Purchascs.—Turning now to the question of goods purchased, the methods of the average retailer in recording such transactions are generally very much weaker than his habits of dealing with the records of goods sold. In many cases the primitive system of two files is adopted, one of which represents paid accounts, and the other unpaid. This, of course, is beyond criticism, because it is obvious that in a moment of hurry, carelessness, or forgetfulness, the distinctive files are apt to be ignored, and a statement of account, or an invoice, placed upon the one which is nearest at band. When considering the question of goods purchased it is necessary to begin at the beginning, which, although almost an Irishism, is a very wise proceeding. Goods are not generally purchased without they are ordered, . and a proper system for the record of orders is therefore eminently desirable. A special book constructed with duplicate leaves should be used, the top copy being sent, of course, to the supplier, the second copy remaining in the book for purposes of reference. No special form is needed, and the example given below may be taken merely as suggestive.
Goods-received Book.—The next book in importance, and in natural sequence, should be a record of goods received. It is extremely rare to find such a record, even in connection with the accounts of traders who are not retailers; but it is very unfortunate that the importance of this hook is so universally overlooked, because the lack of it is often the cause of a great deal of the looseness which is so prevalent in connection with what may be called the purchasing side of a business. A form of goods-received book is given below, and it should be carefully studied, for although involving a little extra expenditure of time and trouble, it contains all the necessary particulars for an average business. It may perhaps not be out of place to point out that the use of a goods-received book obviates to a large extent the risk of goods being received and taken into stock at balancing periods without an invoice, and therefore without the corresponding liability being included in the accounts. When the importance of the stock question comes to be considered it will be at once apparent that an institution of this kind may make all the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful result of a period's trading.
When goods are received, full particulars thereof should he entered in this record, and when the invoice collies to hand it may be compared first of all with the record of the goods received, and then with the record of the order given. If an invoice relating to delivered goods is missing, that fact will be apparent by turning to the goods-received book, because the particular column relating to invoices will be found to be blank in such cases, and it may be made a general practice to follow up such instances by requesting the supplier to furnish an invoice without delay, so that in cases of dispute the matter may be attended to while it is still within the memory of all parties to the transaction. Too often a delay in this direction causes
endless ill-feeling, and sometimes expensive litigation. In some cases the corners of filled orders, for which invoices have been received, are cut off, so that at a glance missing invoices may be indicated.
• • It is particularly desirable that pressure should be applied at balancing periods so that, as has been pointed out, liabilities may not be omitted. The invoices of goods purchased, after having been compared with the goods received book, and the order book, and prices and extensions properly checked (in large businesses they would, of course, be initialled by the various parties responsible for passing the details), are in sonic instances re-copied into a purchase day-book, whence they pass to the credit of the suppliers' accounts in the bought ledger, and the totals—monthly, quarterly, or half yearly—carried to the debit of "purchases account" in the nominal ledger, or they are pasted in a guard-book made of stout paper, in order to avoid the necessity for recopying, the remainder of the treatment being, of course, identical.
In these hustling days, everything which tends to save time is very welcome, and, as there is no particular virtue in re-copying an invoice, the use of the guard-book will be found to be advantageous, the only dis advantage being that each supplier's '.invoices are scattered through the book because of the necessity of placing them therein as they come to hand, or in d atal order.
If, therefore, it is desired to keep all the invoices from each particular $upplier together, in such a manner that thgy can be referred to easily, they should be numbered serially on arrival ; •thd these numbers should be entered in the purchases summary book, front which each item can he posted to the and the total to the debit of "purchases as formerly, the details not being given, for, if they he required, the serial number of the invoice becomes a ready reference.
The actual invoices themselves should then be placed on one or other of the very admirable filing systems which are in use to-day. Each of these systems has some peculiar merit, and any distinction which may be made could only he invidious, unless the need of each particular trader could be dealt with in detail ; an impossible task, of course, within the limits of this article.