Inventories 113 



tcrial arc polled in a slock record or card system 

 by clerks whose business it is to maintain that 

 record; in the other, the receipts and disburse- 

 ments are recorded on the bin cards located in the 

 storeroom. The first method is rather more accu- 

 rate. Many plants operate both methods, as a 

 check against each other. Either method should 

 be checked by actual count in some systematic 

 way. 



The stores ledger accounts in a perpetual inven- 

 tory, set up for each item, correspond to the ledger 

 accounts maintained in the accounting department 

 for each financial account. No accountant would 

 think of running records indefinitely without the 

 check of a trial balance. Similarly, no stores 

 record should be run indefinitely without an actual 

 check. This check may be a progressive one or 

 may be a general periodic inventory. Some sys- 

 tem of checking, however, should be employed, if 

 only for the moral effect on both the storekeepers 

 and the record clerks. 



Methods of Checking. Some firms make an 

 actual count of each stock item whenever the "low 

 limit* 1 is reached before ordering. In other plants, 

 it is the practice to check the stores and stock pro- 

 gressively, at stated intervals, so that all materials 

 covered at least once during the inventory 

 period say, each year. If this is done, the per- 

 petual inventory may be considered as a device 

 for spreading the old physical count system over 

 the entire year in such a way as not to interfere 

 i the operation of the plant. The general ex- 



