Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-06-13

The farmer wishes 10 know whether
his wheat pays and whether his COWS
pay He wants to know whether he is
making a profit or loss on his business
each year. He wants TO know how he
can improve his business so as 10
make more money. = set Of farm cost
accounts will snow these as we'll as
other things. and the United States
department Of agriculture in its de-
sire to assist the farmer in this line
has just issued a bulletin entitled.
a System Of Farm Cost Accounting.
The system outlined in the depart
ment Of agriculture's new bulletin
may be used By those VINO have not
worked out a system for themselves
and nave not started because they
think they do not know enough about
bookkeeping. 1t is also for those who
are already keeping accounts but are
not satisfied with the results. Farm
cost accounts cannot be absolutely
exact. They contain many estimates,
but this is no reason why one should
lose faith IN them. The systems in use
by large packing companies and large
wholesale grocery houses involve just
as many estimates and do not give
any more accurate results. 1t is fool
ish TO spend time checking exact work
to the last cent in farm accounts. The
farmer should not let attempts to find
insignificant errors disgust him with
the whole question Of accounting.
The system described in the new
bulletin has been tried for three years
in the State of New York by fifty
three farmers under widely different
conditions. It has proved fairly sue
! cessful- II is so simple that a farmer
can keep it without assistance. The
average time it requires seems TO be
only five minutes a day. To this
must be added a number Of hours Of
work at the end Of the year to close
the accounts. No previous bookkeep-
ing knowledge is necessary.
A good time for the farmer to start
a system Of accounts is in the spring
Before the first crop preparations.
However, on an ordinary farm any
time after the last crop is harvested
in the fall until spring is a good
time. The time should be as late as
possible in order that there may be
as small a quantity as possible Of
last years crops on hand to be in
should be early enough to give the
farmer sufficient time to close his last
years accounts, work out results,
plan the next years business, and
start new accounts before the spring
crop work begins. In a large ma
jority of cases this date will be Janu-
airy l. March l or April 1. For a ten
ant the date for taking an inventory
will, of course. correspond to the
date OF his lease.
In order to have a complete set of
farm accounts three records are
necessary
1. An inventory at the beginning
and at the end Of the year.
.. An account of all money paid out
or received
8. A record of all work done by
men and horses during the year.
The complete system will be de-
scribed in three instruments. The in
ventory is described herewith. Suisse
quent articles will describe the ac-
counting system and the final record.
How TO Make an Inventory.
The inventory on an ordinary farm
is a matter requiring from two to
five hours work at the beginning
and at the end o1 the year. The
same inventory of course is used for
closing one years accounts and start
! ing the next. so that this work is
done only once a year. This inven-
tory should be a detailed list with
values of the following: The farm.
subdivided into buildings and land.
each building being listed separately.
with the number of acres of land and
its value per acre (the total value of
buildings and land being equal to the
listed value of the farm; the horses
listed by name and giving their ages,
followed by other live stock listed
separately, giving value per head: