Reviewed by Paul Frishkoff University of Oregon
Modesty is a characteristic which is perhaps no longer much valued in our society. This may be because some modest people have, as Mr. Churchill said of Mr. Attlee, “ample reason for so being.” Such is not the case with Webster, who is self-effacingly listed as “compiler” of this book—a history of an AICPA predeces¬sor—though he appears to have been researcher (in the best sense of the word) and author.
The unexpected dearth of existing records of this association was no deterrent to the author, then chairman of the AICPA Committee on History (and a right venerable age himself, according to the Library of Congress cataloging information on the inside cover page.) He painstakingly reconstructed events, memberships, phi-losophies, out of the paucity of records but primarily from a most thorough reading of numerous business and professional journals and periodicals of the era. Many doctoral dissertations involve less work than this.
What emerges is a picture of the formation, contributions, and eventual merger of this rather Victorian society of gentlemen. (In¬deed, as Webster briefly points out as an afterthought, women were denied admission, although a few very eligible female accountants were in practice during this period. He fails to point out as directly that the membership was almost entirely Anglo-Saxon in makeup, about half the members having been born in Britain or its Common¬wealth; whether membership was denied to more ethnic types, or if any applied, Webster doesn’t really say.) Biographies of each mem¬ber, even those who resigned after a short while, are reconstructed by the author. The impression that one gets is that surely this was the “creme de la creme” of New York accountants.
The orotund tones and circumspect language which character¬ized some of the speeches and correspondence of members of the society and of Society as well, are echoed in the author’s writing. For instance, though he documents at length the denial of admis¬sion to various individuals for unethical conduct, he substitutes blanks for the actual names, leaving future researchers just a bit more (unnecessary) digging to do. The ethical breaches, we might vote, involved not only fraud but false advertising, since advertising itself was very much accepted by the profession at the time, as it is once again slowly becoming today.
Another point, which one can cull from the biographies, is the relative lack of a college education by the members. This is a point which is, of course, familiar to those who have read Edwards’ or Previts and Merino’s books, among others. Yet in no sense were these people unlettered; judging from the portions of speeches and letters which Webster reproduces, their command of the language dwarfed that of most contemporary students (and of many contem-porary academics).Their sophistication in accounting appears less impressive, since bookkeeping and rather mundane auditing seem to have occupied the bulk of their practices. (This was, we should recall, the fabled era prior to the Federal Income Tax.)
The contributions of the Association to the first CPA licensing law, and the ramifications thereof, including the attempt to “grand¬father” practicing public accountants out of the examination re-quirements, make worthwhile reading.
To those with a keen interest in the history of American account¬ing, public and private, this book may be a worthwhile acquisition. It certainly belongs in better university library collections. Of course, it is not flawless. The book lacks a bibliography and foot¬notes, although the source of almost all of Webster’s assertions is documented in a scholarly manner. Although it appears tightly or-ganized, there are many extremely short chapters, which is mildly disconcerting. And Webster’s style assumes that any reader has digested the whole book word-for-word, so that skimming is ex¬tremely difficult and none too fruitful. Perhaps most annoying, the book lacks an index, a flaw which could be remedied by a zealous professor or student with time on his or her hands.
