48 BULLETIN 381, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



Produce. 



Most cooperative stores buy produce in limited quantities from 

 farmers. It is almost the unanimous opinion of retail stores that 

 produce is unprofitable. For this reason, and for statistical purposes, 

 a separate account should be kept of this branch of the business. The 

 original entry may be made either on the regular credit memoran- 

 dum, or, preferably, on a special slip for this purpose. These slips 

 may be totaled at any time to ascertain the volume of produce bought. 

 If the produce is left by the customer for credit, aU the credit slips 

 must be posted to the respective accounts, and the total produce 

 entered in the Journal in the same manner as sales. 



If the produce business is very large, a special book may be used as 

 a Produce Register, having the same form as the Journal. Coupons 

 may l^e used to advantage in handling produce, as explained under 

 Cash Payments. 



Accounts Payable. 



Accounts Payable are amounts due others from the association. 

 If possible such accounts should be avoided entirely and every bill 

 discounted, in which case no creditor's ledger is required, the orders 

 and_ remittances being handled as illustrated on page 29. Where 

 accounts payable records are kept, the original entry is the creditor's 

 invoice. As the invoices come in they are checked, entered in the 

 Invoice Register (Form 26), and filed in the tickler numbered 1 to 

 31, corresponding to the days of the month. An account is kept 

 with each creditor in a special ledger, the items being posted to the 

 credit of the respective accounts from the Invoice Register. At the 

 end of the month or as often as desired the register is totaled and 

 the amount entered in the Journal as follows: 



Merchandise $2, 000. 00 



Accounts Payable $2, 000. 00 



Purchases as per Invoice Register, Numbers 150 to 195. 



When payment is made on account of creditors, the invoices are 

 hsted on a voucher check (Form 15) or on a remittance blank (Form 

 16). A record is made in the cash payments, and the amount is 

 entered in the total and accounts payable column (Form 17). The 

 items appearing in this column are posted to the debit of the various 

 accounts in the Creditors' Ledger, and' Accounts Payable is debited 

 from the annual summary entry in the Journal. The total of the 

 balances in the Creditors' Ledger equals the net balance of the con- 

 trolling account in the General Ledger, if the work is correct. In 

 auditing this account great care must be exercised to check the bal- 

 ances with the creditors' monthly statements. ■ 



