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 
