464 RECORDS, ACCOUNTS, AND ADVERTISING 



work. The keeping of such a record will not only tell the poultry- 

 man just where he stands financially, but tend to develop in him 

 a spirit of economy. 



If the poultryman has no time for this work, his wife or one 

 of the children may perhaps be interested in the business and 

 may keep the accounts. A good way to cultivate business habits 

 in the children is to give them a small flock of birds and require 

 them to keep an exact record for the year, thus ascertaining the 

 actual profit from the flock. In this way the keeping of records 

 and accounts will gradually become a mere matter of routine. 



2. The system of accounts should include a yearly inventory, 

 the importance of which has been shown on page 458. 



3. The system of book-keeping should include the balancing 

 of the books at stated periods to determine the financial con- 

 dition of the plant. 



Methods of Accounting. — There are two recognized methods 

 of keeping accounts, — namely, single and double entry. The 

 latter involves considerable clerical work, as separate accounts 

 are kept for each branch of the business. It necessitates erytering 

 every transaction twice, once as a debit and once as a credit 

 item. This method has the advantage of checking against mis- 

 takes. Every trial balance shows just how each department of 

 the business stands. The work involved is so great that it is 

 suitable only for large plants where one person is employed solely 

 for the accounts and office work. 



The single entry is very simple and adapted to any poultry 

 plant. In this system entries are made but once, every trans- 

 action being either a debit or credit, against or in favor of the 

 poultry plant. 



In this system the inventory value is placed on the debit 

 side of the account. Also on the debit side are entered, as they 

 occur, all items of expense, such as feed, labor, repairs, stock, 

 and tools. On the credit side of the accounts are entered all 

 products sold and all incoming cash, — for example, eggs and fowls 

 sold or consumed at home. Such an account may run for a month 

 or longer before balancing, but the best rule is to balance it each 

 month, in order more closely to watch the expenditures. When 

 it is balanced, both sides of the account are added, the difference 

 is determined, and this difference is entered as a new balance. If 

 the credit column is greater, a profit is shown ; but if the debit 

 column is the larger, the difference will be the amount of loss. 



