ABSTRACT
Accounting and bookkeeping used to be twins; today they are fifth cousins once removed—and they live on opposite sides of the tracks. For the most part bookkeeping is a respectable, round-shouldered craft offering a modest living and no prestige. Accounting, on the other hand, has assumed the responsibility of certifying industry’s complex bookkeeping figures, and so accountants—specifically, certified public accountants—have become professional men with all the legal and social rewards and penalties that status implies. They have accepted the rewards with easy grace, the penalties with some confusion. This is due largely to the fact that the profession, younger than most of the industries it serves, is getting its first baptism of fire.
