ACCOUNTANCY COURSE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 20 June 1936, Page 3

ACCOUNTANCY COURSE

DELETION OF ECONOMICS

INCLUSION OF SECRETARIAL LAW AND PRACTICE

The Council of the New Zealand Society of Accountants has adopted a recommendation of its Education Committee that the subject of economics should be deleted from the syllabus of the professional course and that a paper on secretarial law and prac-. tice should be included. The question of change over from the present syllabus to the new one was referred to the Education Committee, with an instruction to report to the next meeting of the Council in October. Mr G. W. Reid stated that the logical place for economicif Kvas in the B.Com. course. It was not a desirable j subject for young students of immature mentality. They had to give so I much time to the useful professional | subjects that they found it difficult to 1 give adequate attention to economics. 1 A mere smattering of this subject was : no good. j Mr W. A. Smith (Christchurch) re- 1 marked that a leading economist had ; assured him that economics by itself, ; was not of great value in the professional course. It would need to be , taken with economic geography and , economic history. i, Mr H. Valentine (Wellington) said that accountancy bodies overseas took ! subjects outside book-keeping, audit- * ing and law. He referred to a number of accountancy bodies which included economics in their prescriptions. They - recognised that a proper study of this < subject was beneficial to an account- 1 ant. It helped to develop the reason- ' ing faculties. . I

Mr A. M. Seaman (Auckland) stated that he oelieved the professional examination would be better "without ; economics in its present form in the prescription, but it would be difficult: to find a suitable form in which it could be included. He held that ecenomics was not a cultural subject. The Society, with the University, had 1 the whole of the machinery to enable students to take up economics and 1 other subjects after the completion of the professional course. | Mr M. S. Spence (Napier) said that he would like to associate himself with Mr Valentine in defence of eco- ' nomics—a study which in these days was helpful to every, citizen, particularly an accountant. |, Mr E. D. Wilkinson (Wellington) ' said that as one who had been obliged to pass in economics for the profes- - sionai course he believed that it was > neither cultural nor practical. Many economic notions which had been held to be sound up to the year 1914 had been upset since then. Great authori- , ties now differed on fundamental mat- j ters. Self-styled economists were advancing theories which were highly ,

dangerous. ■: The president (Mr C. H. Wyn- ' 1 yard, New Plymouth) remarked : that other professions (law, modi- : cine, architecture, and so. on) did ; not go outside the scope of their pro- ] fesisons in their examinations. It was mentioned by Mr Reid that the three main accountancy ,bodies in Australia did not, and have economics in their professional courses. It was necessary that pro- . fessiona! and cultural courses should not be taken simultaneously. The real education of an accountant began after the completion of his examination. BOOK-KEEPING IN THREE i STAGES | It was resolved to have book-keep-ing in three stages instead of two. The prescription of Stage 1 would be extended. so that the examination would be less elementary than it was at present. STATISTICAL METHOD

The Education Committee’s rejection of a proposal for the inclusion of statistical method was confirmed by Ihe council. It was stated by Mr Reid that this subject was allied with economics. It would be difficult to devise a satisfactory prescription. He could not see any practical way of including it in the professional course. Mr Seaman remarked that he had discussed this matter with Mr L. W. Holt (of the School of Commerce, Auckland University), whose opinion ! was similar to Mr Reid’s. MECHANICAL ACCOUNTING Mr S. E. Lambert (Wellington) said ' that mechanical accounting, which had i developed remarkably, should have ■ some place in the prescription. Mr Reid declared that it would be difficult to draw up a suitable question on that subject. Each mechanical , system had its own special points. I Mr Seaman held that the prescrip- j tion for Book-keeping. Stage 111, was made wide enough to include a knowledge of mechanical accounting.