140 FARM ACCOUNTING i 



ventory (the process of counting and valuing) is taken and 

 recorded on sheets of paper or in a pennim, ut book at tin- 

 close of the fiscal year. This is Feb. 28, in the middle 

 Mar. 31 in some other localities, and Dec. 31 in some spe- 

 cial types of agriculture, especially orchards and nurseries. 

 However, under the new Income Tax regulations it is more 

 convenient to have the fiscal year coincide with the calen- 

 dar year. 



It is a very good plan to record inventories in compara- 

 tive form, having the names of the items written on the 

 left side of the page, reserving the space to the right for 

 several money columns, one for each year. In this way 

 one has the lirnn s for about five years at a time to mm- 

 pare, which comparison serves as quite a valuable source 

 nf information. 



Another good feature of the inventory record in perma- 

 nent or comparative form is that it pn - -nts a good excise 

 for "calling in" tools that have been loaned. If on. 

 listed in 101f>, among the tools, "1 post hole digger," but 

 a blank space in the column of the comparative inven- 

 tory for VI 7, indicating no such tool on hand, it often 

 s to refresh the memory, and ivsults in a trip Mi- 

 phone call to the neighbor's farm to have the missinjr article 

 returned "so as I liten out the records at the close 



of the year." It inch the same purpose as the mer- 



chant's appeal to his customers to "please remit so we can 

 dOM our books for the year." If the customer does not 

 remit the merchant closes his books anyway. If the post 

 hole digger is not returned, it is counted in anyway. In 

 either ease, the pretension of an excuse often does much 

 good and usually does no harm. 



A typical inventory in comparative form is presented in 

 Illustration 27. The relatio n the figures in this 



comparative in vent or if and the ledger accounts ?> the essen- 

 tial point in the record. The physical inventory is taken 



