WATCH ON COSTS AND WASTE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 15 November 1937, Page 8

WATCH ON COSTS AND WASTE

2000 ACCOUNTANTS IN BRITISH POST OFFICE Sir Walter Womerslcy, M.P. (Assistant Postmaster-General) remarked at a recent meeting of Accountants in London that the British Post Office employed a staff of accountants two thousand strong. The work of this staff was very varied. One department dealt with all financial matters relating to foreign services, and another with problems of exchange and currency. The need for these departments would be gathered from the fact that the Post Office had dealings with 150 foreign and Colonial postal administrations. Another department was engaged in checking wages, salaries and figures of all kinds, and still another was occupied with statistics. The Post Office also relied on the help of accountants in calculating the cost of future developments, and in dealing with the surplus. In regard to the latter, he was sure accountants would appreciate his difficulties when he told them he had two sets of accounts —treasury and commercial. As one of the political heads of the Post Office, he thanked the accountancy profession for its help. Sir Walter said that, as he recognised accountancy as one of the most important professions in the country, he had recently articled his son to it. There v/as a certain amount of foresight in this step. They were threatened in these days with increasing nationalisation and socialisation of industry and commerce. But even if this came about, there would still be need for accountants to check the politicians, if for nothing else. It was an otd story that figures could not lie, but because liars could figure they had to have accountants. (Laughter). Hence lie thought lie was a wise father in putting his son into the profession. Accountants were once regarded as expensive luxuries, but they were not so to-day. He would like to see the present-day business which did not depend on accountants for putting it right, not only in its income lax figures, but in its general methods of carrying on. lie had a friend who controlled one of the largest businesses of ils kind in the world, who told him that; the great turning-point in it was the introduction of an accountancy department for keeping a careful watch on costs and waste.