RECORDS FOR FARMERS' FIRE INSURANCE COMPANIES. 15 



The cash receipts and disbursements are in little need of explana- 

 tion from the point of view of making out a report. It may be 

 pointed out, however, that a check upon the accuracy of the most 

 important items of receipts is to be found in the policy register. 

 The policy fees and initial premium in columns 17 and 18 of the 

 policy register for the period in question, plus the policy fees and 

 initial premiums, respectively, in columns! 9 and 10 of the record of 

 increases (Form 2, left-hand page) for the same period should, of 

 course, equal the corresponding receipt items in the cash receipts 

 book, proper allowance having been made, when necessary, for fees 

 and premiums reported but not yet remitted by those receiving ap- 

 plications for insurance. Similarly, the assessment column in the 

 policy register, which was filled out before notices of assessment were 

 sent, should balance the amount of the assessment column in the cash- 

 receipts book, allowance having been made for any assessments not 

 yet paid. 



What has been said concerning the procedure in the preparation 

 of an annual report will apply also to the preparation of a summary 

 of the business for any other period of time, such as three months, 

 one month, a week, or a single day. 



INDEX OF POLICY-HOLDERS. 



To facilitate the finding of a policy record when the name of the 

 member but not the policy number is at hand, it is necessary to have 

 some form of index. As the system of records here suggested is in- 

 tended for the farmers' mutual of ordinary size, only a relatively 

 simple index system need here be considered. Such an index sys- 

 tem can be provided for, either by an index book with a page or a 

 few pages given to each group of names coming within a given 

 range of the alphabet, or by an alphabetical card system. To avoid 

 a possible confusion of names, however, and for further convenience 

 in locating a record, not only the policy number, but also the address 

 of the policy-holder and the page of the policy register on which 

 the record of his policy is found, should be recorded in the index 

 book, or on the card. 



In a small company using a book for index purposes, the grouping 

 of names may be based on the first letter of the names only. For 

 companies with 500 or more members it is desirable to make somewhat 

 smaller groups. Assuming that the book used as an index contains at 

 least 120 pages, two facing pages may be allotted to names belonging 

 to each of the following alphabetical groups as determined in general 

 by the first two letters of the names : Aa-Al, Am-Az, Ba, Be, Bi-Bo, 

 Br, Bu-By, Ca-Ce, Ch-Cl, Co-Cz, Da, De-Di, Do-Dy, Ea-Em, En- 

 Ez, Fa-Fi, Fo-Fy, Ga-Gh, Gi-Go, Gr-Gy, Ha, He, Hi, Ho, Hu-Hy, 

 I, Ja-Ji Jo-Jy, Ka-Kl, Kn-Ky, La-Le, Li-Ly, McA-McL, McM- 



