and (2) that such members of the Louisiana Society are eligible in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution of The American Association of Public Accountants. The membership of the Louisiana Society in the American Association is to date from the time the Society qualifies under these provisions.

MORNING SESSION:

Tuesday, October 15.

The regular general meeting of the Association convened in the reception room of The Commercial Club, of St. Paul, at 10 o'clock. The President of the Association introduced Mr. Temple, President of the Minnesota Society of Public Accountants, who, on behalf of his Society, the host of the occasion, made an address of welcome and introduced a representative of his Excellency, the Governor of the State of Minnesota, his Honor, the Mayor of the City of St. Paul, and the President of The Commercial Club, all of whom made addresses of welcome.

The roll-call showed that all State societies, with the exception of Georgia and Michigan, were represented by delegates. A proxy from the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants was received after the Committee on Credentials had reported. In addition to the delegates there were a number of Fellows-at-Large and Associates-at-Large present. The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was held, concluding the

consideration of matters brought before the special meeting of the Board the day before.

AFTERNOON SESSION:

This meeting was devoted principally to the consideration of the reports of the Board of Trustees, Officers, and Committees. All of those presented to the general meeting will be published in detail in the next issue of the Year Book.

The report of the Committee on By-Laws was given immediate consideration. Numerous important changes were adopted. Among other things an amendment was passed to strike out the provision for semiannual meetings. There was also passed an amendment providing for an Arbitration Board for the purpose of considering differences between the State societies, members, etc.; and another providing for a standing Committee on Rules.

There was an appropriation of $3,600 made for the general use of the Association during the ensuing year.

The Minnesota Society entertained the members of the Association at luncheon, and at a reception in the evening at the St. Paul Commercial Club.

MORNING SESSION:

Wednesday, October 16.

[ocr errors]

Mr. J. E. Sterrett (Penn.) presented a paper on Professional Ethics" (printed in full in THE JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTANCY for October). A discussion on the subject followed, participated in by Messrs. John Alexander Cooper (Ill.), Franklin Allen (N. Y.), Robert H. Montgomery (Penn), and Francis Gottsberger (N. Y.). Messrs. Sterrett and Cooper entered further into the discussion in regard to some points that had been brought out.

Following this there was an address on “The Certified Public Accountant Movement," by Mr. Charles N. Vollum (Penn.).

[ocr errors]

A discussion on "Education and its Relation to Public Accountancy was opened by Professor Joseph French Johnson, Dean of the New York University School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance, and participated in by Professor John H. Gray, of the University of Minnesota; Mr. Seymour Walton (Ill); Professor S. W. Gilman, University of Wisconsin; and Professor W. H. Robinson, University of Illinois. There were also present Professor Robinson, University of Minnesota; Professor Heine, University of Iowa; and Professor Pierson, University of Pennsylvania.

AFTERNOON SESSION:

There was an address by Mr. Thomas P. Ryan (N. Y.), on the subject of "The Accountant in the World of Affairs."

The reports of presidents of various State societies were presented, and, by resolution of the Association, the President was authorized in his discretion to print all or part of these reports in the proceedings.

A resolution was adopted authorizing a new special Committee on Federal Recognition.

There were present as guests of the Association:

The Dominion Association of Chartered Accountants represented
by its President, Mr. A. F. C. Ross, of Montreal.

The Association of Accountants in Montreal, also represented by
Mr. Ross.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba, represented
by Mr. W. Sidney Ronald, President, and Mr. W. A. Henderson,
Secretary.

Mr. Ross responded to the welcome extended the Societies which he represented, and Mr. Henderson acknowledged the welcome extended to his Society.

Invitations were extended by Mr. Fowlie, President, on behalf of The Colorado Society of Public Accountants, to meet as the guests of that Society at Denver, Colorado, and by Mr. Vollum, on behalf of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, to meet as the guests of that Society at Atlantic City, New Jersey. The invitation of the Pennsylvania Institute to meet at Atlantic City was accepted.

The following officers and trustees were elected for the ensuing year: Elijah W. Sells (N. Y.), President; T. Cullen Roberts (N. J.), Secretary; H. T. Westermann (Mo.), Treasurer; Auditors: H. A. Keller (Ohio), Alexander E. Fowlie (Col.); Trustees to serve for three years: J. E. Sterrett (Penn.), J. P. Joplin (Ill.), J. S. M. Goodloe (Ohio).

The following Honorary Members were unanimously elected: Professor Joseph French Johnson, New York University School of Commerce, Accounts, and Finance; Dr. Edward Sherwood Meade, Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania; Professor David Kinley, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Illinois.

The Annual Banquet of the Association was held in the evening at the Hotel Aberdeen. Colonel Franklin Allen (N. Y.) presided as Toastmaster. The toasts were as follows: "The President of the United States," Hon. E. A. Jaggard; "The American Association of Public Accountants," Herbert M. Temple; "The Public Accountant," Adam A. Ross, Jr.; “The Public Accountant and the Banker," George E. Roberts; "Education of the Public Accountant," Professor Ward W. Pierson, Professor John H. Gray; "The Public Accountant and the Lawyer in Commercial Enterprises," Albert N. Eastman; “The Public Accountant from a National Standpoint," Hon. Frank M. Nye, M. C.; “C. P. A. Legislation," S. S. Gregory; "Accountants of Western Canada," S. Sidney Ronald; Our Guests," Theo. F. Smith; "The West," Alex. E. Fowlie; "The Ladies," Professor Joseph French Johnson.

[ocr errors]

MORNING SESSION:

Thursday, October 17.

Trolley cars conveyed the members of the Association and guests to Minneapolis, where a meeting was held in the Mayor's reception room in the City Hall, a welcome being extended by a representative of his Honor, the Mayor. Acknowledgment was made, on behalf of the Association, by Mr. Thomas L. Berry (Md.).

The newly elected Treasurer, Mr. Westermann (Mo.), was installed, and addressed the Association, the President and Secretary continuing in office.

Resolutions expressing the appreciation and thanks of the Association to our host, the Minnesota Society of Public Accountants, for the cordial hospitality and generous entertainment given, and to the 1907 Meeting Committee for the arrangements, were enthusiastically and unanimously adopted.

The meeting then adjourned. The trolley ride was resumed, and a visit made to Minnehaha Falls. On the return the members were entertained at luncheon by the Minnesota State Society at the St. Paul Town and Country Club.

AFTERNOON SESSION:

The Board of Trustees held a meeting and appointed the following Executive Committee: The President, as Chairman; the Secretary, the Treasurer, Franklin Allen (N. Y.), Thomas P. Ryan (N. Y.), J. E. Sterrett (Penn.), A. A. Ross, Jr. (Penn.).

In a book arranged for the purpose by the Minnesota Society, over fifty delegates, members, and guests were registered. A number of ladies also attended the meetings.

The meetings were generally conceded to have been the most interesting and profitable for the profession of accountancy ever held in this country.

A resolution was passed authorizing the issuance of a bound Year Book for 1907, at $1.00 per copy, and Mr. H. T. Westermann, Treasurer, address, Chemical Building, St. Louis, Missouri, was appointed to receive subscriptions.

The Accountancy Publishing Company will issue in book form a full report of the proceedings and discussions at the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Public Accountants. To members of the Association the book will be sold for $1. Subscriptions should be sent to Mr. Westermann or to Mr. T. Cullen Roberts, 56 Pine Street, New York City. As few extra copies will be printed, members desiring the book should not delay their subscriptions.

City Government by Commission.*

BY HARVEY S. CHASE.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:

If I can add anything to your discussion it should be along the lines of accountancy.

There are in my opinion no matters more important than those of prompt and correct accounting in municipal affairs. Were the facts of maladministration, of wastes of public money and of comparative costs of municipal work properly brought out into full publicity it is my opinion that the greater part of our present evils would disappear.

Therefore in any discussion of government by commission, which I prefer to call "government by executive council," or "government by municipal directors," the necessity for standardizing and unifying the methods of accounting and the forms of municipal reports is fundamental. We cannot efficiently bring about reforms until we have been fully informed of the conditions which we desire to improve.

Nothing is so efficacious in financial matters as comparisons of results which should be similar but which are found to vary greatly. The deadly parallel is the accountant's most powerful weapon. The success of all great businesses are based upon promptly made comparisons backed up by standard and uniform systems of accounts.

We need such systems in all cities. We need them in Massachusetts as in other states, we need them in Boston under present conditions and we shall need them still more if Boston should finally come under a 'government by executive council."

66

Emphasis cannot be laid too heavily upon this requirement. Without it the city would be wholly at the mercy of unscrupulous men should such be put in control of the council. With an effective accounting and reporting system, properly supervised by the state if necessary, so arranged that complete publicity must be given to all actions of the council and to all financial results, such a concentration of power and responsibility in a small council would be reasonable and safe. Especially would this be the case if the power of recall is retained by the electorate as provided in the Des Moines charter.

In preparing for government by municipal directors the division of city functions among the directors should be carefully considered. Particularly so for the reason that a uniform classification of municipal functions and a grouping of these under divisional heads has already been provided by the United States Census Bureau, which is applied by it to all cities throughout the country.

This classification is based upon the earlier distribution of the National Municipal League, which has been adopted not only by the Census, but by a number of states and by many individual cities.

In the division of functions as made at Galveston, Houston, and even at Des Moines, sufficient attention has not been given to the requirements Abstract of address before the Boston City Club, October 24, 1907.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »