An Effort to Define Business Income.

Abstract Although double entry bookkeeping has existed for several centuries with very satisfactory results as a recording medium, it has been given a severe test during the last 60 to 70 years along with its companion known as accounting. The severity of the test has been caused by two main elements, (1) expansion of the field to include not only recording of transactions but also interpretation and reporting; and (2) rapid development of business itself with resulting complexity of transactions and adjustments. These two new phases presented themselves more or less gradually over the period mentioned, as influences began to appear in the form of the business corporation, income taxes, and government regulation. One of the main products of bookkeeping and accounting for the last century at least has been the calculation of profit or loss. During the last sixty years the textbooks on bookkeeping have kept pace with practical application of the subject, usually however, lagging by about ten years to permit new ideas to solidify and to allow for preparation of manuscript, printing, and proof reading.