Many men have passed the written examinations for the degree of certified public accountant who have never seen a single day's experience in the office of a practicing public accountant. Most of the ex aminations are of such a character that they can be passed by anyone who has "crammed" intelligently for the purpose. So that, while a person emplcving a certified public accountant receives practically an as surance from the state that the individual is qualified to practise, it is unfortunately true that this assurance cannot always be relied upon. Therefore, the busi ness man should examine carefully into the qualifica tions of the professional auditor before employing him.
11. Danger in employing unlicensed auditors.— The business man should beware especially of employ ing those who are not licensed to practise; that is, men who do not hold the title of C. P. A., or the title of C. A., unless he has evidence that they possess the required professional ability. The presumption is against them. Men without the accountant's degree often argue that the examiners and state boards of public accountancy are not fair, that they set unfair examinations and that the examinations are not prac tical in character. As a general rule, the facts are otherwise; examiners as a class are conscientious, and they attempt to do justice to their office by setting not only proper examinations, broad in character, but also attempt to advance the profession by granting certificates to all whom they consider worthy. On the other hand, the examiners have a duty to perform to the community and should refuse to grant certifi cates to those who, by examination or experience, show themselves to be improperly qualified.
12. Whom not to employ.—For a professional ac countant to advertise or to solicit business, is looked upon as violating the ethics of the profession, altho there is a difference of opinion on this question among the leaders. There is also some prejudice against auditing companies on the ground that the element of personal responsibility is absent, inasmuch as the prin cipals or individuals shield themselves behind the cor porate body. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that many companies engaged in practice are not only thoroly responsible but also do auditing work of the highest character. These matters are the subject of considerable discussion in the profession and, with the progress of time, a definite and well-defined code of ethics regulating both advertising and organization under corporate form will doubtless be established.
At present, however, the fact that a professional audi tor advertises to a certain extent, or engages in busi ness under corporate form, is not necessarily an in dication that he should not be employed. It must be remembered that the profession is comparatively young in this country, and it will doubtless take some time to establish uniform practice in these respects.
When one considers the thoro training and the years of preparation that are required to enable one to properly practise accounting, it will be evident that the services of an auditor of the proper type are just as valuable to the business man as those of a good lawyer. In an important legal matter, the business man would not think of engaging a charlatan, or a man who offered to do the impossible, or who offered to do the work for a fee much less than that which would be charged by any reputable practitioner. And yet the same individual will frequently employ men as auditors who are not properly qualified to do the work, or who will compete for it at a price far below that justified by its character. A man in any profes sion who indulges in cut-throat competition or in lurid advertising, stamps himself as one without enough work to keep him properly employed. For this reason alone, the business man should decline to employ his services. The business executive should not expect a reputable professional accountant to enter into competition, bidding as building contractors would do, nor to undertake work which cannot be hon estly and properly done at the price agreed upon.
13. Some of the difficulties experienced in estimat ing fees.—On the other hand, the business man should not go blindly in the matter of securing an account ant and allow himself to pay an excessive price for the service. He will find that a reliable firm of ac countants will spend considerable time and expense in making a preliminary survey of the work to be done in order to tell him about the length of time that the work will require, and the probable amount of the ex pense that will be entailed. In doing this, the auditor must also provide for a margin of safety. Experi ence has demonstrated that in many cases a set of ac counts, apparently properly and accurately kept, con tain a number of errors of principle and, in some cases, entries of a fraudulent character which delay the work, or which require in the correction of it a greater amount of time than was anticipated.