Reviewed by Dale Buckmaster University of Delaware
This book has probably had more influence on the development of American ideas of price-change accounting than any other single document. It was also the last of Sweeney’s works on general price-level accounting (now more commonly identified as general purchasing power accounting).
I cannot identify why this book has been so influential and widely discussed over the years. But three factors that certainly contributed to its success are that it is beautifully written, completely describes and effectively illustrates the general price-level adjustment model, and demonstrates that application of the model was practical in the accounting environment of 1936. By beautifully written, I do not mean that Sweeney’s style was elegant and literary. Rather, the book is extremely readable and Sweeney’s points are understand-able with a minimum of effort on the part of the reader.
The book contains three separate parts. The first three chapters are a general description and illustration of general price-level adjustments (Sweeney’s stabilized accounting) including a chapter on stabilizing replacement cost accounts. The next part of the book (Chapters IV, VI and VI) describes the application of “stabilized accounting” to the accounts of three real businesses. The last part (Chapters VII and VIII) is devoted to discussing general price-level adjustments within the economic environment of that period and to answering objections to the model.
Every person interested in understanding price-change account-ing should read Stabilized Accounting. But that reading should be a supplement to the reading of Sweeney’s earlier publications that are listed in the appendix (p. 204) to Stabilized Accounting. The most substantive incremental contribution of the book is the illus-tration of the application of general price-level adjustments to the three businesses. And that is of limited interest now. The articles contain Sweeney’s thought and justification for his advocacy of “stabilized accounting” as well as a complete description and illus-tration of the model.
Arno Press partially met a need by making Stabilized Accounting available again on the new book market. But they could have multiplied the value of the contribution by extending the scope of the project. Specifically, the following items are desirable additions to any reprint of Stabilized Accounting:
1. Sweeney’s fourteen articles that were published prior to Stabilized Accounting.
2. The short essays that were added as “Forewords” to the 1964 reissue of the book.1 These essays are interesting and add considerable insight into the development of Sweeney’s model.
3. A contemporary retrospective foreword written by someone such as Steve Zeff, William Baxter, or Frank Clarke.
FOOTNOTE
1Sweeney, Henry W. Stabilized Accounting (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1964).
