18 BULLETIN 394, 17. S. DEPARTMENT OY AGRICULTURE. 
of the bookkeepers. On the other hand, one of the most successful 
stores studied in the survey had an accounting system which was 
crude and out of date. Although the system was kept in a set of 
old-style books, which necessitated a great waste of energy, the work 
was done so thoroughly that the records were up to date at all times, 
and at a moment's notice the management could find out the exact 
state of the business 
One good feature in the systems of records is the almost universal 
use of the duplicating or triplicating sales slips. In those cases where 
the triplicating sales slip was used systematically, and the triplicates 
carefully checked at the close of each day. the office system was found 
to be securing fairly accurate results. 
The cash coupon seems to have gone out of favor: only 12 reported 
using dt and 27 answered in the negative. Among the 12. several 
forms were found. The most common was the book form with cou- 
pons of different denominations perforated for ready detachment. 
Another type resembled the mileage book commonly used on rail- 
roads, with cents represented instead of miles. Various forms of 
tickets and metal checks were used in paying for produce. Like the 
coupons, these were redeemable in goods. 
The billing ledger was reported as being used in 10 stores, while 
32 answered in the negative. "When it is not used, amounts of sales 
are either posted from the sales slips to an ordinary ledger, from 
which statements are rendered at the end of each month, or the sales 
slips are filed in the short-account filing cabinet as customers' ledger 
accounts. 
Ten stores reported that they were keeping cost accounts by de- 
partments, while 34 reported in the negative. Further examination, 
however, showed clearly that not over 1 or 2 stores out of the 60 
actually kept accounts by departments in such a way as to show the 
cost of operation and profits for each department of the business. 
Closer questioning revealed the fact that the stores recognized the 
advantage of having departmental accounts, and intended to or- 
ganize their bookkeeping system on that plan : but for various rea- 
sons, usually because of the lack of a sufficiently trained bookkeeper, 
they had not yet put their plans into operation. 
The by-laws of practically all of the stores examined require that 
the manager shall make reports at stated intervals. This provision 
seems to be adhered to with more or less regularity. Twenty of the 
stores required the manager to report monthly. IS semiannually. 9 
annually. 1 quarterly, and 1 daily. Eight of those requiring an 
annual report were included among those requiring a monthly report. 
Defective as are the bookkeeping systems of cooperative stores 
their auditing is .-till more unsatisfactory, although 32 reported that 
