49 
FARM BOOK-KEEPING. 
In the Judges’ report on the Farm Prize Competitions, 1907, 
the winner of the first prize in the principal class gives it as 
his opinion that, “ so long as a farmer keeps a record of his 
transactions which will enable him to strike a balance in 
‘ Profit and Loss ’ account, he does all that is necessary,” and 
subsequently reference is made by the Judges to his “ well-kept 
and carefully audited books.” 1 Surely, if the striking of a 
balance in the profit and loss account is all that the book- 
keeping leads up to, the keeping of accounts of any sort on a 
farm is rather a waste of time. The farmer’s bankers will 
keep his cash account for him, and a glance at his pass-book 
and at any unpaid bills he may have, together with an annual 
valuation of his stock and tenant-right, will enable him to 
strike a balance in profit and loss in a few seconds. But whilst 
a knowledge of the profit on the farm as a whole may suffice 
for those having the exceptional ability and great experience of 
the gentleman referred to above, there must be many to whom 
detailed information as to the net profits on each department 
of the farm would be of the utmost value. It must be granted 
that the accounts kept by very many farmers are of a decidedly 
elementary character, and possibly the explanation lies in the 
fact that they and their fathers before them have found that 
the usual arrangement of accounts recommended to them 
taught them so little about the details of their business as to 
justify their abandonment altogether. In commerce it has 
always been recognised that accurate accountancy is essential to 
success. By the system of “ costs book-keeping ” which 
prevails in all well-managed manufacturing establishments, the 
manufacturer is able to arrive at the net cost to him of the 
various articles constituting his output, and an adaptation of 
this system ought to be made to agricultural affairs as it 
constitutes the only reliable guide to the profitable develop- 
ment of any enterprise, and no commercial man would embark 
capital in a concern where the book-keeping was conducted on 
the somewhat “ sketchy ” lines followed by the general run of 
agriculturists. 
It may be that, in knowledge of accountancy, the average 
farmer is at a disadvantage in comparison with the purely 
commercial man ; moreover, even in those rare cases where 
accurate accounts are kept, enabling the farmer equally with 
the business man, to put his finger on the exact source of his 
losses, he is not able always to follow the example of the latter 
by ceasing to pursue unprofitable lines because his sphere of 
operations is necessarily restricted by the nature of his holding, 
VOL. 69. 
1 Journal R.A.S.E. 1907, page 179. 
E 
