SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR FARMERS' COOPERATIVE ELEVATORS. 13 



checks drawn during the month. The "general ledger" and " ac- 

 counts receivable" columns serve the same purposes on the credit 

 as were explained on the debit side. 



LOCAL SALES. 



As all the sales tickets are numbered consecutively, their numbers are 

 listed in the "sales number" column, and the merchandise in pounds 

 and amount is entered in the proper column to the credit of the account 

 to which it belongs, such as "hard coal," "soft coal," "flour," etc. 

 These columns are totaled at the end of the month and the totals 

 only are posted to the accounts in the general ledger. Only the 

 items which are posted from the general ledger, accounts receivable 

 ledger, and the miscellaneous columns are listed in detail, all other 

 columns, both debit and credit, being posted as totals. At the be- 

 ginning of the month the first entry to be made on this form is "cash 

 balance," and this should be set down in the "bank deposit" column 

 as an amount carried forward. Because of the fact that every debit 

 has a corresponding credit, the two sides of this form should always 

 be in balance, but the fact that we have carried forward the cash bal- 

 ance, which appears on one side only, must be taken into considera- 

 tion. In order that the form should foot and prove correctly, it 

 should always be out of balance by the exact amount of the cash entry 

 at the beginning of the month. 



THE LEDGER. 



The ledger should be divided into two general divisions — one car- 

 rying general accounts and the other accounts receivable — and may be 

 designated under the headings "General ledger" and "Accounts receiv- 

 able ledger." In the general ledger will be found such accounts as: 



(1) Cash, which is the monthly balance as shown by the cashbook; 



(2) "accounts receivable control" account, to which are posted debit 

 and credit totals in the "accounts receivable" columns in the cash, 

 journal, purchase, and sales record, the individual items having been 

 posted previously to the accounts receivable ledger. This account 

 serves as a proof of the correctness of such individual postings. 



(3) Bills receivable, including all promissory notes, time notes, bills 

 of exchange, or acceptances receivable. 



It has been the practice in some elevator accounting systems to 

 show a subdivision of expense in the journal, but the small number 

 of items of this character is much better taken care of through a 

 subdivision of the ledger accounts. An ordinary ledger page may 

 be ruled by the bookkeeper into seven or eight columns, and, as 

 entries to expense in most cases are debit items, no credit columns 

 need be provided. When credits occur they should be posted in red 



