Accountancy Qualifications,

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 92, 12 January 1935, Page 9

Accountancy Qualifications,

Sir, —In view of the letters which have recently appeared in your regarding the accountancy examinations, it may not be inappropriate to quote, from the Press reports, portions of the address made in March last by the then retiring president of the New Zealand Society of Accountants. Certain parts of that address concern the education of "the man in the street,” and. it would seem only fair that any man in the street should, be given the opportunity of replying. The retiring president stated, among other things :— 1. It has to be admitted that there will always be a certain amount of agitation on the part of people who wish to gain professional privileges by back door methods. 2. For the proper safeguarding of investors, creditors and others interested in the administration of the Companies Act, it is essential that only qualified men should be allowed to append a certificate as to the correctness of balance sheets and accounts. 3. It is imperative that not only the business community but the _ public at large should be educated as to the worth of this protection, and a certain'amount of educational work is desirable to satisfy “the man in the street” that it would be a retrograde step to allow outsiders to come in. In the face of such statements publicly made, I wonder if someone c'ould answer the following questions? 1. What percentage of present-day members of the New Zealand Society of Accountants (if any) owe their professional privileges .to what is commonly called “back door methods?” 2. What proper safeguard is there for investors, creditors and others in. dealing with members of the New Zealand Society of Accountants when there is nothing made public to indicate which members are qualified by examination and which (if any) are not so qualified? 3. If it is imperative that the public l at large be educated as to the worth of “this” protection—meaning presumably, the protection afforded by membership of the New Zealand .Society of Accountants —what is the difference, in the eyes of the society, between one of its members (if any) who has not passed the examinations conducted by the New Zealand University and one whom the society considers .an “outsider”? 4. Has the New Zealand Society of Accountants never in its history taken the “retrograde” step of allowing “outsiders” to “come in” (to the society) ? If so, for what definite reason was exception made in such cases (if any), and by what stretch of imagination on the society’s part can such members of the society be classed as “qualified”? To these questions plain straightforward replies, without any frills, are all that are required: simple answers such as will do something toward satisfying “the man in the street” that the policy of the New Zealand Society of Accountants is really—as claimed —in the best interests of the public at large.—l am, etc., FOGGED. Wanganui, January 7.