Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1920-03-18
KEEPING SCORE ON
RESULTS OF YEAR
Farmers Now Find Annual Stock
Taking Pays Them
Well.
BY S. w. MENDUM,
Of the University of Wisconsin

One doesn't have to be a miser to
enjoy going over his possessions once
a year to check up and find out the
net results of the year. There are so
many things that find their way off
the place or get broken or change
thing of the sort really to know what
he is doing.
His bank account represents avail
able funds. His inventory represents
somewhat less available funds, but
real goods and, as many man can
testify, it is better to have large
stock of salable goods than a large
bank balance. The bank may pay 3
or per cent on your balance, but the
farmer expects his stock to return
much more than this and to provide
him with profitable means of employ
ing his time.
lnventorying an Easy Task.
There are two ideas in inventories !;
the simplest is a list Of the various
items grouped together, showing the
number of animals of each class, the
the tools one owns. With this list to
start with, in taking the second in
ventOry, one sees whether he has the
same items. If he has not, some were
sold or scrapped or stolen. If he has
others that do not appear on the first
list, they have been acquired as nat
ural increase or by trade. This peri
odical inspection, too, enables him to
recall things needed on the different
machines.
One farmer asked me if | had ever
been through a fire. / hadn't, but he
said he had been through several. The
first time he had no list of property
and found it very hard to collect from
the insurance company, as it did not
see the need of paying a big claim
when he couldn't give any good evil
dence as to what he had and what it
was worth. This man has kept an in
yentOry since that time and when his
barn was struck by lightning three
years ago, the adjuster approved the
claim in full because he knew that the
farmer knew what he was talking
about.
Keep Ahead of the Game.
The second idea in inventories is to
note changes in values. This is i'm
portant in times of wide price f1uctu-
ations, a source of comfort or of dis
tress according to whether the change
is up or down. This change in value
is a risk that all business men as
sumo; those who watch conditions
closely are in the best position to
stay ahead Of the game.
The market changes suggest the
desirability Of figuring inventory
gains in two ways, based on the phys
ical unit factors; first, to decide
whether there has been an increase
in the actual goods on hand as COM
pared with the year before; second,
to decide whether the change in the
value has been due to increase or de-
crease in the market prices.
Increases due to market prices be-
come real income only when a sale is
effected at that price. The price may
fall and the income therefore not be
realized. Or something may happen
to the goods before they can be dis
posed OF, reducing their value or wip-
ing out figured profit. For instance,
a man figured that he had on January
1, 500 bushels of potatoes worth 81 a
bushel. The price dropped to 70 cents.
This meant that he failed to realize
his estimate by $3.50.
Forms of inventories are varied as
the purposes to which they are put.
To get the most out of them, at least
two should be placed side by side to
make comparison Of quantities and
values easy. Usually the reasons for
changes in values are apparent; if
not, the reason should be looked into.
Usually the inventories should be
made in detail by items grouped in
classes. The summary will then be
sufficient for ordinary purposes, the
detail being reserved for explaining
changes. A convenient summary state
ment follows:
SUMMARY OF INVENTORY
Farm. INSTRUMENTATION.
Taken ................... 49,.
REAL ESTATE.
!. Land NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. $........
z.