Abstract This article focuses on the problem of communicating accounting information. The transmission of the information accumulated and condensed in the ledger accounts has always been a problem. Decision must be made as to the basic types of information to be included in the reports, the extent of the detail or condensation of the information, the classification of the information, the form and arrangement of the information in reports, and the terminology to be used. Since the general public is not well grounded in accounting matters, the accountant is faced with the task of making the reports intelligible. This is difficult as the accountant uses so many words in a technical sense which are already in general usage with various shades of meaning. The layman, when he sees a report in which familiar terms are used; will quite naturally believe that he understands the report. A variation of the above approach to making statements more intelligible is to use pictures, charts, and diagrams to supplement or as a substitute for the technical terms. Pictures of the various assets may be placed on the balance sheet; bars representing the total income may be segmentized to show the various expenses and the net profit; the profit retained in the business, paid to stockholders, and paid to the government in the form of income taxes may be illustrated by a pie chart; and trends in income, expenses and profits may be shown by charts.
W E G Thomas (Sun,) studied this question.