BULLETIN OF THE 
C 
No. 225 
Contribution from the Office of Markets and Rural Organization 
Charles J. Brand. Chief. May 7, 191 5. 
A SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTING FOR COOPERATIVE 
FRUIT ASSOCIATIONS. 
By G. A. Nahstoll, Assistant in Cooperative Organization Accounting, and 
W. H. Kerr, Investigator in Market Business Practice. 
Introduction 
CONT 
Page. 
1 
2 
2 
ENTS. 
Page. 
23 
Object 
24 
Express shipments 
24 
First method 
4 
5 
24 
Books and special forms 
Binders 
Conclusion 
25 
Opening the books 
15 
25 
"What accounts to keep 
Closing the books 
17 
20 
INTRODUCTION. 
There are already several hundred cooperative organizations in 
the United States handling deciduous fruits and produce. New 
associations or exchanges are formed from time to time as the farm- 
ers in the various localities begin to realize the benefits to be derived 
from the cooperative handling and marketing of their products. 
Many of these organizations flourish for a short time, but each year 
witnesses the dissolution of a number of them. These failures fre- 
quently can be attributed either directly or indirectly to the lack of 
a proper system of accounting and the subsequent verification of the 
accounting record by means of a thorough audit. 
The system outlined in this bulletin has been devised to meet the 
requirements of the smaller organizations handling deciduous fruits 
and produce on a commission basis, and it is hoped that the assistance 
given will lead to the adoption of simple, concise, and comprehensive 
methods of keeping records of sales and reporting the proceeds of 
such sales to the growers. A special system has been prepared for 
the requirements of the potato exchanges which buy outright from 
the grower or pool on a basis of the day's sales. 
While the system here given is sufficiently flexible to admit of a 
great deal of expansion, it will not cover the varied needs of the 
larger associations of the West and Northwest, where the cooperative 
handling and marketing of fruit has been much more highly developed. 
In a later bulletin the department intends to publish a discussion of 
Note.— This bulletin should be of interest to all cooperative fruit associations throughout the country. 
83197 "—Bull. 225—15 1 
