THE NEW ORDER

Evening Star, Issue 22382, 4 July 1936, Page 12

THE NEW ORDER

REORGANISATION OF BUSINESS ' Changing Conditions Demand New Vision ' is the 'apt title of the leading article in the current issue of the ,»lew Zealand ' Accountants' Journal. The writer states emphatically that recent prospective legislation increases tile importance of cost-accounting in industrial and commercial enterprise ''A complete costing system," he declares, "should be a fount of information to all executives from the managing director down to the shop foreman, and it is essential that the information should be available quickly. If there is ,1 range of products it is still more important that the system be so arranged as to show the separate costs of each article, and to bring: out clearly how well each section of the plant is doing. Tho provision of adequate cost records has passed the experimental stage. It has been triedand has yielded dividends in most progressive plants. " The use of graphs in the presentation of accounting reports is another feature which deserves consideration. The exhibition of business and accounting facts by written reports and statistical tables is often necessary, but the facts and figures can be brought more clearly to light by intelligent use of graphs. It is easier to see than to think, and therefor© it is more simple to grasp a picture than a bald statement of facts. Experience has shown, for example, that vital details can be more intelligently appreciated by the public by the graphic method of presentation. "In the past business leaders have been too prone to think that the accounting department should remain as a mere annex to the organisation instead of making it an essential and important part of the business. It is perhaps trite to say that any business is organised for the purpose of producing a profit, and that when profits cannot be produced the business is a failure. There would perhaps be no need for a costing system if there were no competition, but as costs are likely to rise and competition calculated to be. even keener, the use of accurate cost information must of necessity ever, increase in importance in the establishing of business policies and the shaping of manufacturing programmes and selling campaigns upon a sound foundation. "If members of the accountancy profession arc to take their proper place in connection with the new conditions which are imminent, it is necessary to fully realise the movements which are afoot. Only by the introduction of correct accounting and adequate cost records, backed by sound business organisation j will those in charge of trade and industry be in a position to meet the exigencies of tho situation. Never probably was there a greater opportunity for accountants than there is to-day. There is a clarion call for them to put on their :t thinking caps ' if the profession is to maintain its old-time prestige and add further lustre to its reputation."