Does total of (_d_), (_e_) and (_f_) agree with Statement?...
Look up items (_a_), (_b_) and (_c_) mentioned in preceding
audit, are they now complete?... State items lacking.... Does
Exchange Officer keep the cash book himself?... Does he attend
personally to all cash transactions?... Does any employee have
access to the cash after it is turned over to the Exchange
Officer?... Cash reserve is $....
_7. Ledger_:—
Inspect trial balance; is it correct and does the Ledger
balance?... Is the system being rigidly adhered to?... Report
to the Council any omissions or faults found in the manner of
keeping the books.
_8. Statements and Balance Sheets_:—
Check all items on Statement of Income and Profit and Loss
against the original entries; do they agree?... What earnings
cannot be accounted for?... What earnings are not taken up
on the books?... Check all entries on General Balance Sheet
against the original entries; do they agree?... Are any assets
left off the books?... Were all assets actually on hand as
shown?... Are any liabilities left off the books?... Among the
liabilities shown, are there any which are not real obligations
of the Exchange?...
_9. General_:—
Is copy of Steward’s Report posted for information of
customers?... Any books or papers which should be destroyed?...
Any recommendations?... If so, submit them to Council in
separate report. Remarks....
(Signed) ....
_Captain, C. A. C., Auditor._
CASH REGISTERS.
In Post Exchange business, these machines are ordinarily used in
recording all sales, although some Exchanges do not ring up their charge
sales, but rely upon the sales slip alone, an unsafe practice. There is,
besides, a saving in ringing up all sales. These machines, if properly
handled, and used in conjunction with our stock records at selling price
should amply protect the Exchange.
In order to secure the maximum benefit from a cash register, however,
it should be suited to the work in hand. Many registers handle but two
kinds of sales, charge and cash; but we have a third kind, coupon sales,
and the registers in use by every department which handles all three
kinds should be arranged for such work. This kind of a register has three
separate adding mechanisms, the appropriate set being thrown into mesh by
means of a movable clutch and indicator at the left of the keyboard. In
ringing up each sale, the clerk sets the indicator at “cash”, “coupons”
or “charge”, as the case may be, before turning the handle; the total
sales of any kind can be read at any time by anyone possessing the key
which unlocks the reading window. Thus, the Steward, at the close of
business on any day, can ascertain these totals in a few seconds, instead
of having to transfer them from the cash register record tape to the
adding machine. Thus, considerable time and labor are saved.
We should also be able to tell which clerk made every sale. This is
accomplished by having a separate push button for every clerk and
requiring the clerks to punch the proper button before ringing up their
sale. The record tape of the machine will then show the full particulars
of every sale—how much it was, what kind of a sale it was and who made it.
The size of the keyboard is determined by the probable value of the
largest sale. In departments where there can be but two different kinds
of sales, say charge and cash, a machine without the movable clutch can
be used.
A modern development of the cash register is the “Slip Printing” device.
By this, we mean the printing of the amount of sale on the sales slip
itself, instead of on the “chop ticket”. In our system of recording
charge sales, where the customer is given a copy of the sales slip, it is
unnecessary for him to have the chop ticket, too, but it is necessary for
us to know that his sales slip calls for the same amount that has been
rung up on the register. For this purpose, the register can and should
be arranged for “Slip Printing”, that is, for printing directly on the
sales slip whatever amount is rung up on the register. This arrangement
can be made without extra cost in the case of a new machine. The sales
slip then handed to the customer then shows him exactly what amount was
rung up on the register. The slip shown in Fig. 1 was treated in this
way, although the slip was not originally designed for this work. Another
slip is shown in Fig. 38. A cash register embodying the above described
characteristics is shown in Fig. 39.
[Illustration: Figure 38, (Reduced in size)]
[Illustration: Figure 39]
It is apparent that if we can be sure that all sales are rung up on
the register the Exchange can suffer no loss except by persons taking
stock from the shelves, a proposition which is cared for by our stock
records. Therefore, it is important to devise means for insuring that
every sale is properly rung up. There are various means to this end. One
is to provide a series of locked boxes, one for each organization at the
post, each provided with a slit in the cover large enough to admit a
chop ticket. These boxes to be plainly labelled with the designation of
the respective organizations, and all customers to be instructed to drop
their chop tickets into these boxes. Whenever dividends are declared,
a certain proportion of same to be divided in the same proportion as
exists among the total values of the tickets in the various boxes. Unless
these tickets are counted by a committee from the various organizations,
this scheme would entail considerable clerical work for the Exchange
office force. The scheme practically amounts to distributing a part of
the dividend according to the amount of business done by the respective
organizations—a necessity in the rare case when one or more organizations
boycott the Exchange. It is said that the members of the various
organizations soon become efficient agents in promoting the practice of
customers demanding the chop tickets from the clerks.
Another scheme is for the Exchange Officer to inspect the serial
numbers of the sales recorded for a certain time, say one month, and to
arbitrarily select some one of these numbers, publish a notice concerning
same, and to present to the person who produces the chop ticket bearing
that number, a credit at the Exchange of $5.00 or so. The Exchange could
easily afford to do this, as the advantages accruing from having every
sale rung up will more than counterbalance this small expenditure. Other
devices will readily suggest themselves to those who are interested in
the subject.
The Steward should, of course, keep accurate track of the readings of
the various dials of the registers. Cash register companies issue books
for this purpose. The keys to the registers should be jealously guarded,
including those to the reading windows. A record should be kept of the
readings of those dials which show how many times the lid of the register
has been opened.
In leaving this subject, a further discussion of which is necessarily
curtailed, it will be well to add that the best way to get satisfaction
in this line is to write to the firm whose register you intend buying
and ask them to send you their local representative and such descriptive
literature as they may have at hand. It will then be an easy matter to
secure a machine exactly suited to the needs of the case.
CONCLUSION.
In the foregoing pages, the writer has attempted to outline a system
of record-keeping for our Post Exchanges that is at once simple and
efficient, complying with the desiderata set forth in the opening pages.
No contention is made that the system is perfect and incapable of
improvement; but it is the best that the writer has seen in twelve years’
experience with Post Exchanges. It is hoped that it will at least prove
worthy of being taken under advisement by most Post Exchanges and many
of its points put into practice. Strenuous efforts have been made to
explain the system in such simple language that the average employee of
an Exchange could install and operate it, without the necessity of the
Exchange Officer devoting his personal efforts to it. An effort has also
been made to simplify matters for the Exchange Council and for officers
detailed to audit the accounts, to show what points are important and
what are not, how to secure a clear idea of what the business is actually
doing in all its branches, and how to prevent leaks.
THE END.