THE SHOP-ORDER SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS. 335 



RECAPITULATION. 



Total labor cost $i35.ooo oo 



Total foundry cost material 1 17,000 oo 



Total selling expense 69,000 oo 



$321,000 oo 

 DISCUSSION OF THE ABOVE. 



It must now appear that the essence of the system proposed 

 is to afford means of making definite charges of expense in the 

 following order of preference : 



1. Special order, as plant or work. 



2. Departmental standing order. 



3. General standing order. 



For the foundry let us call our departments and their standing 

 orders as follows : 



1. Pattern shop. 



2. Molding. 



3. Melting. 



4. Mounting. 



5. Foundry, unclassified. 



These comprise the manufactory proper. Now, let all the 

 other departments be consolidated under one head, viz. : 



10. The selling department. 



The number of departments is limited for simplicity's sake. 

 The more they are divided the more exact will be the resulting 

 costs, but the more trouble will it take to keep the accounts 

 separate. 



Each of the items of expense named (pages 333-335) was dis- 

 tributed among the departments named, and for each item of 

 labor the number of days' work corresponding to the amount 

 distributed, at an assumed average rate of wages, was also 

 stated. 



Labor, which, like molding, mounting, pattern and flask- 

 making, is susceptible of being charged to special orders, was 

 called direct work, and separated from that like engineers, 

 cupola-men, and superintendence belonging to the standing 

 orders, and a result obtained which represented, most probably, 

 the actual results of one year's work under the system pro- 

 posed. 



