COMPLETE SET OF COST ACCOUNTS 441 



nearly doubles the work and adds nothing to the value 

 of the accounts. (See page 479.) 



273. Essential facts for cost accounts. In order to 

 know what it costs to raise potatoes, or keep a herd of cows, 

 one must keep track of all receipts and expenses, all labor 

 of man and horse, and all transfers of feed or other materials 

 on the farm from one account to another. Oats raised on 

 the farm and fed to horses must be credited to the oat crop 

 and charged to horses. Produce used in the house must 

 also be recorded or estimated. If these three kinds of 

 facts cash, transfer charges, and labor are recorded, 

 one has all the necessary data for a set of cost accounts, 

 except the inventory, use of land, buildings, etc., that 

 need not be recorded until the end of the year. 



274. Methods of cost accounting. Naturally, there 

 are many ways of recording such data. The best way 

 on any particular farm is the way that requires the least 

 work and yet gives the farmer all the facts that he desires. 

 One of the shortest possible ways of keeping accounts that 

 will give all the information that is likely to be wanted is 

 illustrated by the following set of accounts kept by a New 

 York farmer in 1911. This method has been used on a 

 considerable number of farms with good success. Later 

 we will consider the merits of this and other methods. 



A COMPLETE SET OF COST ACCOUNTS AS KEPT BY A 

 FARMER 



275. Methods used and accounts. On this farm 

 accounts were kept with three alfalfa fields, buckwheat, 

 corn grown on shares by a neighbor, cattle, equipment, 

 farm, timothy hay, hens, horses, improvements, interest, 

 labor, notes and accounts payable, notes and accounts 



