(b) The total amount of drafts certified by the certi fication department.
(c) All drafts paid by the foreign tellers' department.
(d) All drafts paid through the clearing house.
5. Stop-payment book, wherein are entered all drafts on which payment has been stopped by letter or cable.
6. List of domestic correspondents, a book with key showing the exchange charges of the bank's domestic corres pondents.
The " Their " Accounts Books One set of books is devoted to " their" accounts, which are the accounts of foreign banks, bankers, firms, and individuals carrying deposit accounts with the bank. The " their" accounts show their balances with the bank in United States dollars, and the bank renders statements of " their " accounts from time to time to them. The books covering " their" accounts are as follows: 1. The "Their" Accounts Ledgers. These ledgers are alpha betically arranged according to the various cities in which the accounts are located, as A to C, D to L, M to N,0 to R, and S to Z. Each ledger is in two parts, the first containing the accounts of banks and bankers, and the second the accounts of firms and individuals. The function of these books is to serve as a check on the current account sheets which are kept in an other set of books, and also to enable one to find the balance of an account and to judge of its relative activity.
It is the duty of the men in charge of these books to po§t the debits and credits from the various departments of the bank. Most of the posting is done in the afternoon and the remainder the first thing in the morning. All postings having been made, the balances are then carried forward and the totals proved against the general bookkeeper's total for the same book.
In addition to this, the ledger men may keep a record of the balances in a specially prepared book, for making up the average balances of the accounts at the end of each month. These averages may also be kept on special cards for quick reference.
It is also necessary for the ledger men to hold against the balance of any account, when properly notified, the various amounts needed for the paying of drafts or making transfers of funds or payments of any kind.
2. The Account Current Books. These are the most important set of books in the foreign bookkeeper's department. In them is kept an accurate record in detail of each transaction passing over an account. The descriptions must be so accurate and plain
that there can be no doubt as to what is meant when it comes to the hand of the one in whose name the account is kept. The books are divided into alphabetical sections, for banks and bankers, and for firms and individuals; as, banks and bankers, A to B, C to G, H to L, M to P, Q to R, S to Z, and branches; firms and individuals, A to G, H to M, N to P, Q to Z; and segregations.
The men in charge of these books receive from the ledger men all the material that is to be posted, and after they have entered this they strike the balance of the accounts on which they have had transactions and compare the same with the balance on the ledger.
Each account current man at the end of the month makes out the interest due on the accounts in his book. It is very im portant for the account current men to watch the conditions of each account, as there may be a variety of conditions in force. For instance, the agreement with one account may be to allow interest on deposits value date of receipt, and with another to credit interest value next day. Interest is so figured that any sum can be valued back to any desired date and thereby the interest can be adjusted to both parties concerned.
Another thing the account current men must watch is the standing plan of reimbursement agreed upon in case a foreign party has overdrawn its account through a heavy drawing or payment. The arrangement may be for the bank to reimburse itself by drawing on some London bank in sterling and to credit the London bank's account here at the prevailing rate for sight drafts on London, or it may be to draw on banks in Paris in francs, etc. Still other instructions may be to draw on some foreign bank or bankers at 6o or 90 days and credit them with the proceeds. The bank also may have standing instructions to remit the excess of certain balances, or the entire balances when they reach certain sums. Such remittances are made by sending the London or Paris bank a draft on London or Paris or what ever they may desire and debiting their account here at the selling rate for sight drafts on London or Paris, as the case may be, for the equivalent of such drafts.