ACCOUNTANTS AND ACCOUNTANTS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3171, 23 August 1917, Page 8

ACCOUNTANTS AND ACCOUNTANTS

.(To the Editor.) ■ I Sir,—ln a reeont ;ssue of The Dominion appeared a.letter signed "Merchant," the aim of 'which was to emphasise the point that commercial accountants, or ac-. countants holding positions in mercantile houses, were more essential than public accountants, and giving reasons why the writer thought so, one being that such accountants wero specialists who bad undergone a long course of training in the particular businesses with which they wero connected, and whoso work '.I'iiblicj accountants are absolutely incapable of coping .with, they being, in his opinion, pal try, petty, debt collectors, and book-keepers for small traders, .Taek-of-all trades, poachers on the preserves of land agents, insurahco agents,' etc.; wero cobblers who sat down and crammed a lot of theory fronf text-books, passed an examination, and then strutted forth to pose as professional men. I desire, as a 'member of an honourable and liurdwork'ed profession, to combat this idea, and if one class is to bo allowed to disparage the other I do like to say lhat there are varieties of,, merchants—fish, potato, poultry, fruit, and onion merchants, and merchants of tbo old backblock variety who acted as insurance agents, pulled teeth, and discounted bills, in addition to selling reach-me-downs and stale vegetables. Let any lay. man, or accountant for that matter, tiike up a few sets uf our examination papers and honestly consider whether the suecossful examinee should know anything about his buainass, nnd bo ho the leasjt bit reasonable he must acknowledge that tho field covered is so wide that only a long, practical experience in various classes of business would enable him to tackle u portion of it. so that be must of necessity read up to acquire the requisite information to cover the whole field, no matter who. ho is. Why it has been admitted .by many a student that'a law course is easier. So no one but a "Tommy-know-all" would talk like "Merchant." unVss he had an use to j,'rind. Again, ma» y of the public accountants of New Zea jind have served a long, practical course in mercantile houses before commencing, business, .and, speaking for myself a; tne, I will pit my experience against tluu of "Merchant" or any other commercial man who seeks to disparage Iho public accountant, and I am only one of many with whom I am personally acquainted, for myself, I might say that I had IS years' "training" in commeroial houses. I have had another 18 years in public practice, and still have a lot to le«rn. My business has brought mo into contact with all sorts nnd conditions of business, high and low, and I have had to do a deal of hard thinking for "merchants" and others. T. find my profession Seeps my brain going all the time, and in that respect is more severe on me than some of the professions wherein the drudge work is done in the early days. In our profession it is never done, and it behoves us to see that we receive a commensurate return. We have been a long time thinking about it; it's time to act, though meantime wo have not increased our fees in war-time, notwithstanding that the prices of fish, potatoes, poultry, fruit, onions, reach-me-downs, etc.', have all risen and are still going up.—l am, etc., PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT. Duncdin.