Daily Kennebec journal., 1916-12-23
DAILY KENEBEc JOURNAL. SATURDAY. DECEMBER q. 1916

keep a man on the road practically all
the time in the future to inspect and
audit the accounts of the utilities. to
observe their workings and relations
with the public. and especially to adj
wise and assist the smaller utilities
which canot afford, or whose business
does not warrant, the constant pres
ence of trained accountants in the re-
quirements OF the law. the way to
comply with 1t and in the many ques-
tions which are constantly confronting
them. A desire for such service has
been frequently expressed. and we
know that 1t may be made of real
value to the utilities and to the public.
"There were issued during the past
year accounting classif1cations and re-
port forms for vessel owners not un-
der the jurisdiction of the Interstate
Commerce Commission and wharf
ingers and warehousemen. These be-
came effective July !, 1916.
1.-THE first year in which most Of
the utilities were keping their ac-
counts in accordance with rules adopt
ed or promulgated by the Commits
sion ended June 80. 1916. A marked
improvement In the years work was
seen when the annual reports were re-
ceived and checked. Many mistakes
were made and have been corrected.
and there are yet returns submitted
which will require further attention.
1T is from these report forms sub
mitted by each utility that the tables
have been compiled. In nearly all of
tho roeao %bo eptjro NpopcioI oto ofep,ont
of each company will be found to check
out correctly. And where inaccur-
acies occur, they usually do not appear
in those accounts which reflect the
company's actual condition.
Following out the provisions of the
Public Utilities Act the Commission
considered certain accounting rules all
ready promulgated by the Interstate
Commerce Commission and in force in
this State, and on December 80, 1914,
orders were issued authorizing all ex-
press companies, street railroad COM
panies, steam railroad companies and
telephone and telegraph companies to
keep their records and accounts in ac-
cordance with the accounting classifi-
cations prescribed by the Interstate
Commerce Commission. These became
effective July /. 1915, and on May 2,
1916, orders were issued adopting the
Interstate Commerce Commissions ac-
counting classification for sleeping car
con$panies as well as the accounting
rule3promulgated by the commission
for Vessels. the same to be used by
sych1rompanies in this State as were
oAn1 to report to the Interstate
Conl erce Commission.
IT above utilities being cared for
thereswere still left to be prescribed by
the Commission accounting classifca-
tions for electric companies, gas COM
Ianie4. water companies, wharfingers,
8areh0lsemen, telephone companies
oass land vessel owners who were
Z o. Ter the jurisdiction Of the Inter-
ktGs Commerce Commission. Work
Immediately begun to make a
bful study of all data available to
aSBfst in prescribing satisfactory syH-
TENS, some conferences were held with
the accounting officials of the larger
companies and a short time prior to
the beginning of the fiscal year, July l.,
1915, complete accounting claasifica-
tions were issued for electric Jcom-
panies, gas companies. water COM
pal,ies and telephone companies-Class
D-the same to become effective on
the above date.
I'm connection with the issuing Of
the above classification it was also ne
cessary to prescribe forms upon which
returns to the Commission should be
made. When these were completed.
copies were forwarded to each utility
and balance sheet as Of June 80, 1915,
called for together with such other in
formation as they were able to furn-
iSh.
1.-The result in many cases was any
thing but satisfactory. 1t showed abb
solute lack of proper accounting and
Immediately put before us the task of
gradually bringing about results which
would enable those whose returns were
incorrect to keep their accounts ac-
curately.
Every case was taken up by cor
respondence and often adjusted in this
way. Many, however, were in such
shape that correspondence was of no
avail and as often as time could be
taken from other duties, the account
ants from this department called upon
officials of the companies and helped
them work out the difficulties. When
the first fiscal year ended, June 80.
1915, considerable had been done
towards getting each utility started on
some satisfactory method of carrying