Abstract In the general accounting field, underlying principles emerged more or less naturally because of the wide circulation of certified, published financial statements. A statement of the generally accepted principles underlying cost accounting, however, must be derived from much less promising conditions, first, because such "general acceptance" does not at present exist, and, second, because the cost practices of individual concerns are not publicly circulated. Once the job is started, however, there should be no lack of assistance and support. In distinguishing cost accounting from general or financial accounting, one of the more commonly emphasized points is that cost accounting is carried on primarily as an aid to internal management. Because of this special purpose, cost accounting has tended to develop within each organization in accord with the problems of the particular situation. Since these situations include many thousands of industrial and governmental organizations it is certain that variations in cost accounting practices are numerous. The fact that cost data are usually considered confidential tends to preserve the variations in practices and procedures
Robert L. Dixon (Thu,) studied this question.