CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING PROBLEMS —TEXT AND CASES.

ByLeonard E. Morrissey T'48. EnglewoodCliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963,636 pp. $11.25.

In the foreword to Professor Morrissey's book, accounting is discussed as the "language of business"; the means of communicating financial information to managers and owners. The increasing complexity of economic life has made uncertainty, judgment, and estimation more important in accounting and has forced changes in this system of communication. Unfortunately, managers and shareholders are not fully aware of these changes and their effect on corporate financial reporting. Some good places where awareness and understanding can be developed are: the university classroom and in management and adult education programs. This text will be particularly valuable in accomplishing this because it deemphasizes technique and procedure, commonly the center of attention in advanced accounting texts, and instead, concentrates on developing an understanding of the controversy and the problems involved in financial reporting.

The book is organized into five major sections: the concepts and conventions of financial reporting, the financial statements, revenue and income recognition, cost determination and allocation, and accounting for owners equity. Individual chapters cover such problems as reporting taxes on income, depreciation, price-level adjustments, longterm leases, pensions, stock dividends, and business combinations. Each chapter includes text discussing the issues and presenting the authoritative accounting pronouncements followed by a series of cases requiring analysis of solution of reporting problems that have faced well-known corporations.

The book has been carefully thought out, and over the past few years it has been thoroughly tested with second-year classes at Tuck School. One hopes for the sake of the accounting profession, for the business managers in our corporations, and for the owners that this book is widely used and read.

Assistant Professor ofBusiness Administration