Numbering Some little difficulty may be experienced both by the storekeeper and the clerk keeping the Prime Cost Books referred to in the next chapter, unless some arrangement is made by which all warrants Warrants. are numbered consecutively. When they all emanate from one centre they may be consecutively typed in the books when printed, but when they emanate from foremen of several departments or leading hands in various shops, it will be found advantageous for the storekeeper to be provided with a numbering machine, with which to type all warrants as they reach him. The warrants from the different shops or departments may be printed on differently tinted papers. Nos. All labour and material expended in manufacture of goods should be booked to the Number (which for conStock Order venience may be called the Stock Number, as distinguished from the Working Number referred to on page 20, and which is assigned to orders for expenditure other than that incurred in manufacture for stock) appearing on the order given by the principal. The Stores Warrant when entered in the Stores Issued Book, should be forwarded to the counting-house, where it would find its way into the Prime Cost Book, and the stores account in the Commercial Ledger. The process by which this is effected will be explained in the next chapter. Prime Cost Before leaving the subject of the stores books, however, it is necessary to explain that materials returned to vendors are entered in a Stores Rejected jected Book. Book (Specimen No. 31), which, in its purpose, is co-extensive with the Stores Issued Book. Stores Re The entries in this book are based upon the credit notes received from the vendors for the goods returned. The storekeeper should on returning any goods to the vendors enter the transaction in the Stores Rejected Book, leaving only the spaces for the number and date of credit note, and the rate and value of the returns blank, until he has received through the counting-house the credit note from the vendors. The office is advised of the rejection of goods either by an entry on the invoice or by means of a Stores Sent Away form. Registration of credit notes. This Stores Sent Away form may require registration in the counting-house in the same way as an invoice, and the book records will be similar. If it be thought inadvisable to open a credit note register, the notes may be registered in red ink in the Invoice Register Book and the words "credit note" might be added. The credit note may bear references corresponding to those impressed on the invoices by means of an india-rubber stamp. Specimen ruling No. 27 will equally apply in this case, save in the titles of the books referred to, which would be : Credit Note Register No.. Stores Rejected Book Fol.. Goods Returned Outward Book Fol.. Account to be Credited. Stores Ledger 55 It will probably be found that in many cases a reference to the Stores Requisition Book can be dispensed Iwith on the credit note. Return to store of surplus material. In addition to the process of receiving, examining, and, if need be, rejecting stores supplied by vendors, and of issuing material for manufacture, the storekeeper will receive from the foremen or overlookers material which has been drawn out in excess of the quantity required, or the scrap material from some manufacturing operation. It is not unusual for material drawn out of store in excess of requirements to remain in the factory, and be used for the next similar stock order, but this procedure is open to serious objection, and the desirability of sending the material back to the store with a Stores Debit Note (Specimen No. 32) cannot be too strongly urged. Not only does the direct return of Stores Debit SHOP RETURNS BOOK. 57 material to store prevent waste or improper appropriation, but it conduces to the localization of the cost of manufacture. If the surplus material is not so treated, the stock order, in respect of which it has been withdrawn, will appear at a higher cost than it should, while the work upon which such material is used without warrant will have the benefit without being charged. In either case the records of cost of production are fallacious, and loss may thus be incurred. The Stores Debit Note having been posted by the storekeeper in a Shop Returns Book (Specimen No. 33), is forwarded to the counting-house, where it turns Book. is dealt with as recording a factor in the prime cost, as will be explained in the following chapter. Shop Re SHOP RETURNS BOOK.-SPECIMEN NO. 33. The entries in the Shop Returns Book are (as shown in the Diagram II.) posted to the Dr. side of the Stores Ledger. There is another source from which a storekeeper may receive goods, viz., from the warehouse of the firm. These cases are likely to be exceptional, and can be more fully and conveniently dealt with in the subsequent chapter on Stock. At pre Transfers between store and warehouse. sent it suffices to say that the departmental adjustments of accounts, as between the warehouseman in charge of the manufactured commodities or stock, and the storekeeper in charge of the raw material of trade or stores, are made by means of a Transfer Book. The nature of this book will be explained later, and it is necessary to anticipate the subject at this stage only to the extent of stating that so far as the storekeeper is concerned, the items in the Transfer Book are posted in the Stores Ledger to the Dr. side of the respective accounts in the same way as other receipts of material. The storekeeper may sometimes have sent into store, material which has been recovered from plant and buildings, or parts of machinery which is no longer serviceable. In these cases the stores accounts will be debited in the usual manner, by means of a Plant Recovered Note. These transactions in relation to the capital account of the business will be dealt with in the chapter on Fixed Capital (Chapter VI.). In conclusion we refer to Diagram II. as giving a complete view of the books and forms mentioned in this chapter, and their connection with each other, and also to the remarks in the Introductory Chapter to the effect that the books are suggested more for the purpose of showing what the transactions are than to give stereotyped forms which shall be applicable to every case without modification. It will be manifest that, provided the principles are not lost sight of, there is every scope for further division, or greater concentration, as may be required. |