SPECIALISED ACCOUNTANCY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 247, 18 October 1937, Page 8

SPECIALISED ACCOUNTANCY

A GROWING MOVEMENT “Like other professions, accountancy breeds specialism, itself an indication of growing complexity and progressing elfciency,” states an editorial article of “The Accountant” (London). ‘‘Even income-tax has become the subject of specialisation in most of the larger oflices. The accounts of special callings, such as banking, call for a high degree of specialisation. The rapid growth of municipalities and the increase in their functions have jointly created the need for a special class of accountants who are employed as full-time servants. The rapid development of cost accountancy since the war is too well known to require emphasis, nor is it necessary to add to the number of illustrations. But it tnay be observed that the growing custom of employing fully-trained accountants as full-time officers in large and complex undertakings both public and private, not only makes possible orderly development of the profession as a whole but also emphasises and increases the public importance of that part of the profession which is represented by accountants in independent practice.

“Accountancy is a profession that is not only (and slowly) perfecting its technique but also expanding its functions. More and more the senior accountant is as a consultant on questions of policy. His training and his experience of a large variety of undertakings are an essential preliminary to such work; he is the obvious man to whom others look for advice. But technique and experience do not alone guarantee success. In a branch of work that has grown rapidly in importance, and is bound to grow still further, general ability, and wider knowledge of economic organisation and business trends than individual experience can give, and the capacity to interpret such experience, are ultimately more important than mere knowledge of technique. An informed judgment must follow information and experience; if these are to be a light to guide rather than something which stands in the light of wider knowledge, it is clear that the accountant cannot remain content with his preliminary training and his subsequent experience within the profession.

“Individual business policy, upon which the accountant is consulted as an expert, can only be examined against a wider economic background. The accountant must therefore remain a student of that background; he must remain in contact with current literature that may be of value to him.”