The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-09-25


came CT beard. that I would 90 "a lot O
reading. but believe the sea air make.
one lazy. Inrst confess feel entirel,
indifferent to mental improvement"
you evidently do not think rly con
versation will lie at all worth listen
ing to-"
Low quick you are TO Pervert my
meaning. Don't you see that think
your conversation better worth listen
ing to than the most interesting or i'm
proving book you can choose from the
library? Really, in trying to avoid
giving you cause for making such re.
mark, l have apparently stumbled into
4 worse error. l was just going to say
[ would like your conversation much
better than book. when thought you
would take that as reflection on your
reading. If you take me up so sharply,
| will sit here and say nothing. Now.
then, talk"
"Whnt shall say?"
"Oh, if told you what to say should
be doing the talking. Tell me about
yourself. What do you do in London 90
II work hard. am an accountant"
"And what is en- accountant? What
does he do? Keep accounts?"
Some of them do; 1 do not. 1 see,
rather. that accounts other people keep
have been correctly kept"
Aren't they always correctly kept
] thought that was what bookkeeper.
ere hired for"
IF books were always correctly KEEP,
there would be little for us to do; but
= happens, unfortunately for some but
fortunately for us, that people occa.
sionally do not keep their accounts &C.
curately."
And can you always find that out il
you examine the books?"
Always"
Cant a man make his accounts so
that no one can tell that there is any
thing wrong?"
The belief that such a thing can be
done has placed many a poor wretch in
prison. 1t has been tried often enough"
Il am sure they can do itin the states.
! have read of it being done and con-
tinued for years. Men have made off
with great sums of money by falsify-
ing the books, and no one found it out
until the one who did it died or ran
away"
Nevertheless, if an expert accountant
had been called in he would have found
out very soon that something was
wrong, and just where the wrong was
and how much"
Il didn't think such cleverness pos
sible. Have you ever discovered any
thing like tbat?"
Il have"
What is done when such thing is
iiscovered?"
That depends upon circumstances.
Usually policeman is called in"
why, it's like being a detective. /
wish you would tell me about some of
the cases you have had. Don't make me
ask too many questions. Talk"
Il don't think my experiences would
interest you in the least. There was one
case with which had something to do
in London two years ago that"
"Oh. London. don't believe the book
keepers there are half so sharp as ours.
If you had to deal with American ac-
countants you would not find out SO
easily what they had or had not done
"Well, Miss Brewster, what tell you
is, of course. in confidence. l wouldn't
whisper it to anybody else, but l may
say | have just had an experience Of
that kind with some of your very sharp
est American bookkeepers. l found
that the books had been kept in the
most ingenious way. with the intent to
deceive. The system had been going on
for years"
How interesting. ana ola you call
in policeman"
NO. This was one of the cases where
a policeman was not necessary. The
books were kept with the object of
showing that the profits of the m-of
the business-had been much greater
than they really were. may say that
one of your American accountants had
already looked over the books, and,
whether through ignorance or careless
ness, or from worse motive. he re-
ported them all right. They were not
all right, and the fact that they were
not Will mean the loss of a fortune to
some people on your side of the water
and the saving of good money to others
On my side"
Then | think your profession must
be a very important one"
I'VE think so. Miss Brewster. Iwould
like TO be paid a percentage on the
money saved because of my report"
"And won't you?"
Unfortunately no."
Il think that is too bad. ] suppose the
must have been small. or
the American accountant would not
have overlooked it."
Il didn't say that he had overlooked il.
Still. the size of the discrepancy does
not make the difference. A small error
is as easily found as a large one. This
one was large. | suppose there is no
harm in my saying that the books. TAX
ing them together. showed a profit of
c 10000. when they should have shown
q loss of nearly half that amount. |