10 BULLETIN 811, U. S. DEPAETMEFT OF AGRICULTURE. 



or under General ledger, depending upon whether the disbursement 

 was for a cash purchase of merchandise, payment of a note, an open 

 account, or an expense item. 



General ledger. — The General ledger columns are for entries of 

 all items to be posted to accounts which appear in the General Ledger 

 and for which no special columns are provided. The left-hand 

 column accommodates the debits and the right-hand column the 

 credits. Postings from these columns will be made in detail. 



It will be noted that only the items which appear in the General 

 ledger and Accounts receivable columns are posted in detail, all 

 other columns^ both debit and credit, being posted in total only. 



REPORTS—GRAIN, MERCHANDISE. AND MANAGER'S. 



The Grain Report (Form No. 8, p. 52) is designed to keep the 

 manager and directorate in close touch with the condition of the 

 grain stock and the hedges at the end of any month, or, in fact, at 

 any time at which the entries on the various grain forms are footed. 



On this report items 1, 6, and 11 are taken from the previous 

 report, being the amounts shown thereon as Storage outstanding 

 to-day. Total purchased to date, and 'Total sales to date. Items 

 2, 4, 7, 8, 12, and 13 are the footings, for the period, of the Record 

 of Storage Tickets Issued, Record of Stored Grain Purchased, Record 

 of Cash Grain Purchased, Record of Shipments and Sales, and the 

 local sales of grain entered in 'the Cash Journal, respectively. Item 

 19, Undelivered sales, is the undelivered "sales to arrive" as shown 

 by the Record of Sales to Arriv6. Item 22, Proprietorship grain, 

 is any grain on hand that has been purchased but not sold, plus 

 any undelivered grain on growers' contracts. This item always 

 represents the amount of grain to be hedged. Items 24 and 25 are 

 taken from the Record of Hedges. By a comparison of item 24 

 with item 22, or item 25 with item 23, the manager and directors 

 can tell at once whether the open option deals are legitimate hedging 

 transactions. In case the elevator is fuUy protected, the amount 

 of uncanceled futures sold should equal the proprietorship grain, 

 and the uncanceled futures bought should equal the amount over- 

 sold, or the excess of sales over purchases. Owing to the fluctuations 

 in the spread between contract grades and the lower grades, it is 

 usually inadvisable to hedge the latter. 



Item 26, Balance long, indicates the amount of unprotected grain 

 and is ascertained by deducting item 24 from item 22 or item 23 

 from item 25. Item 27, Balance short, indicates illegitimate holdings 

 of options and is ascertained by deducting item 22 from item 24 

 or item 25 from item 23. 



In this report all grain in transit is considered as grain on hand. 

 Therefore in determining the amount of insurable grain in the house, 

 the grain in transit should be deducted from item 15, Grain in elevator. 



