Credi:,` ,S'ales.—With regard to sales on credit, a variety of methods are to be found in use to-day. In some cases the amount of the credit sale is jotted down on a scrap of paper and placed to the debit of the customer's account in the personal ledger when the trader finds it convenient. Sometimes. unfortunately, he forgets all about it, with the consequent loss to hiinseli, In other cases the details, and the amount, of the credit sale are entered in a charging book, or a rough kind of memorandum book, which serves the purpose of a diary and several other conveniences. These may not be even posted, but are marked through in pencil when the account is ultimately paid. In better-regulated concerns, however, a proper system of invoices exists, under which they are entered into a day-book, and then transferred to the ledger accounts affected. The best system, and it may be said to be the best because it is of almost universal application where any attention is paid to accounting methods, consists of a slip book constructed in triplicate form, in which the various details connected with the sale, including the price, and amount, &c., are entered. By means of the manifold carbons, which are so useful a feature of modern commercial life, three copies of the entry are obtained at one writing. The top copy is forwarded to the customer with the goods as an invoice. The second copy is sent to the assistant or department having charge of the packing arrangements, while the third copy remains in the shell of the book, and constitutes the medium of charging to the ledger.
If a practice is made of not permitting goods to go out of the establish ment unless it is ascertained by the first or second copy that they have been entered in this book, a very fair check will have been placed upon any leakage which might arise from that direction. With regard to this system the retail trader v,ill say, " Oh yes, that is all very well, but when a customer comes into my establishment and commences to give my assistant an order, that assistant is not aware, possibly, at the time the order is given, whether the person intends to pay cash for the goods or whether they are to be charged to a credit account." The answer to this objection is that the circumstances set out do not alter the method in any way, for if the sale be one for cash the top copy of the record is sent to the cashier's depart ment with the money, or is receipted by the assistant himself, if he receives the cash, and is then either handed to the customer or sent with the goods. The second copy, as before, goes to assist the packer in his duties, and the third copy remains in the shell of the book, whence the details can be posted either to a composite cash sales account in the personal ledger, or be extended into an analytical column, so that the total of the cash sales in this analytical cotunin can be deducted from the general total in another column, the remainder being, of course, the total of the debits which have been made in the personal ledger.
It may here be remarked that the second copy of the invoice contains no record of the price, because that particular leaf is shorter than the others, and thus only two manifold copies of the entry are made as regards the price, instead of three. The reason for this is, of course, that that particalar information is not necessary for the packii department.
It should be said that the totals of the slips remaining in the shell of the book are required to be carried forward from page to page, or summarised separately, so that the total of the sales for credit accounts may be carried to the credit of sales account in the nominal ledger weekly, monthly, quarterly, or half-yearly, in order to effect the necessary double entry, thus: If the total of the credit slips at the end of the quarter, say, amounts to 121000, the details of that sum would be found at the debit of the various personal accounts in the sales ledger.
In large concerns, separate books of this character should be provided, so that they may be used on alternate days in order to give facilities for the items to be posted to the ledger. In small establishments where the volume of trade, or number of credit sales, does not warrant this method being followed, the day-book, or charging medium, may be run on the same principle, except that it should be in duplicate instead of triplicate, one carbon copy serving as an invoice, and the other remaining in the shell of the book as the posting medium. In cases where the book is so made that each leaf only contains one entry the total sales must be arrived at by a summary of all the slips, each slip, of course, being numbered serially, so that none may be lost sight of. This, it should be remarked, does not affect the posting of the items to the debit of the customers' accounts, but merely relates to the method of arriving at the total sales for cash, and on credit, during any period.
No particular form is needed in connection with these slip books, and so long as the date, name and address of customer, particulars of goods and amounts, are provided for, the remainder may be left to the wishes of each trader. It is wise, of course, to state the terms upon which the goods are sold, in order to avoid subsequent disputes. Form A is given as an example, or by way of illustration, of the general principles involved.
If it is customary when rendering accounts to give the details of the transaction, these should either be entered in the ledger at the time when the posting is made, in order to avoid the necessity of turning up each debit slip, or a statement of the customers' account should be kept running, that is to say, entered up at short intervals, otherwise the labour of rendering detailed accounts weekly, monthly, or quarterly, as the case may be, is rather onerous, although not more so under this system than it would be if the old-fashioned day-book were used.