4 BULLETIN 225, U. S. DEPABTMENT OF AGBICULTUBE. 



rule no balance is attempted until the close of the season, when very 

 often it is found to be out of the question to secure a balance. As 

 the difference between the two sides of a trial balance may be made 

 up of several compensating errors, this procedure necessarily must be 

 condemned. 



To make this system flexible enough to take care of all such con- 

 tingencies, the sales book has been discarded and an envelope system 

 substituted therefor. The record up to the time of the receipt of the 

 remittance is held in the envelope in memorandum form. No ac- 

 counts receivable or customers' accounts are kept, thus doing away 

 with the many adjusting and cross entries on account of allowances 

 and changes in consignees. 



Objection may be raised to the omission of accounts receivable 

 from the ledger and the carrying of the charges in the form of memo- 

 randa. This method, however, would seem to be preferred on ac- 

 count of its simplicity. The time elapsing between the date of ship- 

 ment and the date on which remittance is received is short and the 

 number of shipments unpaid at any time is relatively small, all of 

 which makes it an easy matter to locate any envelope in the unpaid 

 file when desired. By the use of the envelopes, the file of unpaid 

 cars is kept constantly before the office manager, whereas if ledger 

 accounts are kept, the old balances might be unnoticed until the end 



of the month. 



FIRST METHOD. 



For organizations which do not handle growers' supplies at all or 

 only in very limited quantities, the first method, under which no 

 ledger accounts with individual growers are kept, is recommended. 

 As explained under " Account Sales" (p. 14), the duplicates of the 

 accounts sales rendered to the growers are filed in folders bearing the 

 names of the growers at the top, and from this file any information 

 in regard to payments made to growers can be obtained, thus elimi- 

 nating the necessity of posting all these items. 



The plan of this method reduced to journal entries is as follows: 



Cash $700. 00 



To Fruit $700. 00 



This entry is made when cash is entered on the Cash Receipts form 

 and extended in the Fruit column. 

 The next step is : 



Fruit $68. 25 



To Commission $33. 25 



Broker 10.00 



Icing, etc 25. 00 



This entry is made in the journal and credits the amount of com- 

 mission due the exchange, the amount of brokerage due the broker, 

 and the amount of initial icing due the ice company to the respective 

 accounts. 



