, 1888-09-09
EXPERT ACCOUNTANTS
SAY EMPLOYERS LOSE MONEY BIN.
PLY THROUGH NEGLIGENCE

Be Removed Through the Exercise of a
Little Care-Results of a Careless System
of Keeping Accounts.
How to keep trusted clerks from en-
bezZlement Is a secret which every busi-
ness firm or corporation in Chicago would
like to know. There does not pass a day
but some populations are discovered, from
the young man who steals a few dollars
and is sent to Jail to the genius who
caves for Canada with a million in his
pockets. Expert accountants say that
employers lose money simply through
their own negligence, and that all chances
for embezzlement can be removed through
the exercise of a little care.
w. c. Baine says: 1.-The business of an
expert accountant is a new one in the
west, and has not acquired the dignity of
a profession. 1t not only calls for q
knowledge of bookkeeping in one line of
business, but it also requires a knowledge
of every business, contractual rights, and
the ability to construe the terms of con-
tracts. But in Chicago, whenever an or
binary bookkeeper is thrown out of
employment, he at once sets himself up
as an expert accountant. OF course such
men fail. The keeping of a set of books
can be learned in six months as well as in
six years, and the bookkeeper does not
realize that this is the smallest part of
the knowledge which an expert account
ant should acquire before he can succeed.
In Great Britain q man cannot arrive to
the dignity of an expert %ccounta until
he has gone through a course of study in
the same manner as a student for the bar.
He therefore becomes fitted to answer
any call that may be made upon him, and
the business becomes a life business.
But look at the list of accountants in
+ha Ehiroro liraotNrv There ~ ,arr
few names which appeared in last years
directory, showing that the business with
many has been but a temporary one while
the men engaged in it were out of work
in their ordinary vocation, that of keep
ing books. But the business is bound to
grow. Business is lone In such a hurry
here that mistakes are very liable to
occur. In the large majority of cases,
where an expert accountant Is called to
examine a set of books which are out of
balance, it will be found that there has
been no thieving, but that carelessness
has been the trouble. If a bookkeeper or
cashier is trusted sufficiently and has the
handling of money it is an easy matter
for him to steal, but it is as much harder
for him to conceal his thefts. A very
common way is to falsify the items on
the debit side of the cash book. The cor
rect amounts are generally entered On
the ledger account, and the merchant
almost invariably looks at the ledger
when he wishes to see whether n ac-
count has been paid. 1t is his own care
lessness that permits embezzlement, and
If he has not the time to look after his
own business he should nave an account
ant go over his books three or four times
a year.
Merritt Brooks, who has been in the
business for a number of years, has had
the opportunity of watching the course
taken by a number of embezzlers, and the
means used by them to make their books
apparently balance, SO hat at a casual
glance their peculations cannot be dis
covered. The way l happened to enter
into the business was this" he said; Il
had been engaged as a bookkeeper in Buff
falo, and was employed to examine into
the accounts of the county treasurer of
Erie county. 1t was found that through
a careless system Of keeping accounts the
treasurer was short in his cash $40, 900.
This discovery led to an investigation
into the accounts of the city,of Buffalo
from the time when the charter wac
originally granted. The sum of 1854, 900
was discovered, the accumulation of
small amounts of overcharges on special
assessments, which the city had no
knowledge it possessed.
at is difficult for a man who keeps an
upright set of books to steal his employ
ers money without detection. When q
cashier of a bank wants to steal money
outright, and with such q sum as he can
take at once and leave for parts unknown,
there is no necessity for him to try to
cover up the theft by false entries in his
books. But the defaulter who takes money
from time to time is forced to make his
books appear balanced. He makes false
entries which can be discovered easily by
an expert accountant. The systematic
embezzler simply relies upon no examine
ton being made. In order to commit
systematic robbery he must be trusted
not only with the cash, but also with the
books. 1t is then a very easy matter to
enter items or false footings in the cash
book so that the figures will appear cor
rect. Unless the employer goes beneath
the surface the fraud will never be dis
covered.
1.-The honest b~ookkeeper wouldynot feel
offended or insulted if his books were ex-
amined, and if he is dishonest, the sooner
his work is looked over the better. Book
keepers would be more careful and the
books would be better kept. A cashier in
d large establishment should not be al
lowed to have full charge of the books,
and the bookkeeper should be the one to
keep the record of all the cashiers receipts
and expenditures. In this way embezzle-
ment is impossible unless the two act in
collision. The accounts of the cashier
car hen be examined by the bookkeeper's
records only. Few defalcations are found
in the accounts of railroad corporations,
where large sums of money are handled
every year. This is because of the system
of auditing accounts. The agent who
handles money for the company does not
know what moment the travelling auditor
may come In and demand an immediate
inspection OF his Examinations
made in this way affect the market value
Of stock in corporations. If investors
could be satisfied that the condition of
the finances Of any corporation was x
actly what it is given out to be by the
officers they would have greater conf
dence in investing n the market value
of the stocks would increase. "-Chicago
Times.