It may be said that their decision can only modify the amount of profit shown, and could not make a loss into a profit. Ultimately and in the long run, this is certainly true, for bad finance brings its day of reckoning; but the day is often delayed, and in the meantime book-keeping agility can perform wonderful feats.
Moreover it must be noted that a particularly clear and simple balance-sheet was chosen as the specimen for examination. In those of the great industrial combines, whose assets consist largely of securities of other companies, all the doubts and difficulties that have faced us are many times multiplied.
What is the practical conclusion to be drawn by the investor? It seems to me to be this, that since the value placed on most of the assets of a balance-sheet is, to a great extent, a matter that can only be guessed at, and is actually arrived at by the opinion of the Board of Directors, the most important asset that a company can possess, after, and perhaps even before, the technical efficiency in production that its business requires, is an honest and prudent Board. Fortunately this asset is possessed by the great majority of companies, because without it they would very soon perish. But there are degrees, and the personality of
