for sundry small payments. in the general cash book. Stock Book. S.B. S.B. 8. The Petty Cash Book is of the usual analytical pattern, and is used The totals are made monthly, and then entered 9. The General Ledger contains the various impersonal accounts of the business, and are in effect summaries of the various analytical columns of the different books, the balances at the year's end being carried to the debit or credit of trading account in the private ledger. (a) The purchases accounts start afresh each year with the debit of stocks forward, and are charged with the monthly totals from the purchases day book, and credited at the year's end with the amount of stock on hand, the balance going to the debit of trading account. (b) The wages account should be shown in four divisions: (1) manager, (2) works, (3) office, (4) cartmen. This account is debited direct from the cash book, and closed off at the year's end by a transference to trading account. Oftentimes a small commission is paid to cartmen to encourage them to secure the return of empties; this commission should be included weekly in the wages list. (c) The sales account is made up from the monthly totals of the credit sales day book and of the cash book, the year's total being credited to trading account. 10. The Private Ledger contains the following accounts:-Plant, horses, wagons, gears, etc., boxes, bottles, office furniture, Bank Account, as well as the strictly private accounts: Trading Account, Profit and Loss, and Capital Account. It also contains the Balance Sheets. Trading Account The Trading Account of a business cannot be too exhaustive or too analytical. It is the summary of the year's work, and cannot be too explicit. From it are gathered the conclusions on which to base the following year's trading; it cannot, therefore, be too full of information. In the Total Daily Receipts. Cash Book particular business under discussion the form shown is strongly recommended, the percentages exhibiting readily any material discrepancy, and presenting under the separate heads of (1) production, (2) distribution, (3) general charges and depreciation, the cost per £100 of sales. Depreciation To meet the wear and tear of machinery, fixtures, fittings, etc., it is usual and essential to allow a percentage from each year's value, and to debit this percentage as a charge against the trading of the year. The amount so debited should be such as would show the true value at the year's end, and which if continued would exhaust the original cost with the lifetime of the particular article. Experience can only tell what the amount should be, but the following rates may be safely accepted as fair, and generally followed :- Bottles 10 per cent per annum on proportion of dealings with tied houses. Bottles and Boxes In the business under notice the greatest expense is undoubtedly the loss of bottles. In a recent case it was stated in Court by a well-known firm of mineral water manufacturers that many thousands of syphons, which cost 2s. each, are yearly lost to the trade, and the number of ordinary mineral water bottles carelessly or otherwise destroyed or not returned to shops, etc., is everywhere noticeable. The main consideration is how best to remedy this, as far as possible. Although it is impossible by any system of book-keeping to do this, still part of the loss may be arrested by following out the suggestions here given : (1) Charge private customers for bottles. (2) Allow all customers, say 1d. per dozen, for empties returned. (5) Keep a "Bottles and Boxes Ledger." (6) The general use of "The Bradford Draught Mineral Water Machine." The first suggestion to charge private customers does not apply to tied public-houses or hotels, as the loss on bottles is small compared with the former. In several towns it is found advantageous to make a charge for bottles, and it is necessary to provide for same in the book rulings; this can be done by the addition of quantity and value columns to the ordinary sales ledger. By making an allowance to customers it ensures in most instances their support to return as many empties as they are able to get back. If the cartmen have an inducement offered them to participate to their advantage in empties being got in, this will probably be to the interest of the employer, as the cartmen will make extra efforts to sell the minerals they carry on their wagons so as to make way for empties to be brought back. Owing to the way bottles get crossed from one place to another an additional loss would be incurred by the manufacturer were it not for the Bottle Exchange, which is usually found in towns and districts where the industry is carried on. An allowance of one penny per dozen is generally made for bottles brought in, and a charge of twopence per dozen for bottles going out; the difference between the amount received and paid is Dr. Date. an increment for running the exchange. So far as the individual manufacturer is concerned all payments in respect of the Exchange, for empties restored to him, are passed through the petty cash book under a separate head, or as forming part of the general expenses of the business. A general ruling for a " Bottles and Boxes Ledger" is as follows: The entries for this book, both debit and credit, are obtained from the counterfoils of the cartmen's delivery books, and the accounts are generally checked by sending statements periodically to the customers requesting them to agree same with their stock; intermediate reports are sometimes obtained by the cartmen, but none other than an approximation can be arrived at. By using the draught mineral water machine, which contains equal to 260 split bottles, and does not occupy more space than a two-dozen case, the continuous handling of bottles and cases can be done away with the bar attendants can serve more expeditiously, a more satisfactory and reliable article can be given out at half the price charged for bottled goods-and by doing away with bottles, there is an obvious saving. Stock Books Proper records should be kept of bottlings, of minerals sent out which with some allowance for breakages should agree with stock at stock-taking time. We give the two forms more generally in use. |