Shipping Board Operations; Hearings Before Select Committee on U. S. Shipping Board Operations, House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, ... Index and Table of Contents] Volume 12

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... permit of our securing the proper testimony to insure the making of our case. 7. I am firmly of the opinion that we should proceed and make a thorough audit of the books of three or four contractors who have built ships for us and employ for such audit certified public accountant firms of high standing to makesuch audits, and to give us the results of their investigation. 8. Your attention is called to page 1 of the detail conveyed. You will observethat in plant A there was improper overhead applied which averaged on three boats over $172,000 each, while in plant B it averaged approximately $159,000' per vessel. showing an average of approximately $165,000 per vessel. The twoplants from which this information was obtained under audit are probably among the best conducted with regard to books and accounting records, and' might be recognized as typical of the best accounting methods that we will find. 9. If, therefor.e,'erroneous construction charges to the extent of $165,000 per vessel, on certain requisitioned vessels, were found by independent commercial accounting firms to have been made against the Fleet Corporation in the twoinstances cited, then if this average prevailed for the 2,335 requisitioned and constructed vessels the improper charges would represent approximately" $385,000,000. 10. If we assume, however, that only $80,000 per vessel less than one.half of the $165,000 is recovered per vessel on the average by audits of the character I recommend be made, then applying this $80,000 against the 401 requisitioned vessels and the 1,934 vessels we have built and are building, or a total of 2,335, it would appear as reasonable to expect that we should recover through such audits a sum approximating...