OUT OF THE PAST
Timeless Thoughts on Accounting
THE POETRY OF BOOKKEEPING
The Honduras Observer thus describes the art of bookkeeping:— Attentive be, and I’ll impart What constitutes the accountant’s art. This rule is clear; what I receive I debtor make to what I give. I debit Stock with all my debts, And credit it for my effects.
The goods I buy I debtor make To him from whom those goods I take; Unless in ready cash I pay, Then credit what I paid away. For what I lose or make, ’tis plain, I debit Loss and credit Gain. The debtor’s place is my left hand, Creditor on my right must stand. If to these axioms you’ll attend, Bookkeeping you’ll soon comprehend, And double-entry you will find Elucidated to your mind.
Hunt’s Merchant Magazine, November 1840, p. 463.
—”Fortune, in the account book of every mortal, makes out two pages,” Pliny the Elder, as quoted by R. Robert, The Accountant, August I0, 1957.
—”As early as there was business there was some kind of book¬keeping, but it was not until business became complex that the principles of accounting were formulated and it was not until com¬petition became keen that cost accounting and auditing (as it is understood today) began to claim so much attention. Accounting, then, has become a science since the (18)80’s.” Kemper Simpson, Economics for the Accountant, D. Appleton and Company, 1921, p. 3.
—”It is a science whose principles are so simple and solid; its con-clusions so natural, certain and evident; and the symmetry of its several parts so complete and harmonious; that the very Specula¬tion is no less pleasing, than the practice is profitable . . . .” William Jackson, Bookkeeping in the True Italian form of Debtor and Creditor by Way of Double Entry, Philadelphia, John Bioren Publisher, 1801, p. 1.
—”Earnings ‘per share’ are not of much significance, although in the long run the shareholder who holds on must come to the time when the accumulation of property will be divided more freely to those who own it. The point which we are attempting to empha¬size now is simply that it is a fallacy to allow oneself to be governed by earnings ‘per share’ in estimating probable market value. A market based upon earnings ‘per share’ would be ideal, but experience has taught us that it is not apt to occur.” “Edi-torial,” The Journal of Accountancy, May 1930, p. 325.
-“It is no longer necessary to argue for the necessity for, and ad-vantages of, independent audits of public agencies. These bodies affect the life, welfare, and pocketbook of every citizen, each of whom is a stockbroker in one or more of them, and, hence is en¬titled to a full accounting.” Lloyd Morey, The Journal of Account¬ancy, August 1952, p. 195.
-“Deliver all things in number and weight, and put all in writing that thou givest out or receivest in.” Ecclesiasticus xiii, 7.
(Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 3, 1975)
-“Accounting procedure, like the law, is the result of many forces, including history, tradition, custom and the public interest, so that it is seldom possible for one to say that a particular procedure is either the only proper procedure or wholly unacceptable.” George 0. May, (Correspondence) The Journal of Accountancy, January 1940, p. 51.
-“A knowledge of bookkeeping only admits one to the threshold of the science of accounts—a science which broadens wonder¬fully with experience and the study of the underlying principles by which the complications of trade and finance are reduced to their simplest terms. For the true accountant seeks to free his work from the bug-bear of useless technicalities and aims to make his audit such a mirror of the essential operations and conditions of the business under analysis that it will prove clear and self explanatory to any intelligent reader.” Sidney J. Haydon, Louis-ville Courier-Journal, November 1896.
(Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 7, 1975)
