ELIMINATION OF WASTE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21646, 6 May 1940, Page 2

ELIMINATION OF WASTE

HEIW OF ACCOUNTANTS The help which accountants can give in the elimination of waste in business was emphasised recently by Mr E. S. Bowie, chairman of the Canterbury Branch of the New Zealand Society of Accountants. “A few years ago," he said, “few accountants knew very much of cost accounting. Now it has become one of the most important of the specialised branches of accounting. The interest shown in this subject among our members was indicated by the numbers who wished to join the cost accounting group. "In the immediate future this call for greater knowledge will be more pronounced. There will be calls for service of all kinds. Already demands for greater production have been made. Accountants must be ready to help supply that demand by the elimination of waste, and 11 ? promotion of efficient methods. We know the whole community must make sacrifices and we know that every effort must be made to win the war. Our part will be played"in that struggle and it can better be played by seeing that we equip ourselves with all possible knowledge. “If, as accountants, we feel that we can give constructive and helpful criticism or our international or municipal policy, then it is our duty to give it. This does not mean political partisanship in any way. As a Society we must keep clear of any such suggestion. If our knowledge gives us greater qualifications for makin the general public or the authorities better able to understand technical commercial matters, we should do everything we can to guide them. Accountants have a special knowledge of commercial matters, and they are surely qualified by their knowledge and experience to help our legislators by offering them the benefit of that knowledge and experience. This does not mean Idle talk in the tramcar or on the street corner. It does mean that, if we. individually, or as a society, see a mistake being made we should make our voice heard through our local members of Parliament or through the Council of our Society or at our own meetings to try to prevent such mistakes being made.”