COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION BUSINESS METHODS. 11 
should be retained and filed in numerical order so as to afford com- 
parison with their corresponding entries in the cashbook or check 
register. 
As checks are frequently lost, making it necessary to issue dupli- 
cates, it is well to protect the organization against loss, as there is the 
possibility of both original and duplicate checks being cashed. The 
payee, therefore, should be required to sign a bond of indemnity for 
twice the amount of the check. 
At the end of each month a reconciliation should be made between 
the cashbook or check register and the bank pass-book balances. 
As, from the very nature of the business, many checks are liable to 
be outstanding at least at the end of months during which heavy 
payments are made, a permanent record of these reconciliations will 
be found of great assistance, not only to the auditor but to the book- 
keeper as well. This reconciliation can be made with very little 
additional work. When checks are returned from the bank they are 
sorted out numerically and checked off on the stub of the check 
book or check register, preferably with a small red-ink check mark. 
An adding-machine list is then made of all unchecked amounts, 
giving a list of outstanding checks. Xotation is then made on cash 
book as follows: 
Balance per pass book $2,498.30 
Less O/S checks 1,408.00 
Balance as shown on cashbook 1.090.30 
All adjustments on account of collection charges or interest credits, 
etc., should also be shown. The numbers of the checks are then 
inserted opposite the respective amounts on the adding machine list, 
and this list is filed with the last check drawn for the month. When 
reconciliation is made for the following month, the returned checks 
are first checked against the outstanding list of the previous month, 
and all unchecked items on this list are then included in the new 
outstanding list. This obviates the necessity of turning back each 
time to find the unchecked items on the check book. 
All checks and receipts, sales slips, vouchers, etc., should be num- 
bered with a numbering machine. Any that are spoiled should be 
marked void and left in the book. 
A regular system should be used for the acknowledgment of all 
cash sales or miscellaneous cash items received. A receipt book with 
carbon, all receipts being numbered in duplicate, has many advan- 
tages over the receipt book with stub. The carbon copy remaining 
for office files, being an exact duplicate of the original, allows no 
chance for error, as may occur in rewriting the amount on a receipt 
stub. By a system of numbering, all receipts can be accounted for. 
