VOUCHER is the name given to various methods of dealing with purchase invoices, and payments in connection therewith, in America. The English method may briefly be said to be the pasting of the invoices into a guard book, or the filing of the same alphabetically or numerically, and the transfer of the items from the guard book, or from a numbered reference book corresponding with the files, to the credit of the suppliers' accounts in the bought ledger. Payments,are then made through the medium of the cash book. Any analysis which is necessary is either dealt with separately or is recorded in the guard book, or numerical sum mary, under columns provided for that purpose. In the United States the practice has been adopted of keeping each supplier's invoices quite distinct from the others, and by the use of a card index, affording quick and ready reference, avoiding the necessity for a of any kind When accounts are paid, the particular invoices to which they relate are transferred from the unpaid file to the paid file, the balance of invoices under each supplier's account on the former file being, of course, the outstanding liabili ties at that date.
The system referred to mainly concerns the recording of the payments. What is called a " controlling " account is kept, and all accounts payable are posted from the voucher record thereto. The payments are then allocated to the particular departments, or classifications, subdivisions, or expense headings to which they refer.
Methods of payment differ slightly. In some cases the voucher and the cheque are contained in one document, and the payment of the cheque is dependent entirely upon the signing of the voucher. In other cases the voucher to be signed is accompanied by a cheque, and in some instances the voucher which accompanies the cheque has all the original invoices attached thereto. Full particulars are given on the voucher cheque (both back and front of the form being used) of the date when the goods were supplied, particulars of the goods, and prices and amounts thereof, together with an indication as to how the items are to be distributed, the remainder being taken up by the banking form. These vouchers, or voucher cheques, are then passed through a voucher record book, of which the following form is an illustration :— The system has not been adopted in this country, doubtless in part through lack of a proper understanding of the method and want of experi ence in its working. Those best qualified to judge speak of the practice with enthusiasm, and provided that care, which is necessary to all systems of bookkeeping, be shown, it will probably be found to be effective. Unfortu
nately sometimes for real progress the average Britisher is so tired of the trumpet calls which herald both genuine and adulterated " discoveries " on the part of his transatlantic cousins that he is more than usually cautious before he admits even real labour-saving inventions to the bosom of his business.
Another variation of this labour-saving method is sometimes to be found in this country, and in large establishments has a good deal to recommend it. Allusion is made to the practice of making all payments by cheque, the cheque book being so arranged that when a cheque is made out a dupli cate copy is recorded by means of carbon sheets, and remains in the shell of the book, and analytical and posting columns are provided so that the record, after the cheques have been torn out, may be used as a cheque analysis book. This method probably only requires to be widely known to be taken advan tage of to a greater extent. See ACCOUNTS AND ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS.
WAGES.—It would be hard to find a definition of wages which would be satisfactory from all points of view, and when the subject is considered the point of view which particularly presents itself at the moment must also be borne in mind. Political economists disagree as to what may be con sidered wages, and it would be impossible to indicate all the subtle shades of differences which the various opinions exhibit ; but, broadly, the outlook adopted is that the labourer without capital, although from a theoretical point of view quite free to act as he pleases, must find some capitalist who will maintain him or furnish the means of maintenance during the time which must necessarily elapse between the labour itself and the sale of the finished article. Professor Hadley says that in the actual usage of ordinary life wages designate the sums paid by property owners or their representatives to the labourers for the work done under the direction of the property owners ; and he goes on to distinguish this definition to the effect that if the degree of education required is such that the labourer must be in a large manner self-directing, such payments would be known as salaries where they are in connection with continuous employment, or fees where they relate to irregular or varying employment.