Washington, D. C. August 8, 1923 
ACCOUNTING RECORDS AND BUSINESS METHODS FOR 
LIVE-STOCK SHIPPING ASSOCIATIONS.’ 
By FRANK RopotkKa, Assistant, Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, and Col- 
laborator, Bureau of Agricultural Hconomics. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. Page. 
What forms are needed______-__-_- 3 | The need of permanent records—Con- 
GTI ETM AG) eee See ee eee 3 tinued. 
Manifest 232i) se tare tS 4 Records as a guide to manage- 
Prorating: sheets: eto. bey 6 Met tee ot ope a, 23 
Member’s statement __________ 6 Monthly and annual reports__- 24 
Shipment record envelope_____ 7 Analyzing the business _______ 28 
Shipment summary record ____ 9 Who should keep the books?___ 29 
‘The -cash*-journal + =i ssi sh 10 | Marketing methods___-__________. 30 
Operating the cash journal____ 11 Terminal market methods____.. 80 
Information needed to determine Grading and prorating at home_ 33 
the business standing ______ 16 Problems involved in prorating_ 3 
Description of the accounts___ 18 Filling out the prorating sheet_ 38 
Advances to shippers_________ 22 Prorating mixed shipments____ 41 
Sales subject to inspection____ 22 Short weight and mixed car- 
The need of permanent records ____ 23 NOL SS en ree 45 
Records as a protection to man- F: Illustrative transactions __________ 47 
agers, directors, and others__ 
The cooperative marketing of live stock has experienced a more 
phenomenal growth than perhaps any other form of cooperative 
endeavor. Using Iowa as an illustration, the oldest association in 
the State was organized in 1904. Of all the associations in existence 
in the State in 1920, about 3 per cent were organized before 1910, 
only 8 per cent before 1915, and less than 25 per cent before 1918. 
About 75 per cent of the associations in existence in December, 1920, 
were organized during the years 1919 and 1920. 
Even though the history of the movement in other States differs 
in some respects from that in Iowa, by far the greatest development 
for the country as a whole has taken place within the past five years. 
This rapid growth has brought to the front a number of problems, 
most of which may be traced directly or indirectly to small volume 
of business, inexperienced management and in some localities to 
competition among the associations. As a result there is a wide 
difference in the cost of shipping between the most efficient and the 
least efficient associations. The choice of markets is also important, 
Manuscript for this publication was prepared in collaboration with the Iowa State 
College of Agriculture and Mechanie Arts and is also published as Accounting Records 
aN Live Stock Shipping Associations, by Frank Robotka. Iowa Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. No. 
2 Cooperative Live-Stock Shipping in Iowa in 1920, by E, C. Nourse and C. W. Ham- 
mans, lowa Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. No. 200. 
33703°—23 t 
