18 BULLETIN 590, XJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



CREDIT COLUMNS. 



Cash. — The cash, column carries all items of cash of whatever 

 nature which are disbursed by the organization either for petty 

 expenditures or to be deposited in the bank. It should be a strict 

 rule that all cash receipts are to be deposited in the bank when it is 

 possible to do so. It is sometimes found inexpedient to adhere 

 strictly to this rule because of infrequent petty expenditures, and for 

 that reason a cash column on the credit side of the journal has been 

 provided. Where a petty cash fund is in use, the credit-cash column 

 need not be used, since deposits may then be indicated by transfer 

 of daily totals of incoming cash from the debit-cash column to the 

 bank-deposits column. 1 A receipt should be taken for every ex- 

 penditure of cash and all disbursements of $1 and over should be 

 paid by check. 



Bank withdrawals. — In the bank-withdrawal column are extended 

 the amounts of all checks drawn on the bank. 



General, mercantile, and fruit ledgers. — These columns serve the 

 same purposes on the credit side as were explained on the debit side, 

 the postings being made to the credit side of the ledger accounts in 

 this instance. 



Boxes, paper, nails, and spray. — These columns carry all credits 

 arising from the sale of supplies. 



Fruit sales. — All remittances from the sale of fruit are extended 

 in the fruit-sales column. 



Merchandise. — In the merchandise column are extended all sales 

 of merchandise, such as hay, grain, feed, and flour. 



THE LEDGER. 



The ledger is the book of accounts. After the transactions of the 

 business have been recorded in the cash journal the debit and credit 

 items arising from such transactions are transferred or posted to the 

 proper accounts in the ledger. In this way all of the debits and 

 credits pertaining to a particular person or subject are collected 

 in a ledger account under a proper caption, making it possible to view 

 and consider the. account as a whole. 



The ledger is divided into three parts and designated as the mer- 

 cantile ledger, the fruit ledger, and the general ledger. This is done 

 partly to facilitate the handling of the accounts and partly to allow 

 the use of special forms for the mercantile and fruit ledgers which 

 tends to reduce the work materially. 



THE GENERAL LEDGER. 



The general ledger contains all of the accounts other than those 

 falling within the scope of the growers' mercantile ledger and the 



1 Directions for operating petty cash funds aire set forth in detail in U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 Bulletin Mo. 178, "Cooperative Organization Business Methods." 



