Middletown transcript., 1896-12-12
KEEPING ACCOUNTS.

KEEPING ACCOUNTS.
Young people who. are preparing
themselves for business career, and
that-includes nearly all young people
of both sexes, cannot do better than
acquire habit oflkeeping accounts of
all business transactions in such form
that they can be understood by other
people. 1t is not enough to jot down
skeleton memoranda, understood by
the writer, but not ineligible to
others. Such notes are only tantaliz-
| ing or confusing to those called upon
in the case of the absence of the ac-
countant to take up his work. Every
young man and young woman should
learn the principleso Of bookkeeping, for
they provide not only relatively sim
pie method Of keeping accounts, but
one that stranger to the business, if
he is a bookkeeper can understand.
The habit of keeping accounts is use
full in various ways. 1t developes
thrift, guards against extravagance,
and promotes methodical, ways Of at
tending to business affairs. Its full
advantages can scarcely be realized by
the young, who are seldom called upon
to staighten out tangled affairs. Men
of middle age, however, who have been
called upsn to act4as assignees or adj
ministrators, will all testify that where
accounts have been systematically kept
1t is relatively easy matter to settle
the estate, but that when then books
are imperfect or have been kept with
out system, great losses have been en-
tailed in the settlement. This is par
ticularly the case with the estate Of one
who has died, for then the a<lmihis-
traitor is cut off from information re-
specting memoranda and entriesuthat
are enigmas to him, but would be per-
fectly plain to the man who made them.
The losses resulting from bad book
keeping arise in variousways. It may
be assumed that all thealebts of the es-
tate will have to be paid, for the evil
dence Of indebtednessjfn that case does
not depend upon the:tbooks of the de-
edent; but it is not SO with the debts
due to the estate. The evidence for
this must be sought in the imperfect
books themselves. Bills are lost b.
cause they cannot,bs made out or be-
cause the debtor is dishonest and the
administrator has no legal means of
proving his claim. Imperfect entries
that are not self-explanatory lead to
useless correspondence. and the labor
involved is out of all proportion to the
Importance of the business transacted.
Finally the legal expenses attendant
upon settlement of an estate whose
books are in confusion are much
greater than for one whose accounts
are clear and unmistakable. 1t is i'm
possible to do business without keep
ing accounts Of some kind, and it isa
matter of fact that those which are
based upon the principles of bookkeep-
ing involve less labor than accounts
that are kept without system or by
means of memoranda. Bookkeeping is
in fact, the shorthand of accounts, and
is not so perplexing as it seems to be to
those who have never studied it. Its
purpose is to simplify matters and show
at a glance the condition Of any &C.
count or of the entire usiness, and it
is most useful in this respect, for it
keeps the, merchant who familiarizes
himself with his accounts fully in.
formed RESPECTING the course of his bus
mess and his own financial condition.
Many bankruptcies are caused as much
by bad or neglecting booking as by any
,ther cause. The merchants. whose ac-
counts are kept in good shape and
who consults them from time to time,
las full warning II be is running be-
hind, but the man who depends upon
lis memory and loose memoranda can
lot take his bearings accurately. He
nay be losing money while he thinks
10 is making it, or he may have sur
'lus Of only $1,000 per annum at q
ime when he is spending $5.000 for
wing expenses. That is the story Of
many bankrupts who could have saved
themselves and their creditors il they
ad learned to keep accurate accounts
y accepted systems Of bookkeeping.
Nor these and other reasons every boy
nd girl should learn to keep books
nd keep them. m.-Balimor Sun.