REGISTERED ACCOUNTANTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14006, 15 September 1909, Page 6

REGISTERED ACCOUNTANTS.

To the Editor of the "Tiniaru Herald." Sir. —I wish to refer to a list of '•registered accountants" which appeared in your paper 011 the 13tli inst. It is understood, l>y not a few, that the names appearing under that heading have passed a difficult examination. Therefore, in defence of those who have spent years of study necessary to gain the A.I.A.N.Z. degree, and others who.have been "real" accountants for a great many years in commercial houses, J. desire to correct this erroneous impression. It was necessary for persons wishing to be registered under the Act to produce a document signed by an employer rr at least one who was in a position to know the "facts" that the ambitious persons had acted as accountant for three years at least in a business, and further to include with the application the sum of one guinea. It therefore appears very strange to sec among the list, names of iuniors who have merely assisted 111 posting ledgers, or acted_ in a similar position in a hank, figuring with names of men who have gained a "real" degree after years of study. It is very evident many of the "registered" ones have a very slight knowledge of the hundred and one intricacies of accountancy, and I should be very sorry for them were they to attempt to draw up a .balance-sheet for a large commercial house. I venture to add that a man who has had say twenty years' experience of "bank" accountancy could very easily be tripped Tip in auditing the books of any largo mercantile firm or public company. I have myself had ten years' experience in book-keeping in various commercial houses, and have taken out balance-sheets for such firms many times, but I fully realise how very little I know of that branch of business which can only be acquired by years of study or many years of practical experience.—l am, etc., AMUSED.