RETAIL SHOP average shopkeeper is not usually prone to pay any great attention to the subject of accounts, for many reasons, chief among which may be instanced the fact that he rarely comprehends the necessity for any systematic accounting methods in connection with his business, or if he does happen to recognise any such necessity he soothes his conscience by the statement that he has no time to attend to such matters, or cannot afford the extra clerical labour or personal assistance which he thinks would be required. It is perhaps hardly necessary to point out that this attitude is very much to be deplored, because it has so very little sure foundation. The question as to whether any system of accounting should be employed in connection with a business does not depend upon the idiosyncrasy of the trader, nor any conditions which may attach to his particular business—it is, or should be, a premise of all trades. The question as to the general necessity of keeping proper records of mercan tile transactions hardly comes within the scope of this article, but it may be referred to under various headings in connection with this publication.
Taking it for granted that some system is an absolute necessity we may pass on to consider some of the means which may properly be used. The phrase " Retail Shops" is a very comprehensive one, and may be said to embrace all kinds of establishments from the little tuck shop to the modern vast emporium of universality. The only consoling feature in this connection is the fact that it is not quite so much the volume of trade done which governs the form of accounts as the nature of the business, and as we shall first of all have to consider the matter in its general aspects it is not possible to descend to details which will be acceptable to every trader, but after the general out lines of the scheme have been dealt with such details will not be overlooked, Cash Sales.—It is somewhat difficult to say which of the departments of a retail trader's business is the most important, but probably that which appeals more strongly to the merchant is the selling side of his establishment. The question of sales has many aspects, but the most prominent of them relate to those transactions which take place for cash, and those transactions which are in connection with credit accounts. The trader is apt to think that there is very little need to consider the question of accounts so fhr as they relate to sales for cash, but this attitude is hardly commendable, for reasons which will be dealt with below. He says to himself, " If a person walks into my establishment and purchases goods to the value of live shillings, I place that five shillings in my cash till. Surely there is no need for any further record ?" This is quite true so far as it goes, but, unfortu nately, in practice that selfsame till receives the cash which has been paid for outstanding accounts, and, maybe, other extraneous items, so that too often the constituent parts of each day's takings are not properly recorded.
In an average-sized business, where it is the custom to permit the assistants to receive cash over the counter, some check on these receipts is eminently desirable, and although the means employed to this cud may differ in many ways a brief outline of some of the methods usually adopted may not be out of place. In many old-fashioned businesses there arc several tills, or cash drawers, throughout the shop, and the receipts taken over the counter are placed in the till without any record whatever beyond the total being arrived at, at the end of the day. in other concerns a similar system, or lack of it, obtains, with the exception that the drawers or tills are cleared at various times during the day, leaving, of course, a sufficient amount for the purpose of change, so as to avoid any temptation which may exist through a large amount of cash being available. Again, in other instances, it is urged that it is the duty of the assistant to sell the goods, and that lie should not concern himself with the actual handling of the proceeds. In order, therefore, to deal effectually with the cash receipts a central receiving office, or cash desk, is to be found in the establishment, where the customers hand in their dockets with the cash, or a system of overhead wires and travelling receptacles is in force, whereby the ticket and cash are transferred by means of a lever, or otherwise, to the central cash desk, thus narrowing down the responsibility of handling coins into a special department devoted to that purpose. It is not possible, of course, in small businesses to have such a system as this latter in vogue, but where it can be employed no effies should be spared in that direction, because it is undoubtedly one of the best methods which has up to the present time been evolved. Even in very small busi nesses some record of the cash received should be kept, and for this purpose perhaps there is little, if anything, better than some one of the many forms of register tills which are to be found on the market. Sonic of them are very simple, and very economical in price, so that the retailer is deprived of the excuse of expense. The record which these tills furnish should be carefully ruled, so as to distinguish between those monies which are in the nature of cash sales, and those which relate to the payment of credit accounts. The ruling need not be elaborate, two columns being generally sufficient for the purpose. The cash should be balanced with the till record every day, and the cash sales entered in total in the cash book, while the amounts which have been received for customers' accounts should also be entered in the same book, but in detail, with the name of the customer attached for the convenience of posting purposes. If the till record is ruled with a folio column next to the credit accounts column it may be used as a posting medium, and only the daily totals carried into the cash book.