SPECIAL ACCOUNTS AND ENTRIES 127 



counting point of view. It must record sales of the re- 

 source itself and sales of the product. It is impossible 

 to keep accurate, separate cost accounts of the cattle as 

 livestock and of the products of the cattle as milk, cream 

 and butter. The difficulty from a cost accounting view- 

 point lies in the fact that the costs cannot be divided ac- 

 curately. When feed is given to a dairy cow it is quite 

 impossible for the farmer to state what proportion of the 

 value of the feed contributes to the cost of the dairy 

 products and what proportion to the up-keep of the animal. 



If one is in the dairy business selling products and also 

 selling pure bred dairy cattle, it is advisable to keep an 

 account called Dairy Products, and one called Dairy Cattle. 

 Under such conditions the Dairy Products account is cred- 

 ited with all income from the sale of dairy products to 

 outsiders or to the household, and is debited with the costs 

 of producing and marketing the products. The Dairy 

 Cattle account would contain entries for the inventory at 

 the beginning and close of the period. It would be debited 

 with all costs of up-keep of the herd and credited with all 

 income from sale of members of the herd. 



At the close of the year the Dairy Products account is 

 closed into the Dairy Cattle account. After crediting the 

 Cattle account with the inventory value of animals on 

 hand at the close of the year, any balance is transferred 

 to Loss and Gain account. 



Poultry. As suggested in connection with the Dairy 

 Cattle and Dairy Products accounts outlined above, Poul- 

 try account presents the twofold results of the income 

 from sale of property and the income from sale of product, 

 without any basis for dividing the expenses. That is, in 

 cost accounting it is difficult, or rather, impossible to de- 

 termine how much of the feed consumed by chickens is 

 to be charged against the eggs and how much against the 

 poultry, if two accounts are kept. Accordingly, if two 



