The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-11-25
RED TAPE TANGLE
SWAMPS FORCE OF
CITY ACCOUNTANTS
H. Eldridge Hart'S Report AS
serts Entire City Admins
tration Fallen Down In Its
Bookkeeping Methods.

The city accounting department has
gotten into a terrible tangle with "a"
b" and "XYZ' and the thousand and
one other signs and symbols used in
bookkeeping which was installed about
two years ago.
Eldridge Hart, the city's expert
audltor, who was employed at least Is
months ago to install the system, says
SO himself. He ought TO know, all
though apparently he is the only man
at the city hall who pretends really to
Gus ramifications.
Mr. Hart's final report, Tin connec-
tion with installation of accounting pro-
cedure, as the title states, Is supposed
TO have been made a month ago but
no publication OF that fact has come
from the city hall
Perhaps that Is because Mr.. Hart,
who expects soon to relinquish his $3.50
a month job as city auditor, emphat-
ically roasts the entire city administra-
tion, as well as the accounting depart
ment, for its sins of commission and
omission insofar as the accounting de-
partment is concerned. He says that
it is complete failure He says that
the maintaining Of accounts insofar as
the office of the city clerk has been
concerned, has amounted to a mere
routine compilation of historical data"
His report continues:
Lack of Efficiency.
up to the present time 1.-TWO years
are supposed to have selapsedl there
have beqn no statements prepared with
any regularity, either .gfa the genera
ledseR or from ekpportfne detail doeu.
No consistent study has been given
to the work by the various individuals,
nor have they felt the importance Cf
their duties sufficiently urgent as would
develop, the needed ability in perform
STHis LACK OF PERSONAL EFF.
FiclENCY (the capitals are Mr.. Hart'sI
has been a contending factor IN the
installation of the new work This
point can not be dismissed because OF
any reticence in facing a vital issue"
+ In that paragraph Mr. Hart is dis
lcussing the attitude of the mayor and
commissioners themselves as the heads
of the various city departments. He
also says that the same spirit of inf
ficiency spreads through the subord
nate bureaus and departments, with the
single exception of the engineering de-
partment, which he praises for '"the
admirable results obtained
THE results" he adds, have beei
the outcome of consistent study AND
4 II u 3f1ol4N NJ Elm Ob NOMfE
TENT ASSISTANTS. Unless the per-
sonnel of accounting officers IL built
up ON THE BASIS OF INDIVIDUAL
MERIT only proportionate results could
be logically looked fol"
Mr.. Hart then, IN a neatly bound
volume In soft leather, which contains
80 typewriter pages, procedes to give
some good advice. However, he base:
all his remarks, which are nowhere
particularly flattering to the personne
of the present city administration, upor
the assumption that his system is a
good one. 1t may be. The writer ia
no accountant.
In one paragraph he says that "tht
practicability of any accounting sys'
tenn is measured by ease of method >
If that Is true, the practicability of tn,
present system Is open to criticism
from the layman, Tor there are, seem.
ingly an inexhaustible supply of signs
| and symbols used, each indicatins
something which could be, stated in &
plain word of four or five 1etters. ~
The incoming members of the new
city administration will doubtless reat
| Mr.. Hart's report with interest. But as
business men It's bet that they viii
order some simpler method of hookkeep-
| ing Installed unless they prefer to b,
| all wound up in financial red tape dur,
| ing the entire time of their tenure II
| office. incidentally. Mr.. Hart's remark!
| about lack of efficiency do not give tht
numerous employees of the accounthl.
| department any very high recommen
dation for reappointment after the frs
| Of the year.