COMPLETE SET OF COST ACCOUNTS 443 



Keeping track of the work in this way on a farm where 

 two or three persons do all the work requires one to five 

 minutes per day. 



There is not room here to give all the work reports, but 

 all the ledger accounts are given in full, except that in 

 many places a large number of entries of a like character 

 are added together to save space in printing. 



The account with each of the crops and animals is just 

 as the farmer kept it. The personal account is not as he 

 kept it, but is included to show the method of keeping 

 such an account. The year 1911 was a year of poor crops 

 and high prices for feed. 



The results of this set of accounts are discussed in detail 

 not because of the results, but to show methods of keeping 

 accounts. The method is as well adapted to a cotton farm 

 or an orange plantation, or any other kind of farming. 



INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS 



276. Cautions in interpreting results. Since the 

 object of cost accounting is to help in studying one's 

 business, it is evident that the interpretation of results is 

 the most important part of the work. By studying the 

 accounts, one may see ways of reducing the cost or in- 

 creasing the returns. It is just as necessary to study the 

 accounts that pay as to study those that do not pay. 



If an account comes out even, it means that the enter- 

 prise has paid interest on the money invested and paid 

 all costs and furnished employment for men, horses, and 

 machinery at the rates charged for these. Such an enter- 

 prise may be continued, but like all other enterprises, one 

 must be looking for ways to make it pay better or for some- 

 thing to replace it that will pay better. (Continued on 

 page 472.} 



