'218 Simple Cost Accounts for Farmers. [Jitne, 



purposes of the majoiity of farmers will be met if the farm is 

 divided into a few main departments, for each of which the books 

 will provide a closing account and a profit and loss statement. 

 These closing accounts would vary with the farming but would 

 be in the majority of cases selected from the following : Arable 

 land crops, with, in some cases. Potatoes as a sub-head ; Old land 

 for hay ; Milch cows ; Bullock fattening ; Breeding or Flying flock ; 

 and Pigs. 



Cost book-keeping begins essentially with an allocation of 

 horses and manual labour to the separate departments for which 

 a closing or working account is kept. This can be considerably 

 simplified by marking off some of the men once and for all; for 

 example, the horse-keepers or carters can be charged straightway 

 to the horse working account, the shepherd to the fiock account. 

 One man may be attending to both cows and pigs; his annual 

 kept and the times entered up weekly to the various accounts. 

 But for the labourers and for the horses a time sheet must be 

 kept and the times entered up weekly to the various accounts. 

 One need not attempt to work on a smaller unit than a half -day. 

 This then is the chief trouble, the maintenance of a weekly time 

 sheet allocating labourers and horses to crops, hay land, grazing 

 land, flock, cows and pigs, and to- some general account for odd 

 jobs like repairs, fences, &c., which cannot well be assigned to 

 any particular working account. 



The Initial Valuation. — The first step to take consists in 

 fixing the date at which the working year begins, Michaelmas 

 or Lady Day, and making the initial valuation, which cannot 

 be on a strictly cost basis. 



As regards the dead stock the best plan is to enter every article 

 up in a Stock Book and set against it its present value, the 

 amount of depreciation to be taken off each year, and a final 

 value below which it will not be written down as long as it 

 remains in commission. The amount to be written off each year 

 will be an arbitrary figure determined by the probable life of 

 the article. For example, it will be wise to write 25 or 30 per 

 cent, off the value of a tractor every year, while per cent, 

 vrould be enough to write off a plough. A fresh column is taken 

 for each year and in it is entered the depreciated value of each 

 article or a blank if it has been broken or sold, so that the total 

 of the column gives the amount to be entered in the valuation, 

 while the difference between the total and the total of the previous 

 year gives the amount that is to be charged out as depreciation. 

 The implements may be grouped according to the different closing 



