UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 403 
(.•vj£r Contribution from the Office of Markets and Rural Organization N^a 
J&V^t^JU CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief £&9*^&U 
Washington, D. C. September 21, 1916 
A SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR LIVE-STOCK 
SHIPPING ASSOCIATIONS. 
By John R. Humphrey and W. H. Kerr, Investigators in Market Business Practice. 
Introduction 1 
Types of shipping agencies 2 
Financing shipping associations 3 
Account sales 3 
Description of system 4 
Cash journal 5 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Description of system— Continued. 
Member's receipt and account sales 8 
Manifest 10 
Sales ticket and cash receipt 10 
Entering accounts in cash journal 12 
Posting to the ledger 13 
Shipment record envelopes 5 Conclusion 13 
INTRODUCTION. 
The increase in the volume of business of individual cooperative 
live-stock shipping associations, as well as the growth in number of 
such associations, has made it generally practicable and in some cases 
urgent that a simple method of accounting be made available for 
their use. 
The simplicity in operation of associations organized for the 
exclusive purpose of shipping live stock cooperatively has tended 
toward producing lax methods of accounting which give no general 
idea of the financial condition of the associations. It is possible 
in some instances to make a complete and final settlement to members 
after returns have been made by the commission merchant for each 
shipment; nevertheless it is important that these transactions be 
kept in an orderly way if for no other reasons than for the detection 
of errors and the furnishing of a permanent consecutive record of the 
business. 
Note. — This bulletin is of interest to live-stock shipping associations and persons contemplating the 
organization of such associations. 
50915°— Bull. 403—16 
