Mautz (1973) made the following comment: Accounting is what it is today not so much because of the desire of accountants but because of the influence of businessmen. If those who make management an investment decisions had not found financial reports based on historical cost useful over the years, changes in accounting would long since have been made Critically evaluate this statement. In your discussion, you should consider the relative merits of historical cost accounting as well as the various alternative measurement systems that have been proposed.