A SUEVEY OF TYPICAL COOPERATIVE STORES. 



21 



year, and are listing at full value goods which are shopworn and 

 upon which it will never be possible to realize in full. Then, too, 

 the accounts receivable, bills receivable, and miscellaneous assets, with 

 a total of over $700,000, an average of $15,000 per store, contain 

 many items which can never be collected and should be dropped, 

 as they only becloud the financial condition of the store. As an 

 illustration, one small store has been carrying $1,200 worth of notes 

 taken for shares of stock, although they are all past due; and the 

 same association has on its books over $2,000 in accounts which might 

 almost as well be wiped out and charged off to loss and gain. This 

 large j^roportion of moj-e or less fixed and doubtful assets probably 

 goes far toward explaining the reason why dividejuds can not be paid. 



Table VII. — The balance sheet. 

 [46 stores.] 



Eesources: 



Cash 



Merchandise 



Equipment 



Accounts receivable 



Notes receivable 



Miscellaneous 



Total 



Liabilities: 



Capital stock 



Bills payable. 



Accounts payable 



Surplus 



Undivided profits 



Unpaid dividends 



Miscellaneous 



Total 



Total resources 



Total liabilities, exclusive of capital stock, surplus 

 undivided profits, and unpaid dividends 



Total net worth 



Total. 



$95,439.97 

 830,272.96 



75,449.40 

 339,758,05 



95,255.10 

 259,583.69 



1,695,759.17 



733,592.74 

 236,986.04 

 232,579.93 

 200,242.68 

 238,406.18 

 8,844.96 

 45, 106. 64 



1,695,759.17 



1,695,759.17 

 514,672.61 



1,181,086.66 



High.i 



820,997.40 

 98,460.12 

 10,195.88 

 48,549.71 

 12,253.77 

 28,502.83 



201,091.24 



106,200.00 

 22,000.00 

 18,363.84 

 33,318.14 

 13,750.60 

 3,343.92 

 19,200.00 



201,091.24 



Low.i 



828. 15 

 800.00 

 23.00 



1, 113. 00 



267.00 



6.02 

 5.57 



30.00 



1,113.00 



$2,074.78 

 18,049.41 

 1,640.21 

 7, 386. 05 

 2,070.76 

 5,643.12 



36, 864. 33 



15,947.67 

 5,151.87 

 5,056.00 

 4, 3.53. 10 

 5,182.74 

 192. 28 

 980. 58 



36,864.33 



36, 864. 33 

 11,188.54 



25,675.79 



1 Figures iu these columns are independent of each other, and theJ;otals represent high and low totals 

 not totals of the other figures given. 



OPERATING EXPENSES. 



Table VIII shows the annual operating expenses of 41 stores. 

 This table shows salaries and labor, which appear separately in 

 Table IX. The comparative statement of expenses in relation to 

 net sales is found in Table X, which should be studied carefully in 

 this connection. The number of stores reporting each of the various 

 items in Table VIII indicates how difficult it was to get satisfactory 

 figures under the different subheads in the questionnaire. In fact, 

 it was found to be impossible to make a segregation of the expenses 

 on account of the difference in classification used by the stores. Many 



