The Sphere of The Accountant and the Economist: in the Administration of Public Utility Services
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1926.tb02274.x |
| Author | Henry N Bunbury |
| Date | 01 October 1926 |
| Published date | 01 October 1926 |
The
Sphere
of
The
Accountant
and
the
Economist
in the Administration
of
Public Utility Services
Ry
SIR
HENRY N
BUNBURY,
1-C.C.B.
Cornpfrol2rr.
nnd
Accoirntnnt-General
of
lha
Post
Ofice
ANY
members
of
the present conference must be thinking that
M
this is an odd subject to write a paper about. Surely, they
will say, every one knows what are the functions of the accountant
:
his
business is to tell you whether you are trading at
a
profit or
a
loss,
and
what that profit or loss is
:
whether you are solvent or not
:
how
much cash there ought to be at the bank and in the till: what your
various products or services cost
:
and other similar and useful information
on matters of fact which are
of
interest to the management. But to
yoke him to the economist seems
a
little like harnessing a cart-horse
and
a
mule to the same wagon. The combination is incongruous.
Economic science may be of value to statesmen, to bankers and financiers,
and to administrators, but the place of the economist
in
the actual con-
duct
of
particular utility undertakings is not,
at
any rate, obvious, and
his
relation to the accountant at least obscure.
In recent years, however, there has been
a
growing tendency, on
the side
of
economics, to apply itself to the actual conduct of the highly
organized enterprise of modem times, and on the side of accountancy
to develop those branches
of
the science which come nearest to the
subject-matter of economics. Both sciences have extended their
boundaries until they practically march together and even in places over-
lap. The object
of
this paper is to examine the ground which is more or
less
common to the two and to indicate directions in which each can
help the other.
Some of you will have seen
a
remarkable report on
"
The Facts of
Industry
"
recently issued by
an
influential private committee under the
chairmanship of
Mr.
W.
T.
Layton.
A
section of that report is devoted
to the case for a reform of the published accounts
of
private industrial
undertakings with the object of disclosing not merely to the shareholders
but to the general body
of
consumers and employees, what is the tnie
424
The
Facts
of
Indusfry,
Macmillan,
1926
:
price
IS.
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