APPENDIX I 



AN ALTERNATIVE BASIS FOR COST 

 DETERMINATION 



ONE of the obstacles in the way of the general adoption 

 of costing as an aid to farm management is the amount of 

 clerical labour involved, and as it is true that any system 

 of departmental accounting is bound to entail a good deal of 

 detail work, it is the more necessary to explore every possible 

 short cut through the present methods, and to consider 

 changes of method which may lead to useful results at less 

 effort and expense. Brief reference to one suggestion to 

 this end has already been made (see p. 52, ante). 



It is not suggested, at this stage, that any appreciable 

 amount of labour can be saved in the actual recording of 

 labour, &c., at the farmers' end ; indeed there are strong 

 arguments in favour of a system of still greater detail in 

 the collection of data, particularly as to the time of the 

 stockmen, but certain alternative methods are here put 

 forward which, if found satisfactory after a test in practice, 

 should result in the saving of a great deal of labour without 

 sacrificing any part of the measure of accuracy achieved 

 under the present methods. 



Under the system described in this volume, which is the 

 one in general use, the cost of any crop is got by allocating 

 manual labour, horse labour, manures applied, &c., in the 

 first instance, to the various fields under the crop, together 

 with such details as would enable the responsible accountant 

 to arrive at a net cost after deducting any beneficial cultiva- 

 tions, manurial residues, &c., not strictly chargeable against 

 the particular crop. This method is usually followed, in 

 the case of corn crops, as far as the harvest, after which 

 such additional costs as thatching, threshing, and delivering 



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