PARK AND CEMETERY. 
169 
this kind and I must content myself by 
dealing only with the general principles. 
The question has been asked : Is it proper 
to guarantee something in perpetuity ? 
Opinions differ on this point but this, at 
least, is clear: No one knows what the 
conditions will be even a hundred years 
hence and that is a very small fraction of 
perpetuity; it is also impossible to de- 
termine a time when conditions shall have 
changed to such an extent that the con- 
tract cannot be carried out. It is essen- 
tial, however, to undertake the obligation 
in perpetuity. It would be well, there- 
fore, if all contracts for future care were 
limited by a qualifying clause relieving the 
Association in the event of circumstances 
arising — either as 1 the result of legislation 
or otherwise — which would render impos- 
sible the carrying out of the specific obli- 
gations. 
But whether the obligations be qualified 
or not, the present duty of the trustees is 
to accumulate a fund which at the cur- 
rent rate of interest on safe investments 
— it is useless to speculate what the future 
rate will be — will provide a sum sufficient 
to care for the cemetery from year to year 
after revenue from all other sources has 
ceased. That fund can only be raised by 
contributions from purchasers of lots. I 
am not going into the question of the best 
method of assessment, but I will say this, 
! that the assessment, however it may be 
I calculated, should be part of the original 
purchase contract and it should be a part 
of every purchase contract. It is, I think, 
j unsatisfactory to sell one lot with a con- 
! tract for future care and another and a 
j neighboring lot without such a contract. 
The amenity of the cemetery can best be 
| preserved by caring for it as a whole, 
j This would not of course preclude special 
i care being given to a lot either under an 
annual contract or under a perpetual 
| future contract. 
The accounting required for the future 
care fund is not difficult. The assessment 
j for future care must be made in one of 
two ways — either so much per square foot 
on the area sold or so much per dollar on 
the purchase price. The difficulty of 
course is in fixing the “so much” but that 
is a matter which must be determined 
separately by each cemetery company ac- 
cording to the conditions under which it 
operates; and in any case it is beyond the 
scope of this paper. When a lot is sold 
the proportion of the purchase price rep- 
resenting the assessment for future care 
should be ascertained and an entry made 
charging “Cost of Lot Sales” and credit- 
ing “Reserve for Future Care.” At regu- 
lar intervals during the year there should 
be transferred from the ordinary bank ac- 
count to a special “Investment” bank ac- 
count or to the trustees of the fund the 
exact amount of the assessments to the 
date of transfer. Where the fund is not 
paid to trustees, it is convenient to keep 
a separate “Investment” bank account, as 
there will generally be small uninvested 
balances and. these should be kept apart 
from the general funds of the company. 
At the close of the year the Investment 
of the Future Care Fund appearing as 
an asset, and consisting of Bonds, Mort- 
gages and Other Securities and the bal- 
ance in the Investment bank account, 
should equal the Reserve for Future Care 
appearing on the liability side. 
There is a question as to how interest 
on these investments should be treated 
during the period of active operation of 
the cemetery — whether as part of the cur- 
rent income or as an addition to the re- 
serve. It is a factor which must be taken 
into account in fixing the rate of the 
assessment. If the interest is to be added 
to the Investment fund, the interest cou- 
pons when received should be deposited in 
the Investment bank account and the 
amount credited to the Reserve for 
Future Care. If on the other hand the 
interest is to be treated as revenue, then 
the coupons will be deposited in the gen- 
eral bank account and the amount credited 
to operations. 
OPERATIONS. 
The main sources of revenue are Sales 
of Lots, Opening and Decorating Graves, 
Foundations, Coffin Boxes, Sales of Green- 
house Produce. The direct expense ap- 
plicable to these various sources of reve- 
nue should be recorded in separate ac- 
counts so that the net revenue from each 
may be ascertained. For instance, the ex- 
penses to be charged against the sale of 
lots will be (1) the prime cost of the 
land sold and (2) the assessment for fu- 
ture care. The expense of opening and 
decorating graves would be (1) labor and 
(2) material. And so on. The differ- 
ence between the revenue from these 
sources and the direct expenses is called 
“Net Revenue from Operations.” There 
may be revenue from sundry other 
sources, such as interest on lot sales con- 
tracts, record fees, discounts on pur- 
chases of materials, and so on. These 
should be added to the net revenue from 
operations to obtain the total amount of 
revenue against which the indirect or gen- 
eral cemetery expenses and the adminis- 
tration expenses should be charged. The 
general cemetery expenses consist of such 
items as Salary of Superintendent, Main- 
tenance of Grounds', General Repairs and 
Depreciation and Stable Expense. The 
Administration Expenses consist of such 
items as Salaries, Stationery and Printing, 
Telephone and Telegraph, Postage, Legal 
Expenses, Office Rent, and Insurance. 
When the expenses of these two classes 
have been charged against the total reve- 
nue, the net income for the year is ob- 
tained. 
At the end of each year the net income 
should be transferred to the surplus ac- 
count. If the Company be carried on for 
profit, any dividend paid should be 
charged against the surplus and the bal- 
ance of surplus carried forward to the 
following year. If the Company be not 
carried on for profit and if adequate pro- 
vision is being made for future care and 
for writing off the fixed property assets 
there is no necessity to accumulate a sur- 
plus, but as it is impossible to figure so 
closely that the expenses will always equal 
the revenue, it is necessary to have a 
surplus account to which the yearly bal- 
ance on the Income Account should be 
transferred. 
As an appendix to this paper I am sub- 
mitting forms' of Balance Sheet and In- 
come Account framed in accordance with 
the foregoing suggestions. I have filled in 
figures to make the forms more easily un- 
derstandable, but I wish to make it clear 
that the figures are purely imaginary. 
EOOKS AND OTHER RECORDS. CITY 
OFFICE. 
In the case of cemeteries there are gen- 
erally two offices : one in the city and 
one at the cemetery. I shall deal first 
with the books' kept in the city office. 
There are four principal books of account : 
Ledger, Cash Book, Journal or Day Book, 
and Voucher Record. 
Ledger. The general ledger contains in 
a summarized form a record of all the 
assets and liabilities and of all the opera- 
tions of the Company. The accounts 
should be entered as nearly as possible in 
the order in which they appear in the 
Balance Sheet and Income Account — (1) 
assets, (2) liabilities, (3) revenue ac- 
counts and (4) expense accounts. If the 
accounts are carried in this order the trial 
balance of the ledger is more readily un- 
derstandable than if the accounts are en- 
tered without regard to their logical se- 
quence. Subsidiary ledgers, in loose leaf 
or card form, should be used to carry the 
various classes of accounts receivable, each 
subsidiary ledger being governed by a con- 
trolling account in the general ledger. 
Cash Book. On the debit side of the 
cash book there should be a column show- 
ing each item of cash received and dis- 
tribution columns — one for each class of 
accounts receivable and a column for gen- 
eral ledger items. As all cash received is 
deposited in bank the “cash received” col- 
umn acts also as a bank deposit column. 
The items in the accounts receivable col- 
umns are posted in total at the end of 
each month to the appropriate control- 
ling accounts in the general ledger and in 
detail to the subsidiary ledgers. The items 
in the general ledger column are posted in 
detail to the general ledger. On the credit 
side of the cash book there are three col- 
umns, one for checks drawn and two dis- 
tribution columns — one for audited vouch- 
ers paid and one for miscellaneous items, 
if any, not paid on an audited voucher. 
It is advisable, however, that there should 
be an audited voucher for every payment 
