ACCOUNTANCY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 608, 10 September 1909, Page 6

ACCOUNTANCY.

RAISING ITS STATUS. INSTITUTE'S ANNUAL MEETING. SPEECH BY MR. H. C. TEWSLEY. The annual meeting of the " Incorporated istitute of Accountants of Now Zealand as held at the Chamber of Commerce last ght.. Mr. H. C. Tcwsley presided, and tose present. included leading accountants om different centres. . . The report, which was read by the .secrecy V shows- that the- regular examination as held in October last,'and was, as before, inducted in-conjunction with the Victorian istitute. The institute, sent up 115 candi-* ites, of whom eight passed as Fellows and "rty-fh'P as-Associates.', The names of the indidat-es who obtained tho highest aggrcate marks, were (in ordor. of merit): —E. S.. foams, Fellow; H. H. H. Ahearn, Fellowj Anderson, Associate; Membership; of' he institute, at the beginning of the year' ;as. 263, - consisting of -139 Fellows, 98 ; Asso-.. lates, and 26; students. There were lost.b,v assignation two Fellows, one Associate, -and; v'e',stud&its.. \ Eight Associates were pro*, loted to'tho'Fellowship. At tho'examination ight were successful as: Fellows, and 35; as issociates..', Of the eight Follows, five were hort of tbe. required ago to be, admitted as 'ellows, and were entitled for the time being nly to rank as Associates. . Of this; five, owever, two .were already on the register s Associates', as was also one of . the three r-ho qualified, for;admission as-Fellow. , Of he 35 Associates, two'are not of-ago yet to s admitted, and one was 'already on the roister of students. Thus the.tiumber on the egis'ter at the ; end of the year was 292, onsisting'of "148.-Fellows, 124 Associates, nd 20 students. Tho formation of the new ooiety-r-incorporated undor the - New . Zsaind Society of Accountants Act, 1908—is rell_ under way.. A very largo;number 'of pplic'ations have been by ; the oard, 'and 'tlieso are being- carefully . and ystematically examined.' The society ' has een actually-formed by the registration of dm© twenty, of. the applicants; but beforo he next step (tho election of a council) an be taken, the sifting: process must of ecessity be-completed, so that tho persons uajilied to vote in the different districts may -e.(ascertained. Tho future of the institute 3 a question- that has no doubt excrcised he minds' of all, but until the new-society, 3 actually ;iri'- working order, it is necessary hat -the Institute should ; continue as at iresent. : The/'united efforts; of - the, two ounoils in connection'with the'legislation of ist year'had brought about, ati excellent mderstanding-'between- tho - two bodies overning accountancy in the Dominion. The juried : views ' with ' plcasnro the continued progress of the Accountant Student Societies in 'Wellington' and Duiiedin, and .considor's them most valuable'adjuncts to tho iiistituto. The President's Address. Tho president, in moving the adoption of the report,-said ho had to 'congratulate members- on' I .,the, pbsitioii of the. institute's affairs, .as compared with previous years. The membership totalled 292, as. against 263 in the previous : year. ' The finaricial condition was- equally satisfactory. Income exceeded expenditure by £115 14s. 4d. Last year the excess of expenditure over income was £-10 2s. --3d.'', Furthermore, the balance of accumulated assets' had increased to; £639 2s. sd; He was sorry ,to have'again..to report thatthe . institute's . endeavour's-:-, to obtain a larger competition list for tho essay prizes" had been disappointingly small; Only six papers had been sent in on : l, Tho Value of Depreciation in. a Manufacturing Concern and .'a Trading Company." The quality of tho; paper's sent 'in, however;-'wa6 decidedly good, and all "of them showed carcful 'study and personality. First . prizo .', .wa{ awarded to Mil Allen, and . second* to; Mr. Hardwicke. Tho Students' Society : 'con; tinned to do, valuable work, in: both • Dnnedin and 'Wellington, and in the latter centr« .there had been a " strong /indication ol ,vitality; It was very - pleasing' to. be ablt to announce that the 'board appointed, undei the. new;. Society of. Accountants;. Act-,: .had practically • completed .. tho registration ,ol accountants under the Act of 1908, and- thai the list'' of successful applicants -would : b( published at ; once. There had. ,been ,som< delay in the completion of this task, hut if had "to be remembered that there .were 251J applications 'to ;deal 'with, many of whicl were unsatisfactory for' -yarions .'.reasons', anc entailed a considerable , amount ,pf ; furthei evidence and correspondence beforo a ■ firia result could ;bo -arrived at. It was to hi regretted t'oat.''.through. the newspaper! 'some exception had: been taken to tlio actior of; tho .board - with regard to the appoint monts. This was probably duo.to.notTealis ing tho responsibility of the board, aw that in' referring ; to responsible !men outsid< they were: acting in the best interests o: tho. profession generally. The board simpli obtained advice, and considered it in- con junction with other evidence. : The non society would start: with about : 2091- mom bers.'" " v-; ; ' He hoped that only the oldest and broad est minded amongst, the new members -wouk be - selected to ' ' frame tho \ . constitu tion' and- -'laws of ' the new [society There should be no difficulty in arranging for the new society to take over the instt tuteVresponsibilities-with regard to examin ations partially, completed, • and, such 'being tho c-aso, it did not-appear to him that 'theri could be any object m',their.continuing'ii existence for more than the incoming year It would be. well to look the position square!; ■in the face, as it was no"use overlooking _th< fact-that in the. advent .of the new'society the institute's career was. at an .end. ; V • i Other Speakers. Mr. James Brown .(Dunedin) vice-presi-dent, in seconding the - motion, - said he regretted that the excellent example of the Accountant Students' Society in Wellington had not: been followed in other centres. Thero. had been ;.a falling-off in tho Dunedin Soinety. back upon the good'work dorie '.'by ' the instituted arid the friendships found under its auspices,- and realising now that .it;, was about'., to . pass; away, one fell somewhat; as'if .one were standing by the bedside of a dying friend. Hi was sure tho president's - servioes in connection with' the now. society had been of very great value.' ! Mr. W. Jack (Wellington) thought : the time bad hardly come , for a funeral, oration.' Mr. Spencer Hampson (Nelson) also suggested that the time'for disbanding the institute was not very, close at hand. ..The'new society'would have 2100 members, but 'the two existing societies had an aggregate membership of; only 600. : Mr; Peter Barr (Duncdiii) said that as long as the members of the-institute cared -to stand together, he would never dream: of resigning' from it, but he thought it : would probably have to be disbanded in a couple of years or so. The board had no intention of-handing over its funds', to the new society., ,' ■ ...', ■: " '. Mr; J, S. Barton (Wellington) said- that at'the, end of another year they, would know many things that, were now only conjecture, and; he thought it better to.say nothing at present in connection with any policy, of standing together or:rnkning a "ticket." Mr. C. P. Powles' (Wellington) - said discussion on- the closing of the' institute was premature. _ The president said he' did not think the institute should look to continue its Separate existence. It should 1 merge its identity in the new society to make the latter what it ought to bo. . '.; The report, and balance-sheet were adopted, and the president was. thanked for his address. " Election ot Officers. -The following retiring . members of the council were re-elected: — Messrs. W. .W. Bruce (Auckland), W. B, Hudson (Wellington), R. O. Dnncan (Christchurch), P. Barr (Duncdiu), W. B. Scandrett (country districts). . Mr, J., L. Arcus was appointed auditor. A' voto of thanks was accorded to the council on the proposition of Mr. D. T. Stuart. ' At a subsequent meeting: of the council, Mr. Jamos Brown (Dunedin) was elected president, and Mr. W. W. Bruco (Auckland) vice-president for the ensuing year. .