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Show PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT. t J This is the apotfiosis of the former unimportant bookkeep- .j. J er, and it is a line of work that fr brings In its thousands a year In J J income How public acountants fr often bncome the big men in 4, business firms which they are called to reorganize Numerous 4. J other opportunities In this life's J work, what they are, and how 4. your boy may go about becom- 4 Ing an accountant. 4. 4 BY C. W. JENNINGS. O YOU don't think you'd w'Jl like your boy to become a VrFiW bookkeeper. Well, what KSsjDij) about an accountant? jgjiy You don't know about that exactly? You're afraid, eh, that that's a job not much better bet-ter than that of bookkeeper? Well, then, listen while I tell you briefly about the apotheosis of the former for-mer unimportant bookkeeper under the title of accountant And first give heed to the following excerpt from a university prospectus, Introducing a talk on Its course In accountancy. "Twenty years ago," It says, "most business concerns of this country were satisfied if their bookkeepers could render to them at the close of each month an accurate statement of cash Income and cash outgo, and could make up at the end of the year a balance bal-ance sheet which would show the true condition of their affairs. In other words, they asked for nothing more than a record of results. "Today, the managers of progressive progres-sive and successful concerns call upon accountants not bookkeepers to aid them in the efficient administration of their business. They demand of the accountant that he show them the true cost of every product that they turn out; that he measure the efficiency effi-ciency of the men and machines that they employ; that he trace the effect upon profits of new methods and inventions. in-ventions. In short, the accountant Is expected to analyze the business and to measure accurately all the forces and factors that are engaged therein. "To perform this work successfully, the accountant must not only understand under-stand all the complicated interlocking records of the business, he must have a grasp also of all the essential features feat-ures of its management, an! must be himself an administrator of a high order. Public accountants particularly, particular-ly, inasmuch as they may be called on to Install or reorganize accounting systems in any line of business, must have a wide and accurate knowledge knowl-edge of business organizations, of finance, and of economies, as well as of accounting proper. Now let me quote a summary of the high place in modern affairs the formerly for-merly unimportant bookkeeper has reached: "The public accountant is expected to have a knowledge of the underlying principles of the laws that govern business relations and of the practical application of such laws, a thorough knowledge of the priuciple3 of modern accounting and of tl-eir scientific application to the keeping and stating of accounts in all lines of business enterprise and wherevor st-tlements st-tlements involving money are to be made. He is expected to be able to solve the most abstruse and intricate problems that arise in any branch of accounting; and, as an auditor, he is expected to have a broad general knowledge of business, with the Intuition In-tuition of the detective as well as the skill of the accountant." Well, when casting about for the lifework for your boy, and he shows a liking for "figgers" and business analysis, don't stick up your nose at any ideas of bookkeeping as you re-1 re-1 member it; but-let him go on, sure in I the knowledge that he is starting on I a road that leads straight into the highest and most lucrative positions in any and all lines of commerce. It is no exaggeration to say that many many managers of the bigger businesses busi-nesses of the country today were early ear-ly in their lives running up columns of figures at a bookkeeper's desk. Like most lines of endeavor, accountancy ac-countancy Is not a line that requires a college education as a preliminary; Indeed, your boy may Btart in almost any time after his infancy In the unhallowed un-hallowed job of office boy, secure in his confidence that the handle of the world can be manipulated from that beginning if he only has ambition and application. Office boys generally receive re-ceive $4 or $5 a week. As soon as he starts In this humble place, however, your boy Bhould get to work learning things that he will not be taught In the ordinary details of his employment; for his usefulness will depend upon his Increasing nis efficiency and earning more than he is paid. There is no branch of activity that offers greater facilities to the energetic young man anxious to advance; ad-vance; for the country Is full of schools giving day and evening courses of study In business, ranging from special courses In the public schools and those costing very little In the Y. M. C. A.'s, to the more advanced ad-vanced university courses In accountancy accoun-tancy that require previous preparation prepara-tion equivalent to a four years' high school course and end In the degree of Bachelor of Commercial Science. Your boy's special work at evening school or outside study will include bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, penmanship, business letter writing, business forms, commercial geography, geo-graphy, and the elements of commercial commer-cial law, and stenography and tj io-writing io-writing will also be found useful, if he has time to take it up. Soon after completing this course, which will require re-quire a year or so. he will be gratified grati-fied at receiving a promotion to a sort of junior clerkship at a salary of $8 or $10 a week In a year or so more, then a vacancy va-cancy occurring, or one being made for the ambitious clerk, there will be another promotion to a more important impor-tant position at $12 a week, and so on he advances, till he is finally head bookkeeper at anywhere from $20 to $40 a week, according to the extent of the firm's business. This will come, probably, by the time he is thirty Long before this, however, your boy will have seen the necessity of possessing pos-sessing still greater technical education, educa-tion, if he Is to reach the high position posi-tion of certified public accountant, which leads straight into the more involved and more important phases of modern business. The complete collegiate course bringing a degree requires, generally speaking, an hoi.r at school every day (or evening) for three years, and takes him into th-D advanced analysis of accounting, finance, and business. And he should add to this a course In advanced commercial com-mercial law, which he can pursue at the same time. Now, he needs more experience, which he can best get, probably, under un-der the direction of an established public accountant. He enlists, therefore, there-fore, as junior clerk at $20 or $25 a week, and after a year or so is advanced ad-vanced to senior clerk at a salar ranging up to as much as $60 weekly. A year or two more, and your boy will probably be known as a thoroughly competent accountant and business analyst. From here on his advancement may be along any of many lines. If he chooses to remain in independent accounting, ac-counting, he will probably organize a firm of his own, either with or without with-out partners and hang out his shingle, depending entirely upon commissions from business firms and municipal and legislative work. There is no end of revenue In this class of business, busi-ness, as you will readily see by recalling re-calling the frequent analysis and "ex-perting" "ex-perting" of various state and municipal munici-pal departments and bureaus that are required. It Is almost the custom in many places it is required for public officials at regular intervals to have the work of their departments "certified" "cer-tified" by public accountants, which means big fees ,and when special investigations in-vestigations of large public enterprises enter-prises are made these fees sometimes amount to thousands of dollars. From $25,000 to $50,000 is by no means unusual un-usual payment for such work. Another lucrative specialty that has grown up in this line during the last decade has been that of business re-organizer, re-organizer, or "developers of earning power," as some of these specialists are called. Their services are sought by business houses that are confronted confront-ed by disaster or embarrassment, or, for some reason beyond their resources re-sources to prevent, are not getting the results they believe they should. Enter the "developer," at a stipulated fee, which is generally pretty high.v and makes a profound and analytical Investigation of the business, which may require 'several months' work of himself and an assistant or two. at the end of which time he makes a long and complete report on every phase of the establishment, from the ordering order-ing and receipt of raw material, to the cost of manufacture. Including wages and machinery, and the sale and final shipment of the finished product. pro-duct. This report frequently recommends recom-mends the complete reversal of methods meth-ods of operation the firm has followed and requires its entire reorganization, and generally results In the company's entering upon a new era of prosperity. If your boy owns the firm that has done this reorganizing, he will probably prob-ably remain in the business and finally final-ly be one of the big institutions of his community; but if he Is one of the assistants and takes an important part in the investigation, you can readily see the Importance he has assumed as-sumed In the estimation of the firm after its business has reached a prosperous pros-perous condition. What more likely than that he should be offered the position of auditor or manager or other responsible place? This frequently fre-quently happens, as the writer hereof knows. I recall one young man who was given a position In just this way way which pays $15,000 a year. This is the apotheosis of the former form-er unimportant bookkeeper. .. (Copyright, 1910. by the Associated Literary Lit-erary Press.) |