INCORPORATED INSTITUTE OP ACCOUNTANTS.

Evening Star, Issue 11453, 22 January 1901, Page 3

INCORPORATED INSTITUTE OP ACCOUNTANTS.

MR W. BROWN'S REPORT. A. meeting of fellows and associates of the Incorporated Institute of Accountants of New Zealand was held yesterday afternoon to receive Mr William Brown's report as delegate to the recent Conference of Institutes of Accountants in Sydney. There were present—Mr W. Brown (ex-president), Mr Peter Barr (local secretary), and Messs A. Bartlemao, W. L. Simpson, Walter Hislop, A. J. C. Brown, C. S. Reeves, A. H. Maclean, J. Farquharson, C. R, Smith, and Peter Hercus. Mr T. K Harty and- others sent apologies

. Mr Brown said he did not regard it as in any way a formal meeting, but havin" come back after representing the Institute in bydney and also at meeting in Wellington, he had asked the members to come together in an informal way in order that he might give them an idea of what Ud been done Calling at Auckland, they had a very gratifying reception from the members of the Institute there, who convened a meeting and gave the delegates an introduction to the friends in the North. The coming Conference at Sydney was of course, discussed, and suggestions exchanged as to the business to be dealt with. Next, he had to acknowledge the very hearty manner in which the members of the Sydney Institute had received Mr Gnndrv and himself as delegates. The heart of Sydney had been apparently enlarged towards its neighbors on this occasion, and the local Institute had received the delegates with open arms, making very elaborate arrangements so that they might see Sydney and thoroughly enjoy themselves. It "was certainly worth going a long way to receive such hospitality as was showered upon the delegates. They were made to feel thoroughly at home. Other delegates were received in the same way, and spoke with great gratification of the fraternal reception. The Sydney folk provided a programme which not only dealt with a number of matters of interest to accountants, but also included a theatre party, a message from Mars, a harbor picnic,' and so on, the delegates being also taken for a trip up the Parramatta River and then given a fine view of the Commonwealth aquatic display. As to the business part of the proceedings, the first forenoon was devoted to the settlement of questions that had arisen as between Adelaide. Sydnev, and Melbourne. There were no few'er tnan six Institutes represented : first on the list, according to alphabetical order, being the Incorporated Institute of Accountants of New Zealand, then the Queensland Institute of Accountants (incorporated), the Institute of Accountants in South Australia (incorporated), the Sydney Institute of Public Accountants, the Tasmanian Institute of Accountants, and the Incorporated Institute of Accountants of Victoria. Two or three representatives from each of these, bodies were present. The afternoon sitting was for delegates from all the Institutes, the members of the Sydnev Institute beinjr also present, and at that sitting four papers were read. One was bv Mr A. W. Cleveland, of Melbourne, on Trustee Companies, their Books, Accounts, and Audit.' That led to a pretty general and lively discussion. Two or three of the delegates had been auditors of that class of companies, and what they had to say wa:; commented on by other delegates. Then they had another paper on "Federation and the Profession of Accountancy,' by Mr J. Edwin Thomas, ox Adelaide; the third was on " The Duties and Liabilities of Trustees,' by Mr Tuns. Welsby. of Queensland ; and that was followed by a paper on 'Goodwill.' by Mr W. H. Gnndry, of Christchurch, who was associated with him (Mr Brown) in representing New Zealand. That paper ied to n Hvelv discussion. The subject, of "goodwill" was one that naturally led those who advocated its continuance in halancn-sheets as well as those, who opposed that method into extremes nf illustration, and the discussion was, he thought, enjoyed bv all the accountants present. Then, dealing with the 2.30 p.m. sitting the next dav, thev had a paprr by Mr O. T. Lane, of Adelaide, on 'Legislative Recognition nf Accountancy as a Profession,' and another by Mr F. N. Yarwood. of Sydney, on ' Our Institutes, their Future Position and Unties in Australasia." Looking at. the programme for that, day he (Mr Brown) found to his horror and surprise that, there was to be a paper f-n 'Accountancy' by Mr Brown, of New Zealand. As he hajl had no notice of this it rather staggered him. He had, however, taken the precaution to put into his b'-ig before leaving a paper by Dr Milne on the subject nf law examinations, and he read that. It being a. short paper, he had an opportunity-of speaking generally on the subject of 'Examinations,' and in doing so he expressed himself especially to the syllabus for examinations, giving it. as his opinion that there should be one examination in law instead of separating law into two branches, and that there should be one examiner in law in each place. He also advocated the introduction of general knowledge subjects. These remarks gave rise to a general discussion, but no resolutions were proposed, as the meeting -n-as attended by many invited friends who were not and all were sitting together. It is intended to print the papers read, and probably the discussions which followed, in pamphlet form, and members will therefore be put in possession of them later on though there was no set programme at the 11.00 a.m. meetings, it was manifest that there was in existence a feeling that there shonld be a closer affiliation of the various bodies. In regard to this question the Victorian men were situated somewhat differwl t, t^r. 0 ' New south Wales. The Sydney Instituted constitution was rather of the conservative order the membership being confined to those who were practising as public accountants, the Victorian Institute, on the other hand had opened their doors to men of proved ability. Opportunity was given to discus this question. Two or three delegates advocated the formation of a federated institute somewhat on the lines of the Svdnev Institute, recognising as eligible for membership only those who were practising as public accountants. He (Mr Brown)^dissented from that view, savin"- thev were there as a Conference from' Institutes that had varying conditions of membership and pointing out that he did not feel himself at liberty to vote for a constitution which would exclude some of those who had sent him as a delegate to the Conference. Something had also been said about the need for obtaining Legislative recognition, and he called attention to the fact that unless the Institutes represented numbers they would not have much title to such recognition, nor have a chance of getting it, since anything that looked like the creation of a monopoly would be bound to meet with o—ositiou. He fol lowed up his remarks by sketching out half a dozen resolutions. The first simply affirmed the fact that the Conference desired to form a Federated Institute. The word " Federated" happened to be an unfortunate selection, because in Melbourne there was already an Institute which went by the name of the Federated Institute; so "after some consideration, the Conference dropped that word out of the title and substituted "Australasian." As amended the motion was passed unanimously. The next resolution, that a committee be set up to frame a constitution, was also passed unani-

mously. The third was to the effect that upon the completion of their work the Committee should remit the draft constitution to the various Institutes for their consideration and report. ' That also passed unanimously. Another resolution provided that after the affiliated Institutes had reported the Committee should convene another conference to consider the amendments and report. That also was passed unanimously. Then came the motion that was the crux of the whole matter, to' the effect that the foundation •members of the Institute should comprise all the members of the six affiliated Institutes the titles of which he had just given. That proposition was lost on the voices. The other motion was one that he had a difficulty about, and had to ask the president's assistance —namely, •t he appointment of a committee to frame the constitution. Most of the delegates had been strangers to him, therefore he asked for the president's assistance. The president suggested that the committee should consist of two representatives from the Sydney, two from the Victorian, and two from the South Australian Institutes. He (Mr Brown) accepted this, although it was placing the acheme in the hands of the very men who had voted against the extended membership. Inasmuch, however, as the Conference had already decided that the draft constitution should be remitted to members of the several Institutes, he saw on reflection that the principle was pretty safe.. He had already mentioned the discussion on examinations, and would now proceed to say something about the results of the examinations of the past year as conducted by four Svdney gentlemen—Messrs Horace Allard, *C. T ; Starkey, F. N. Yarwood, and W. Cullen Ward—who deserved the highest credit for the care aud the time they voluntarily devoted to the work. To give some idea of the task the examiners undertook he might mention that there were seven papers covering six subjects ; most of these had ten questions each—that made seventy, and as there were sixty candidates it meant about 4,000 answers to questions. He had with him the report of the markings of the candidates' papers and the results of the work in each branch of the syllabus. The s\llabus laid down the conditions that candidates for admission as fellow were required to pass in five subjects, of which bookkeeping and accounts and auditing were compulsory, with a minimum of 75 per tent, in each subject, and to obtain an aggregate of no? less than 475 marks, whilst candidates for the degree of associate were required to pass in four subjects, of which bookkeeping ai.d accounts and auditing were compulsorv, with a minimum of 65 per cent, in each subject, and to obtain an aggregate of not less than 400 marks. There were not a great number of passes. Out of the ;.ixiy candidates twenty-one passed, or 35 per'ent.. and of these New Zealand had eighteen candidates and six passes, or 53j j.er cent., whilst two others were not quite up to the mark in the compulsory subjects, ?nd were asked to come up again. As to the aggregates, he figured it out that the six New Zealanders who passed averaged 497?, whilst the successful candidates from elsewhere averaged 489 i. This showed most commendable work on the part of the New Zealanders. He had also to mention the gratifying and interesting fact that the highest honors in the compulsory subject of bookkeeping had fallen to their friend Mr Peter Hercus, of Dunedin, now sitting with the members for the first time.— (Applause.) An Australian took second place, and another Dunedin man, Mr C. R. Smith, of Park, Reynolds's office, was third. —(Applause.) Another satisfactory feature was that Mr Hercus's aggregate 'was ike highest of the sixty candidates—(renewed applause)—he scoring 563. Tho second aggregate was 561, the third 555, and then Mr Smith, of Dunedin, again dropped in with 523, tieing at that with an Australian. Mr Hercus alone had complied fully with the conditions of the syllabus which entitled a candidate to take the position, of fellow. He (Mr Brown) heartily congratulated Mr Hercus on his success.—(Applause,) In closing the Conference, Mr Robertson, the president of the Sydney Institute, and the president-elect, invited delegates to send in suggestions with regard to the new Institute,, and he.(Mr Brown) embraced the opportunity by sending'in the following suggestions:— 1. Name: United Australasian—Colonial - Intercolonial—Australasian Institute of Accountants. 2. Branches at the several affiliated centre?. 3. Foundation members to include the membership of the branches as at a fixed date. 4. New members by examination only or examination plus a period of practice. 5. Degrees of the branches to be retained, or equivalent degrees constituted, to ensure uniformity of designation of members. 6. Associates (or the equivalents) to be admitted as fellows (or equivalent) without further examination after a period devoted to practice, whether public or in employment. 7. Provision to be. made for an upper gTatle of membership with extended experience or qualifications. 8. Model articles of association to be adopted by the branches, making conditions uniform throughout. 9. Entrance fees and subscriptions to be uniform and graded according to degree. X Associates. XX Fellows. XXX Upper.Crust. 10. Proportion of fees (25 per cent. ?) to be paid by branches to the United Institute, or n. rate, levied upon former in proportion to membership, to meet expenses. 11. Examinations : Uniform in all branchescommercial law exclusive. . ' 12. Law to be reserved for local examinations. 13. Degrees conferred by the Federated Institute to be used only at the branches where the members have passed the local examinations. 14. Members on removing from one branch to another to pass another examination in law at their new sphere of practice. Having dealt with the business at Sydney, he had further to report as to the meetings in Wellington. Tt was arranged that there should be a meeting there before going over to Sydney to carry out the alterations in the articles of association which had been contemplated long ago, but delayed till the Institutes here were in touch with Australia. This business was duly fixed up at the meeting referred to, and on thencalling at Wellington on the way back from Sydnsy the second meeting was held to confirm the amendments. The main feature of the alterations wia the striking out of the articles the clauses providing for a certain course of examination. The framing of the course of examination would in the future be left for the Council to deal with so as to have it uniform with that of Australia. Another important alteration was that after a period of five years an associate who had passed his examination would be admitted as a fellow. And a vote was now given to associates, who previously had no voting power. A fellow would have two votes and an associate one. The only other alteration of importance was that the members of Council • hitherto allotted to Napier would now be drawn from the whole colony irrespective of residence. In conclusion, he had to thank members for the patient hearing they had given him, and to express the hope that the New Zealand Institute would flourish. The older members gathered no pecuniarv benefit from it so far as he was a.ware, but it raised the standard of the profession, and those who followed, being admitted by examination, would feel the benefits even more than they did. Mr S'impson proposed and Mr Reeves seconded a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Brown for the way he had represented the Institute at the Conference and for his address, and this having been duly acknowledged the meeting terminated Looking through the examination report above alluded to, we find that the six New Zealanders who passed made the following marks: °

1 Bookkeeping. |. Audit. 1 Trustees' receivers. Insolvency. 1.1 - 111 r "3 1 £ Kerens.Dunedin ... 16686,65 868080 563 U K. Smith Dunedm 16177 50 S3S671 528 U 0. Sutton Chmtch'h 138 76 51 78,75&> 4M 0. R.Bendall,WelhnK'n 133 65 42 858* 468 A. C. Bushell, Christch'h 13073 52 fifi 75lft2 5s«