Reviewed by Lamont F. Steedle Towson State University
The third and last volume of Relevance Rediscovered, the anthology compiled by Richard Vangermeersch for the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), enlightens the reader with yet another sampling of the cost accounting writings of a par-ticular decade in our past. At the same time, we are disappointed knowing that this IMA Classic Series will end with its publication. It would have been interesting to learn about the ideas post-1949, a time which is still well before many current cost accounting academics and practitioners began their study of the discipline. Why this series was not extended another decade is puzzling.
The current volume, which focuses on the National Association of Cost Accountants (NACA, original name of the IMA) bulletins and yearbooks from 1939-1949, does not disappoint the reader. While the initial volume covering the 1919-1929 decade remains this writer’s favorite, Volume III is a close second choice. Clearly choosing a favorite volume reflects more on the issues of the times rather than the individual choices of the editor. Professor Vangermeersch always seems to select a mix of 25 significant articles that provide a broad area of topics, and he continues to provide stimulating and interesting introductory comments that relate the works to modern everyday problems.
What is most significant, however, is that each of the vol-umes in the trilogy contains a handful of gems among its 25 collected works. In this volume, these articles are: (54) “The Nature of Cost and Its Uses” by Wyman P. Fiske, which reviews four different cost concepts and relates them to five different costing applications; (55) “Accounting for Materials and Related Procedures” by the Systems and Methods Study Group of the New York City Chapter of NACA, which is a summary of existing procedures and methods in use in accounting for materials; and, (57) “Accounting by Causes Vs. Accounting by Accounts” by Joseph B. Copper, which proposes a different approach to variance analysis that looks similar to some of the newer activity management systems being proposed today.
When one first encounters the initial volume of this series, there is both anticipation and skepticism because of the claim that this volume will contain “the great accounting ideas of the past, to help you solve today’s and tomorrow’s problems.” Not every work in the trilogy fulfilled this, but perhaps two out of every three did. Management accountants, academics and prac-titioners alike, should avail themselves of this resource. The reason to do so is well defined by Professor Vangermeersch:
