Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-05-18
SHORT ACCOUNTING COURSES
BUSINESS AID FOR FARMERS
Data Required by Income Tax Law
induces Many Country jewellers
to Keep Books.

ed, which has been doing a lot Of
good on American farm--more good
lhan folks had any idea of when he
started on. poking his nose into the
pocketbook of every farmer just as if
the farmers private financial affairs
were any of his business. which they
are by the way. This particular bogy
is known as Mr.. Income Tax. He has
not confined his Investigations to
farmers. of course, but the fact of
special interest to country jewellers
is that the levyjng of this war tax has
greatly stimulated the desire on the
part Of farmers to keep farm records.
This in turn has made very popular
so-called "one-day courses" in ac
counting, which are now being con
Quoted in at least Is states through
the cooperation Of the United States
Department of Agriculture and the
State Agriculture Colleges in farm
management extension work.
Farm Accounting in Many States
In sense, therefore. the present
movement is a by-product of the war
one which is enabling thousands
Of farmers 10 ascertain exactly where
they are" after marketing live stock,
grain, vegetables, or any other of the
necessities they produce. 1t also is
great corrector of numberleSs bad
practices that obtain on farms. Last
year the Farm Management Exten-
sion Service held these accounting
courses in over 100 localities in Hi
nois. The years experience so thor
/ oughly demonstrated the value Of the
Idea that now the accounting course
is being carried on in Montana, Idaho
Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota,
North Dakota, Iowa. Missouri, Illinois
Indiana. Ohio and Kentucky.
In many cases the county agents
continue these courses after they have
assisted at one or two meetings held
by the extension specialists. Simple
farm-account books prepared for the
and are the same as the ones to be
kept by the farmer throughout the
year.
Here is what is done in these
schools. The farmers, who usually
enroll as a result of written and per-
sonal invitations from the county
agent, assemble at 9 O'Clock in a hall
schOolrOom, county court house, OF
some other convenient place Their
work at the outset consists in enter
ing in an account book set of figures
typical of receipts, expenditures, and
inventory for farm in the locality
An analysis of this typical record, and
also a demonstration of how to de-
termine the taxable income included
in these figures is given by the in
structor, the farmers working under
his guidance with pencil and paper
, Yearly Inventory Emphasized.
In entering the typical set of fig
ures. items making up the inventory
which should be made annually are
set down first. This is followed by
entry of receipts and expenditures fol
the years business, and finally al
, inventory representing conditions a
the close of the year The instructor
shows how to figure annual deprecia
and what items should be>pu in the
account and which left out. A few
items foreign to the record are usual
ly put down. but before summarizing
are stricken out by the instructor, the
reasons for such action being giver
in each case.
Usually this praNtice accounting
takes up most of the morning. Par
of all of the afternoon may be occu
pied with a discussion of factors af
fecting efficiency with which the farm
j., is managed, quality of live stock
: amount of live stock size of the farm
business, the farm layout and the u.s.
of labor. The farm record entered
in the account book affords a goot
:, DdSlS LOT illustrating Inc ulSCuSSiOIl
For instance, those present often dis
;, agree radically as to which of tw,
=, plans is best, such as which of twt
systems of live stock production, o
!, which rotation of crops, should b,
adopted. Such questions are settled
!, by determining the amount of fec
:, required by different animals an,
:, what combination of crops will pro
!, duce the required feed and whethe
9 the combination suggested is the mos
q economical crop plan for that local
. ity.
Income Tax Information Sought
Probably the desire to know how t,
- calculate the income tax accuratel.
:, has been one of the strongest incen
j., tives for farmers to attend thes'
schools, but the benefit they deriv,
; extends to far greater fields, since thu
farmer is induced to undertake a sys