148 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



and properly kept would not only enable you to render a complete report 

 of your receipts, disbursements and operations, but would also furnish 

 much of the data that will directly enable you to accomplish your aims, 

 viz, the improvement of your fair in every respect and at the least pos- 

 sible expense. 



If you have been benefited by the exchange of ideas as to the con- 

 duct of your fairs, you will most certainly agree that you would be bene- 

 fited by the comparison of financial results which would be reflected 

 through a uniform accounting system. 



Your business is in a sense non-competitive, hence the divulgence of 

 facts cannot work a hindrance upon any of your associations but must 

 be of benefit. 



Probably the first thing to be considered in connection with uniform 

 fair accounting is its importance to those interested in the proposition. 



First: To the stockholder. Most county fair associations consist of 

 a large number of contributors or stockholders composed of the citizens 

 and business men in the immediate vicinity. These people have invested 

 their money not with the idea of direct pecuniary profit, but for the ben- 

 efit that will accrue to the community. In the majority of the cases 

 they do not expect the return of their investment. They do expect, how- 

 ever, and are entitled to know that their investment is judiciously and 

 conservatively handled. That the investment and income from the 

 same is properly and accurately accounted for and that no one receives 

 benefit to which he is not entitled. The association is entirely dependent 

 upon the confidence and good will of the public, and the stockholders or 

 investors are entitled annually to a complete and accurate statement 

 of the results of operation which can be had with ease and accuracy 

 only through proper accounting methods. 



Second: The importance to the state. Since the state is encouraging 

 the county fair and under certain conditions contributes financial aid, 

 it is proper to render annually a complete and accurate report to the 

 state so that it can be shown that the public's money is being applied in 

 the channels for which it was intended. It can be readily seen that a 

 uniform report on all county fairs would be of inestimable value to the 

 state. 



Third: The importance of uniform accounting to the management. 

 This point cannot be too strongly emphasized. Your business is one 

 that is comparatively inactive for the greater part of the year and then 

 is over in a few days. Your success or failure is dependent upon the 

 quality of your entertainment, the disposition of the public and weather 

 conditions. At the close of your fair you are apt to find yourselves with 

 a nice surplus or a heavy loss. With a uniform accounting system you 

 will he the better enabled to make your plans for the coming fair based 

 upon the experience and records of former years. And the longer you 

 use reliable and uniform records the better enabled you will be to make 

 plans that will result favorably to you so far as to the two conditionr 

 over which you have control. 



The next point for consideration is what principles are necessary in 

 a uniform system of accounting for county fairs. 



