The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-11-22
Little Country Store Has Much
Better System Of Keeping Books
Thar Great State Of Michigan
BY Frank Nj Sparks

.10|"IH
little Country store maintains book
keeping system in orders that the pro-
prietor may know whether he is max
ing money or losing it. Uncle Sam
compels big corporations to keep a
system of books showing to the penny
what are its investment, profits, losses,
costs, etc. The manufacturing plant,
if it is atlall successful, can tell at
glance the exact cost of producing
each article it turns out. What about
the great state of Michigan with it's
varied industries handling tens of mil
lions of dollars annually of your mon
ey and mine?
Here is what the budget commits
sion Of inquiry says:
"Under the present system of keep
ing accounts it is impossible to ascer-
tain with. any degree of accuracy
the actualscost of any department of
the state government. To get the
approximate cost would be an almost
endless task necessitating the assort-
ing and examination of numberless
vouchers and the compilation there
from of cost articles. 1t will readily
be seen, therefore that comparison
of actual costs for similar. activities
cannot now be accurately made. Few
of the departments and offices have
any regular bookkeeping accounts"
And then listen to this taken from
the stenographic report of the testi-
mony given the commission by Mr..
Hamilton, the state accountant:
I'VE never know how much any
institution owes. 1t would be an i'm
mense job. to find out"
Mr.. Lord-Have you ever discov-
cred at Jackson prison any book ac-
count showing amount of bills pay
able? ~
Mr.. Hamilton-No.
Mr.. LordEAs an actual fact do you
know that it has ever had any book
account?
Mr.. Hamilton never saw one.
Ten Years Getting Statement : oog \.
Incidentally Mr.. Hamilton testified
that in 1907, acting under a law pass
ed at that time, he made demand
upon Jackson prison for statement.
He made similar requests periodical
ly and in 1917, 10 years after making
his first request, managed to get a
statement and that statement showed:
Bills payable, Sept 1901 ,488. .92
Bills receivable Sept. l. 41O,746.63
In other words, after spending 10
years trying to get statement from
this institution, Mr.. Hamilton discov-.
cred the prison was in debt nearly
100000. M
Later on in his testimony while dis
cussing the methods of the state in
,stitutions and departments in general
Mr.. Hamilton made this remarkable
statement:
II don't believe that any firm of
certified accountants would or could
find out exactly where they (the insti-
tutions) are at in three months
time"
So this is the business system of
Michigan. 1t is true not Of the state
department alone, but of the counties
and other subdivisions of the state.
The uniform accounting system which
the budget commission of inquiry pro-
poses and will ask the legislature to
pass, provides for uniform system
for all branches Of government in the
state and under the supervision of the
auditor general. If the bill passes
and becomes law, it will be possible
at any time to find out what the costs
of government are, whether any indi-
vidual state institution is running be-
hind, whether any county organiza-
ton is running behind. It will be-
come possible for the taxpayer to
learn what has become of his money
and will make much more difficult
either waste or dishonesty on the part
Of any official in Michigan.
The Present System
OF course after this statement of
absence Of system, one will natural
ly' desire to know what sort of sys-
TEN, if any, is there in Michigan
Well, we have something which Is
called system and lis indeed great
and wonderful thing. 1t is a social
ed voucher system. Now, as matter
of fact the things which the state calls
vouchers are not vouchers in fact, but
they are an approach to this form.
Now, the only bookkeeping which
most of the departments do is to file
these vouchers. If you want to find
out how much department has spent
and you have sufficient patience, per-
haps you may be able to find out by
going through all these files and to-
falling up the vouchers, contained.
! In most of the departments if you
seek to find out how much money was
paid certain individual for q certain
service you perhaps may be able to
do 50 by going through the files until
you come upon the voucher you are
; looking for.
: One of two departments have be-
s come more progressive than the 9TH
49, ~ have NM. fs,. xyhok fhov caII n