The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-01-13
Auditing Tax Accounts.
: OF The Times-Dspatch:

| Editor OF The Times Dispatch:
| Sir,-As an accountant and general
| bookkeeper. with particular knowledge
| gained from experience OF the necessary
| routine OF county treaSurers office,
| permit me to make some suggestions,
| which believe Will afford valuable aid.
| towards final conclusions. OF the best
methods to be adopted FOR inaugurat!ng
| Il systematic scheme Of accounting for
and auditing the various taxes and funds
embraced in the county treasurer's Of
| flee.
| In the county in which my experience
WAS gained there are six magisterial dis
tricts. hence there are six Commissioners
of revenue which means six LAND
books" and six property and capitation"
books, which means twelve books OF tax
tickets for whites, to which must be
| added the necessary books for 'colored."
and also additional books Of tickets for
two corporations Gowns. Altogether
! from 1900 to 1900 tax tickets have to
be made UP.
| The Scheme OF accounting begins
with the commissioners books. which is
the Original entry" Tickets are printed
and bound into books. For instance,
Beverly Manor District" real estate
Is so printed and bound into ono volume,
each ticket PACED and lined, with coupon
or stub" perforated and detachable. cor
responding in page" Tine and amount
OF tax. with the ticket. Personal prop
| erty tickets" which provide for. and in
| clude all other neutrality-suspicious.. in
come. dog, etc.-are bound in separate
additional book. What Is true OF one
| district Is true of all.
Tax lists" which are well-bound
books. large enough to list all the
tickets OF each district. one for each dis
/ trict, are then provided. into which these
| tickets are entered In serial order. identi-
! fed by page and line and number of the
commissioners OF revenue" book. which
are provided with three or more vertical
columns:
Total amount Of tickets"
Amount paid prior to December LIST,
| not subject to penalty
Amount subject to penalty and usual
| ly charged to collectors.
| In the personal property book" a
column is provided for capitations and
| ono for dogs
| The footngs OF the Tax List Book"
verify the footings OF the commission
ers OF revenue" page by page. and with
| the recapitulatons, make up the 'charg-
| inBs" against the treasurer for all the
! taxes assessed. These totals are then
easily and accurately distributed, and
applied rs credits. to the various funds
for which the levies have been made. and
easily verified by the total valuations OF
each district, separately and as whole.
When you have done this each ticket
| becomes voucher for its face.s and
must be treated as II 1t were actual
money, which 1t really represents. The
treasurer should always have money or
tickets If he passes these tickets to
his COLLECTORS they In turn should have
money or tickets-of course, original tick
ets
Some such scheme as the above would
have to be adopted before a travelling
auditor. as was contemplated by the Leg
islature, could materialize. The system
contemplates the use of the voucher sys-
TEN for all disbursements, and the "cou-
pom" or stub of ticket for all receipts;
daily cash to be written up from these
Coupons" and vouchers.
Separating the funds Is done on the
same principle that a bank separates Its
Individual deposits. It first places the
money to their credit, and then charges
them up with amounts paid Them holding
the sum of all their deposits In the COM
mon fund. No other plan is practicable.
Having already ascertained the gross
amount due each particular fund, and
placed the same to Its credit on ledger,
etc, to be currently subject to charges for
disbursements, for advances. warrants,
commissions and delinquents in the final
settlement, the treasurer has done all
that 1t Is possible for him to do.
of accuracy twice a year. under the pres
ent system, but being a disbursng officer,
he is continually paying ION account,
and It Is rarely that the parties inter-
ested in any particular fund are not as
we'll informed aS he Is Of the condition
of the account.
From the very beginning of the tax
collecting period he has to meet the de-
mands of board of supervisors for pay
ments on all of County levy" the SUI
perlntendent OF schools for county school
funds. the district school board for dis
trict school funds the district road com
missioner for district road funds. and
the losses for sheep have to be paid as
soon as an equitable distribution OF 1t
can be made, 1t being approximately the
only fund that is not subject to dis
bursement in process OF collection.
Roanoke, Va, p. e. s.
Full Too Often.