758 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



accounts of each of the members in order to find the present net worth of 

 each. 



The present gross worth of the firm is found by finding the difference 

 between the sum total of its Liabilities and the sum total of its Resources, 

 Private accounts included. 



The present net worth of the firm is found by finding the sum total of 

 all the amounts credited to each of its members as his present net worth, 

 i. e., after such accounts have been closed as per instructions in " 7th " 

 of this article. 



850. When there is but a single proprietor, there are some who do not 

 keep a Stock account, and a few who keep neither a Stock nor a Private 

 account, but charge amounts drawn for private use to no account simply 

 writing " Private use," or something similar, on the Cash Book ; this is, 

 however, a very loose system of book-keeping, affording no satisfaction 

 whatever to the business man other than merely showing him the personal 

 accounts owing to and by him. When no Private account has been kept, 

 there is no way of finding how much has been expended for private use, 

 unless an account had been kept called " Private Expenses ; " neither can 

 the amount gained or lost in the business be ascertained, for the reason 

 that the amount drawn for private use has been taken from the business 

 and no account made thereof. 



856J. If other than personal accounts have been kept, such as Ex- 

 pense, Merchandise, etc., the balance from such accounts must not be carried 

 forward to the new double entry books or accounts, but such old accounts 

 or old balances must be dropped, abandoned, for the reason that they were 

 kept in Single Entry simply as memorandum accounts, in order that the 

 firm might know what their expenses and sales were. 



ON " MAKING THE CASH." 



857. It is best to balance the Cash Book every day, although some firms 

 balance it only once a month. Whether we balance the book every day 

 or not, we should every night see whether the balance on hand as shown 

 by the Cash Book agrees with the amount we actually have on hand. The 

 writer would recommend the following described and illustrated method 

 of finding whether or not the cash balances : Take a slip of paper and put 

 down in figures at the left, as illustrated below, first, the balance we had 

 on hand in the morning, and under this the total cash received during the 

 day; add these amounts together; then under this sum just found, enter 



