GOVERNMENT CONTROL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21574, 9 February 1940, Page 11

GOVERNMENT CONTROL

POSITION OF ACCOUNTANCY In an editorial article on “Government Control and the Accountancy Profession,” “The Accountant” (London), which is recognised as the world’s leading publication in the sphere of accountancy, makes some important points which are of much interest to New Zealanders.

“It is generally agreed,” the writer states, “that the health and vigour of a profession are closely bound up with the independence shown by its members and with the discipline which each is ready to impose upon himself. That both of these characteristics are much in evidence in the accountancy profession is admitted by everyone and results in an absence of regimentation which is, in our view, wholly good and an important part of the fabric of democracy. The organisation of the profession, consisting, in the main, of a large number of small independent firms accepting willingly a common code of behaviour, encourages selfreliance and a personal relationship between practitioner and client which could never be achieved under bureaucratic control.

“However, the professions which serve commerce and industry are inevitably influenced by changes affecting the latter and should these changes outlast the crisis which has brought them about, the result, for accountancy, may well be serious. Clearly the commercial world cannot hope to be as free during war as it was during peace and we must accept some degree of rationing and control of supplies, markets and prices; but in every case it is necessary to look beyond the war to assure ourselves that action is not being wantonly taken which will have evil and ineradicable effects on our post-war economy. A crisis can often be turned to account by those who have no hope of achieving their ends in more settled times and there are people who see in the present war an opportunity to bring about a planned economy, the grip of which we shall be unable to shake off when peace returns. Planning is so often but a euphemism for monopoly, and loss of freedom in the economic sphere is the first and a very large step to loss of freedom in social and political life. “We do not wish to convey the impression that the control of industry should be regulated with a view to the prosperity of the accountancy profession, nor that control of any kind is unnecessary. We do suggest, however, that the interests of the accountancy profession and of the community in general are to a large extent parellel. They have a common interest in scrutinising carefully the flood of Statutes and Orders in Council, particularly the latter, with a view to preventing the imposition of monopolistic controls which will be of no assistance in winnng the war and which will be difficult to remove afterwards. We, therefore, invite readers to use our correspondence columns to draw attention to bureaucratic control which, in their experience, is destroying business enterprise without appearing to yield any corresponding gain to the community. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”