694 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



answer the question of time by estimates ranging from two to ten 

 minutes a day. The average seems to be about five minutes for the daily 

 entries. To this must be added a number of hours of work at the end 

 of tlie year to close the accounts. This time will vary with the type of 

 farming, the complexity of the business, and the degree of accuracy and 

 completeness with which the accounts have been kept. 



BOOKKEEPING KNOWLEDGE UNNECESSAKY. 



No bookkeeping knowledge is necessary. In all the co-operative work 

 done so far, bookkeeping training, as sometimes given in commercial 

 schools, has seemed a detriment rather than a help. Those trained in 

 commercial bookkeeping have a tendency to insert technicalities and com- 

 plexity of entry which would be all right for a business house, but which 

 are entirely out of place for a practical farmer who wishes to do cost 

 accounting. It is not necessary to know the difference between a day- 

 book and a journal or to know how to get a trial balance in order to keep 

 good farm cost accounts. 



A FAVORABLE TIME TO START ACCOUNTS. 



Accounts may be started on an ordinary farm any time after the last 

 crop is harvested in the fall and before the first crop preparations are 

 started in the spring. The exact date will depend upon the geographical 

 location of the farm and the nature of the business or type of farming in 

 practice. The time should be as late as possible, in order that there may 

 be the smallest quantity of last year's crops on hand to be inventoried. 

 However, the date should be early enough to give the farmer sufficient 

 time to close his year's accounts, work out results, plan the next year's 

 business, and start new accounts before the spring crop work begins. 

 In a large majority of cases this date will be January 1, March 1, or 

 April 1. For a tenant the date for taking an inventory will, of course, 

 correspond to the date of his lease. 



REQUIREMENTS FOR KEEPING A COMPLETE SET OF FARM COST ACCOUNTS. 



In order to have a complete set of farm accounts three records are 

 necessary : 



(1) An inventory at the beginning and at the end of the year. 



(2) An account of all money paid out or received. 



(3) A record of all work done by men and horses during the year. 



INVENTORY. 



The inventory on an ordinary farm is a matter requiring from two to 

 five hours' work at the beginning and at the end of the year. The same 

 inventory, of course, is used for closing one year's accounts and starting 

 the next, so that this work is done only once a year. This inventory 

 should be a detailed list, with values, of the following: The farm, sub- 

 divided into buildings and land, each building being listed separately, 

 with the number of acres of land and its value per acre (the total value 

 of buildings and land listed being equal to the value of the farm); the 

 horses, listed by name and giving their ages, followed by other live stock 

 listed separately, giving value per head; machinery, each item being listed 

 separately, except that small tools may be bunched as one item; quan- 



