Hines' Paper

Hines’ Paper

I believe that the article written by Ruth D. Hines is an alternative view of reality through Don Juan’s personal experiences. The main idea of this article is how accountants and outsiders may see things differently. The article begins with Don Juan talking with his apprentice about a valley, he asks the apprentice to describe what he sees along with other simple questions. The apprentice answers with the first thing that comes to mind, which is the obvious and simple answers. Don Juan continues to steer him in other directions with his answers, forcing him to think outside of the box and to go against the flow of what others might think. I think that this article is showing us that accountants really do think differently than others. Don Juan is trying to make the apprentice think the way he does, the way of an accountant. He is trying to show him that accounting gives life to things such as goodwill and revenue at the time of realization. I think that he is trying to make the apprentice see things differently so he can better understand accounting in general. If we think of these simple things in a different way, it will help us in the long run when we come across these situations in our future life and jobs. With the knowledge of accounting, we can create an impression that we did not realize before.

After reading this article, I too have started to think of reality differently. Although I have been studying accounting for a while now, I never really stopped to think about things like revenue, goodwill, and exactly when items are realized in terms of reality. I believe that if I had thought about these things earlier in my accounting career, I could’ve improved my knowledge in accounting which would have helped my overall school career. It’s interesting to see how others think about simple things like this compared to the complicated way accountants think of things. This article has definitely opened my eyes to a whole new world of accounting.