10 BULLETIN 236, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and returned during the current month can be added in with the 

 March shipments and returns in order to arrive at the total amount 

 of returns for the month of March. This same method will apply 

 if a car shipped in February should not bring returns until April, 

 as the February entry would show that the car was still standing 

 out through the month of March. . 



RECORD OF HEDGES. 



A record of hedges (Form No. 5; see p. 21) is essential to the 

 proper hedging of grain, and this account should be kept up to date. 

 On this form columns have been provided giving all the necessary 

 information for keeping the accounting record of grain hedges. 

 Profit or loss on hedges should be posted to the general ledger to 

 the debit or credit of the "commission account" represented and 

 to the debit or credit of "profit and loss on hedges," as the case may 

 be. It may be considered that any profit or loss on hedging could 

 as properly be charged or credited to the grain against which it 

 applies, but, as it is important to know just how much the hedging 

 of grain costs, it is much better to carry a "profit and loss on hedges " 

 account until the end of the year, when this account may be written 

 off to the several grain accounts if desired. - 



RECORD OF SALES TO ARRrVE. 



Under the description of the system (p. 6) will be found sufficient 

 information regarding this form (Form No. 6; see p. 21), for, as 

 it is only an auxiliary record for memorandum use, it has very little 

 to do with the operation of the system. 



PATRONAGE LEDGER. 



At convenient periods during the year reference should be made 

 to the grain checks and to the sales tickets, and the amount of 

 merchandise recorded thereon, both in purchases and sales, should 

 be posted to the patronage ledger (Form No. 7; see p. 22), under the 

 account of the customer with whom the transaction was held. It is 

 essential only that this material be compiled by the end of the year, 

 so that proper reference may be made to it as the basis for paying 

 patronage dividends. Each customer's account is totaled and the 

 rate of dividend per bushel or per pound is entered in the upper 

 right-hand corner. Using this ledger as a basis, checks for the amount 

 to which each customer is entitled can be made out, and dividends 

 distributed accordingly. 



GRAIN REPORT. 



The grain report (Form No. 8; see p. 23) is designed to keep the 

 manager and directorate in close touch with the condition of their 

 grain stock at the end of any month, or, in fact, at any time at which 

 additions of the various entries on the grain forms may be made. 



