Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1891 — THE EXPERT ACCOUNTANT. [ARTICLE]

THE EXPERT ACCOUNTANT.

Soma of the Doings of the Man Who Work at Figures. The expert accountant is one of the necessities of modern civilization, tie knows ail the intricacies of figures and account books. He is indispensable to the great corporations. He can take great masses of books and evolve a balance sheet He compiles reports, be adjusts averages for the insurance companies, and gets order out of chaotic masses of figures. He knows how to make annual reports look attractive, and not unfrequentiy makes ugly accounts look straight Une of the most important functions of the expert accountant is to show up def iutters. It often happens that busIness meu find their affairs getting tingled. They know they have been making money; but somehow, they are running behind. They have relied upon some trusted bookkeeper. So far as they can see the books are all right but tne results are unsatisfactory. They do not like to suspect the trusted Bervant, but they want to be satisfied. The expert accountant i# called in with grekl secrecy, and ordered to go over the books at night Theft the exposure comes; the cooked accounts are exposed; the forced balance is shown up; the amount of the defalcation is set down in plain figures. It is surprising how many concerns there are doing large business who are absolutely dependent upon their bookkeepers, and are utterly helpless to 'find out exactly where the trouble is, although they may be convinced that something is wrong. The expert..accountant may strike it at the first glance. He may delve for weeks before ho reaches the solution. He learns lots of secrets, but he is dumb as ae oyster, and keeps his discoveries only for the ear of the employer. If he is kind-hearted he advises the defaulter to pay up before the exposure comes. There are a number of expert accountants in New York who make a business of unraveling tough accounts. Their charges are high, out they are in great demand. It is said to be almost an invariable rule that when an expert accountant is called in to go over cooked account books the culprit will own up and help in getting a correct statement. —New York Sun.