4 BULLETIN 559, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



settlements for a given month, are figured from the first to the last 

 day of the month and payments made at a convenient time during 

 the month following. 



ACCOUNTING CONDITIONS. 



Owing to the lack of specific information in regard to accounting 

 in farmers' creameries, it has been necessary in the past for each 

 secretary, using whatever knowledge of commercial accounting he 

 possessed, to devise a system which in his opinion would best suit 

 the specific requirements of the business, the essential forms being 

 selected from the many which have been placed upon the market 

 by publishing houses catering to the creamery trade. No uniform 

 system was available which could be applied to the needs of practi- 

 cally all country creameries; hence, systems of accounting are 

 practically as numerous as creameries. A few of these are complete 

 double-entry systems, but in most particulars they consist mainly 

 of detached forms, reports, and memoranda designed chiefly to aid 

 the secretary in making up his annual report. The records of the 

 business done by the patrons, including the receipts of milk or cream 

 and of payments made, therefore, are generally satisfactory, as much 

 attention has been paid to this part of the work. But aside from 

 this feature, a large number of accounting systems now in use are 

 inefficient and incomplete; the preparation of an intelligible balance 

 sheet or a statement portraying the results of operation is extremely 

 difficult, if not often impossible, as there is no definite plan for col- 

 lecting and classifying the items or bringing the totals together. 



Local conditions have influenced to a great extent the construction 

 and use of creamery forms. Differences in methods of operation, it 

 was believed, necessitated differences in the manner of keeping 

 records and in the form of records, and no concerted effort was made 

 to bring about uniformity. Such differences were found in the 

 method of deliveries, the frequency of testing, the division of work 

 between the secretary and treasurer, the method of marketing, the 

 frequency of payment, and the form in which the raw material was 

 received. While provision must be made for all these variations, no 

 apparent reason appears why any of them should make necessary any 

 radical change in the accounting system. 



ACCOUNTING REQUISITES. 



The cause of a large percentage of business failures may be traced, 

 either directly or indirectly, to the lack of a proper accounting system. 

 Keen competition in present-day business requires that the manager 

 shall command accurate and reliable data regarding his business and 

 the cost and results of operation. Proper accounting includes not 



