SCHEDULE (F.)

A STATEMENT OF THE DISTRICT AUDITOR,

in reference to the Books of the SCHOOL BOARD of
the Year [or Half Year] ended

188.

for

As to the Books required to be kept by the CLERK or ACCOUNTANT,

* Where the Cash Book is kept in the alternative Form, it should be so stated.

+ Where these Books are dispensed with under Art. 5 and the proviso to Art. 9, it should be so stated.

Against the name of any book contained in this statement which is not kept at all, or is imperfectly kept, the district auditor is to write in the former case "not kept," and in the latter "imperfectly." In case of any book being imperfectly kept, the general nature of the imperfection to be set forth on the other side, together with such observations as the district auditor considers requisite.

L. S.

Given under the Seal of Office of the Local Government Board, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year One thousand eight hundred and eighty.

JOHN LAMBERT, Secretary.

J. G. DODSON, President.

INSTRUCTIONS TO SCHOOL BOARDS IN EXPLANATION OF THE ORDER OF ACCOUNTS.

THE Education Department, in August, 1880, issued the following Instructions, framed by the Accountant of that Department, in explanation of the order of the Local Government Board (see p. 565) with respect to the form of keeping the Accounts of school boards and the audit thereof.

ACCOUNTS.

Duties of Clerk or Accountant.

The "Cash Book.” (1)

(See Articles 4 and 5 of the Accounts Order.)

1. All receipts and payments should be entered in the cash book in the order of date in which the money is received or paid, and opposite to each entry the head of account (Accounts Order, Article 5 (2) to which the receipt or payment relates should be stated in the column prepared for that purpose. (See Article 33 of these Instructions.)

(1) See Articles 48-54 of these Instructions as to the cash book in the alternative form prescribed by Article 6 of the Accounts Order.

2. Grants from the Committee of Council on Education should be entered in separate amounts, and the name of the school for which the grant is made entered against it, in addition to the head of account to be credited.

3. The cash book should from time to time be compared with the treasurer's account, and, when necessary, entered up from it. 4. Where the district under a school board contains 15,000 inhabitants and upwards, and the school board consists of nine or more than nine members, the cash book should be closed and balanced up to the 25th March and 29th September in each year, and the balance carried forward as the first entry for the half-year next ensuing.

5. Where the district under a school board contains less than 15,000 inhabitants, or the school board consists of less than nine members, the cash book should be closed and balanced to the 29th September in every year, and the balance carried forward as the first entry for the year next ensuing.

6. The balance on the cash book should agree with the balance on the treasurer's account, excepting when the treasurer has not paid all the orders drawn upon him by the board, in which case the difference would be represented by the amount of the orders not paid by the treasurer.

7. When an advance to meet the current expenses of a school is made to school managers appointed under section 15 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, it should be entered on the credit side of the cash book, and the name of the school entered opposite the amount. (See infra, Articles 13-20.)

8. All items of receipt and expenditure should be transferred from the cash book to their respective heads of account in the ledger (see Article 10) at frequent intervals, and such items as relate to the annual maintenance of schools should be transferred to the abstract book in the manner hereinafter described (see Articles 32-38), a reference being made to the folio of the ledger, and, when requisite, to the folio of the abstract book in which such items are entered.

9. Both the receipts and payments should be supported by appropriate authorities and vouchers, and each voucher should bear a number corresponding to the number in the cash book, and should be kept in numerical order for the purpose of reference.

The Ledger. (See Article 5 (2) of the Accounts Order.)

10. Accounts should be opened in the ledger under the several heads set forth in Article 5 (2) of the Accounts Order, and each item in the cash book, petty cash book (see Article 29), and school managers' accounts (if any) (see Article 14) should be posted into the ledger under the head of account to which it relates, a reference being made to the page of the cash book or petty cash book, or to the school account, as the case may be, from which the entry is taken.

II. In order that the financial statement (Accounts Order, Schedule B.) may contain the whole of the receipts and disbursements on account of the school fund (see secs. 53 and 62 of Act 33 & 34 Vict., c. 75), and in order that a complete record of the funds (if any) intrusted to school managers and of the due disposal of such funds may be kept, and the balance due to or from such managers ascertained, it is necessary that the several items of receipts and expenditure included in the accounts of school managers should be entered in the ledger in the manner hereinafter described (see Articles 13-18).

12. Separate heads of account having been provided for "Loans obtained" and "repayment of principal of Loans" (see Accounts Order, Article 5 (2)) it will be necessary to open an account with the public works loan commissioners (or if loans be obtained in

the open market, with the lender) for loans received from them, and for repayment to them from time to time of the principal of such loans. This account should show on the credit side the loans received, and on the debit side the principal paid off, the difference between the two sides of the account would represent the amount of the loan or loans outstanding.

"Advances to School Managers." (See Articles 10 and 11 of the Accounts Order.)

13. When the board shall have delegated to a body of managers appointed under section 15 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, the control and management of the finances of any school, a separate account in the name of the school should be opened in the ledger, and all sums received by the managers of such school should be posted from the cash book (see Article 7) and from the school managers' accounts (see Article 14) to the debit, and all expenditure incurred by them should be posted to the credit, of the account opened with the school.

14. Such managers should, as soon as possible after the 25th March and 29th September, or, if the school board belongs to the class mentioned in Article 5 of these Instructions, after the 29th September only, and, in either case, after the end of the school year, as defined by Article 13 of the New Code, render to the school board an account of the income and expenditure of the school for the periods ending at those dates. For the forms in which these accounts should be rendered, see Schedule (D) (school treasurer's balance sheet) annexed to the Accounts Order.

15. Such part (if any) of the income entered in these accounts as may not have been advanced to the managers by the board, e.g. school fees and books sold to children, should be entered on the credit side of the ledger under the heads of account to which the items relate, and a similar amount should be entered in a single sum on the debit side of the account opened with the school, the expenditure being entered in a single sum on the credit side of the same account, and the several items of the expenditure distributed in single sums to the debit of the heads of account in the ledger to which they relate (see Schedule D.).

16. These entries should be made in the ledger before it is finally closed and balanced for the half-year or year, as the case may be.

17. The difference between the two sides of the accounts under "advances to school managers," would represent the balance in the hands of the school managers, or due to them.

18. In districts containing a large number of schools, it may be found advantageous to open a general account in the ledger for "advances to school managers," under which the advances to,