Reviewed by Richard A. Scott
Virginia Commonwealth University
What prompts one to write of his life? It may strike you as puzzling just as it did this reviewer. Perhaps more germane is the query: Does the way in which a man describes his life—and that he undertakes to do it in the first place—reveal facets of character and personality which explain what motivated him to accomplish that which he did?
John lnglis accomplished much during his career. He was the senior partner of Price Waterhouse & Co. (1954-61), a member of both the Committee on Accounting Procedure and the Accounting Principles Board, as well as President of the National Association of Accountants (1958-59), to cite but a few of his achievements. It is also apparent from his autobiography that he was prosperous, had many friends, and was widely traveled; it borders on the redundant to even mention these facts given the stations in life that he reached.
If he can be regarded as having contributed to the accounting profession’s development, one may ponder whether there is something in his make-up that is universal to those who have led, and importantly, those who will lead. I am suggesting to anyone having an interest in pouring over Inglis’ work that a study of its psychological implications may prove more fruitful than rooting through its pages in quest of accounting history. An enigma of this auto-biography is that the reader, upon concluding his sojourn with it, falls far short of knowing the man. lnglis is so reserved and self-effacing in this recital of his years that he only cursorily alludes to his achievements.
The volume is partitioned into thirteen chapters in such a way that his personal life and professional career are separately ex-amined. From 1901 to 1924 when he left New Zealand to join Price Waterhouse in New York City, he was part of a large family with a religious tradition. You will be charmed by nostalgic reminiscences of life at an earlier and simpler time, as well as by his reactions to the New World. For those with a penchant for accounting history, Chapters 6, 9, 11 and 12 will prove of greatest interest.
It is fascinating to read his description of public accounting work during the mid-1920’s, when he was abruptly and immediately placed in charge of audit assignments. With virtually no supervision and using temporary help as assistants, he was pressed to service. “I knew nothing about American accounting procedures, the firm’s audit requirements or what an American set of audit working papers looked like or were supposed to contain.” (p. 38)
There are other occasional passages of interest: How “. . . May monopolized much of his [Campbell’s] time discussing theoretical problems . . .” (p. 73); mention of the hand-written bound ledgers of J. P. Morgan & Co. and the private ledger which was kept under lock and key (p. 74); his experiences with the Securities Acts in the days of their infancy (pp. 76, 78); and an insider’s view of the Mc-Kesson & Robbins debacle. It was lnglis who was instructed by the partners of Price Waterhouse to examine the accounts receivable and inventories of McKesson & Robbins in the fall of 1938 to ascertain the substance of rumors which were then burgeoning regarding the firm’s accounts. Out of this landmark fraud came salutary reforms for both Price Waterhouse and the accounting profession which are cited by the author in reflection (pp. 82-83).
You may be intrigued by the events of 1947 when depreciation based on current cost valuations was in debate (p. 111), and of 1941 when the problem of “inventory profits” was resolved by resort to LIFO cost flow assumptions (p. 113). Chapter 12 contains an expression of Inglis’ management philosophy vis-a-vis that of earlier senior partners of the firm, and throughout the text one is reminded of the international dimensions of the Price Waterhouse practice and of the early years to which it traces. In summary, however, you will find that this book is more a vehicle for lnglis to acknowledge and give thanks to his many friends around the world, than an epitome of his professional career or the historical events which brought change to the accounting profession.
(Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 3, 1975)
