LIFO and Statistical Sampling---A Case Study
A growing number of case studies, describing the increasing number of applications of statistical sampling methods to accounting problems, have appeared in accounting literature. A substantial number, although not all, of these case studies have tended to emphasize the statistical aspects of the particular problem being described, at the neglect of accounting considerations. This is understandable in the sense that statistical techniques are relatively new to the accounting profession and new techniques, rather than the old, require exposition. However, the fruitful use of statistics in accounting requires full consideration of both statistical and accounting aspects of any particular problem. With this point of view, the following case study describing the statistical and accounting problems encountered in an adoption of the LIFO method of valuing inventory is presented.
Statistical Criteria for Asset Valuation by Specific Price Index
HEmajor theoretical studies of current cost asset valuation in financial reporting rely to some degree on specific price indexes, but have left unsettled certain key issues in implementation. Section II surveys the literature on the subject and points up important issues to be investigated. For example, how specific should the adjustment for specific price change be? Are individual asset valuations at current cost necessary and useful? Most authorities propose an eclectic, pragmatic approach to determination of the current cost valuation. Individual adjustment usually is the preferred theoretical method but then specific price indexes are recommended as a surrogate.' Moreover, a survey of published implementation studies shows indexes as the dominant adjustment method. The implication is that individual asset valuation is the objective of adjustment, but explicit statements of how such individual valuations are to be used are rare. Edwards and Bell say:
Professional tensions in client-centered practice: using institutional ethnography to generate understanding and transformation.
For almost 20 years, occupational therapists have advocated client-centered practice. Yet client-centered practice is fraught with tensions that arise outside the practice of individual occupational therapists. This paper is guided by two questions: What produces professional tensions in client-centered practice? and What understanding and change might be generated using institutional ethnography? The sociological theory and method of institutional ethnography are described using data from an ongoing investigation of mental health services as a social institution. Illustrated are the research aim, research questions, and institutional analysis that distinguish institutional ethnography from conventional ethnography. Two professional tensions are associated with attempts to fulfill client-centered practice in mental health. One is that of working at cross-purposes with the prevailing hierarchical structure; the other tension is that of being celebrated yet subordinated in the medical and management hierarchies of health services. Although client-centered practice is difficult to do, the authors recommend institutional ethnography as a research approach to generate understanding and transformation of the context and practice of occupational therapy.