Comparison of the 1947 Plan with the 1942 Plan and the CNOF Plan To facilitate the adoption of the plan, the Committee for the Normalization of Accounting did not want to upset accounting traditions unduly. Since the 1942 Plan had already been intro duced in some companies, it seemed natural that the committee base its work on that plan, and try to improve upon it. The com mittee benefited from companies’ experience with the 1942 Plan, and took into account the criticisms that had been expressed of the earlier plan. The 1947 Plan was a major advance over the 1942 Plan. First, to number the first class, the zero was dropped and replaced by the number one to facilitate the use of accounting machines. The zero was used thereafter for statistical accounts. Second, separate classes were created for fixed assets and third-party accounts (short-term receivables and payables). Third, class number 2 of the 1942 Plan, which contained the regularization and engage ment accounts, was abolished, and the accounts reallocated to other classes. Fourth, purchases now appeared in class 6 instead of class 3, which was reserved for inventories, and the cumber some accounts for purchases added to inventory were eliminated. Lastly, accounts were classified in the same order on the balance sheet and in the chart of accounts. The separation of cost accounting from financial accounting, a feature of the CNOF Plan, was retained, together with the impu tation of both expenses and revenues in the cost accounts. As in the CNOF Plan, contra-accounts were placed in the same catego ries as the accounts they corrected, and accounts that had the same function in the firm were designated by the same number of digits. The rational classification used in the CNOF Plan was adopted for the balance sheet. However, the committee did not retain the classification into ordres and categories found in the CNOF Plan, since the flexibility of decimal coding was preferred. This meant that, as in the 1942 Plan, the balances of the 1947 chart's classes were meaningless. Applicability of the 1947 Plan The Superior Council for Accounting, created by a January 1947 decree, was to supervise the application of the 1947 Plan. The conditions under which it was to operate were to be specified 295
Keyword(s):
The Cost
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