386 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
COST FINDING IN CEMETERY WORK 
Address before the New England Cemetery Association, by W. 
H. Udieeler, of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass. 
Efficiency in business and its importance 
lias never been so greatly recognized as at 
the present time, particularly because of 
the demand for more wages, better labor 
conditions, and the increased cost of ma- 
terials. Some method must be devised to 
meet these conditions. There is only one 
practical solution of this situation, and 
that is a keener realization of the existing 
possibilities in a particular business. To be 
specific, a system must be devised to elim- 
inate waste, which is another way of say- 
ing that efficiency methods must be intro- 
duced. 
Efficient systems and reliable statistics 
enable the management to keep in touch 
with the various classes of the work and 
to locate the responsibility for waste, lost 
time, etc. 
Quite as essential in its bearing on ef- 
ficiency is the process of finding just what 
it costs to do a particular job. Not only 
is this necessary to determine possible sell- 
ing prices, but it gives us something with 
which to work looking towards reducing 
the cost of production. 
Cost accounting, as a science, is a branch 
of the general accounting, its province be- 
ing to analyze and record the various items 
of expense incurred in the different proc- 
esses and to so compile these elements that 
the total production cost of a particular 
piece of work may be known. With the 
cost books once established, the best mod- 
ern usage is to incorporate such costs in 
totals in the general books. By this way 
the modern cost system builds up an inter- 
locking series of accounts which furnish 
the material for detailed study of the op- 
erations. 
This question of cost accounting is of 
great importance, especially in cemetery 
work, from the fact that many of the ask- 
ing prices for work are based upon data 
gathered during previous years and under 
conditions greatly differing from those of 
the present day; also, as too frequently 
happened, from data unscientifically com- 
piled, and if a thorough investigation were 
made it might show that the margin of 
profit was too small or, worse still, that 
there had been a loss. Time has passed 
when selling prices should be based on any- 
thing but true costs, and the old rule of 
thumb method must give way to carefully 
prepared costing data. While we are in- 
terested to know whether the business of 
the corporation, as a whole, has been suc- 
cessful, yet it is important to ascertain 
whether one department’s earnings were 
not used in part to make up a deficit in 
some other department, and, how are we to 
know this except by compiled data? 
Many business men are aware that it is 
necessary to know costs monthly, realizing 
that it is of importance to stop leaks or 
rectify errors as quickly as possible; there- 
fore, I propose first to deal with monthly 
costs and later with the much easier prob- 
lem of yearly costs. 
As mentioned above, it is by far better 
that the costing records be a part of the 
general books and that the double-entry 
system of bookkeeping be adopted. 
It is only necessary here to deal with the 
books which, have to do with costs, such as 
the ledger, journal, voucher or purchase 
register, payroll book and stock cards. 
For accounting purposes it is desirable 
to divide the cemetery into departments, 
such as mechanics, grading and sodding, 
gardening, interments, care or grass cut- 
ting, ornamental, avenue, buildings, etc. ; 
also a special department whenever any 
particular job is started which, when com- 
pleted, becomes an asset. Each depart- 
ment should have a foreman, and the men 
in the different departments function 
through their foreman. 
In the general ledger keep an account 
with each class of work, such as founda- 
tions, care, gardening, interments, etc., and 
where expedient have two accounts for 
each class — one for perpetual care work 
and the other for annual care work. All 
factors pertaining to the cost of produc- 
tion, such as labor, materials, tools and in- 
direct expense, should be charged to each 
