BUREAU OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY m 



last day of the month confirming his previous letter. The 

 early notice is a great saving of time inasmuch as it permits 

 the auditing staff to prepare a tentative payroll which, when 

 subject to slight changes, will be correct. 



Equally important is the contact work of the Auditing 

 Section between the line divisions and the General Account- 

 ing Office. Many times in passing upon vouchers, especially 

 for travel expenses, the Auditing Section will add explana- 

 tory memorandum made possible by its knowledge of the 

 conditions under which the Bureau employees work, and 

 thus enable the vouchers to pass the General Accounting 

 Office when otherwise they would be delayed for a consid- 

 erable length of time. 



Administration of Property Files: The Property Section 

 of the Division keeps a record of all personal property owned 

 by the Bureau. A cross-filing system is used, one set of 

 files alphabetically lists and describes the articles, having 

 separate sections for automobiles and motor boats because 

 of their number and the space required for a complete de- 

 scription. The other file is arranged according to the name 

 of the person in whose possession the property is held and 

 it is therefore possible to turn to any employee's name and 

 tell at a glance the amount and the type of property held 

 by him. 



Information for the files is obtained from the vouchers 

 for all new material purchased. In the case of boats and 

 automobiles a complete history is kept giving date of pur- 

 chase, amount paid, repairs made at subsequent dates, and 

 finally the disposition made if no longer in service. There 

 are some variations when the property has been transferred 

 to the Bureau from another bureau in the Department or 

 from another department, but in each case the record show- 

 ing that the property has been acquired passes through this 

 section. 



