10 BULLETIN 225, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



THE JOURNAL. 



An eight-column journal (Form 6) has been provided with the 

 following captions: 



DEBIT. CREDIT. 



Sundries. Sundries. 



Fruit. Merchandise. 



Merchandise. . Commission. 



Fruit P. & L. Fruit P. & L. 



The debit and credit Sundries columns are for all items other than 

 those for which columns have been provided. 



The Fruit column on the debit side and the Commission column 

 on the credit side of the journal were introduced to accommodate 

 the journal entries covering charges for commission, icing, and 

 brokerage as shown in the explanation of the car envelope. All 

 items chargeable to Fruit account are extended in the Fruit column; 

 items of commission to be credited to Commission account hi the 

 Commission column and items of icing and brokerage in the credit 

 Sundries column. The advantage of the method of collecting these 

 items in columns and posting the total to the ledger, over that of 

 posting them in detail direct from the car envelope, is obvious. 



All transactions involving the purchase and sale of merchandise are 

 journalized, the debit Merchandise column being used for purchases 

 and the credit Merchandise column for sales. 



The debit and credit columns, Fruit P. & L. (Fruit Profit and 

 Loss), were introduced for the specific purpose of taking care of the 

 profits or losses sustained on fruit which is bought outright by the 

 association. 1 



i Owing to certain local conditions and customs, the Exchange in which this system was tried out buys 

 some of the crops outright from the growers, while the others are handled on a commission basis. It may 

 also happen that some cars will contain both fruit bought and fruit to be handled on commission. By 

 opening this account to hold all items of profit and loss, the Fruit account is kept clear of these elements, 

 and the equilibrium of the two sides of the Fruit account will show that returns have been made in full 

 to the growers for all proceeds received for their shipments. A credit balance appearing on Fruit account 

 at the end of a month would indicate money received but for which no payments as yet had been made to 

 the shippers. This method also shows the profit made or loss sustained on each shipment bought outright. 

 Except where such a condition exists — that is, where the exchange handles shipments on some other than 

 a regular commission basis and an element of profit or loss arises — these columns will be found 

 superfluous. 



