Mc Graw-Hill Book Co., Inc. PUBLISHERS OF BOOKS FOR Electrical World Engineering News-Record Power Engineering and Mining Journal-Press Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering. Electric Railway Journal ▾ Coal Age American Machinist Ingenieria Internacional Electrical Merchandising BusTransportation Journal of Electricity and Western Industry Industrial Engineer ACCOUNTING BY W. B. REED SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL COAL ASSOCIATION, CONSULTING ACCOUNTANT, FEDERAL TAXATION; FORMERLY AUDITOR, THE NEW RIVER FIRST EDITION UNIV. OF VINNOJITVO MCGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY, INC. 1922 PREFACE In response to numerous requests to the National Coal Association for suggestions and more detailed forms than contained in the "Report and Suggestions" of its Cost Accounting Committee, the author prepared a series of articles on "Cost Accounting in the Bituminous Industry" which were printed in Coal Review. To meet the desire of many who wish to have these articles in more permanent and usable shape arrangements have been made to issue them in book form. Several new chapters have been added, and the subject matter has been expanded. In their original scope the articles were intended to cover only cost matters, but in this book some questions of general accounting pertinent to the bituminous coal mining industry have been touched upon also. The importance of proper accounting has probably never been more clearly felt than at the present time. The necessity for having an adequate cost accounting system has been stressed within the past few years by trade associations, government agencies and accountants generally. In the coal industry this was a particularly important subject during the recent war, sales prices being fixed by the Fuel Administration based on cost. At all times a knowledge of the cost of production is an absolute prerequisite to price making. A corporation without a cost system is like a ship without a compass. Business is conducted for the purpose of making a profit, and the business man is entitled to a margin between his cost and selling price. An adequate cost finding system is intended to eliminate guess work. To be of value to the industry such a cost system should be more than a historical record of transactions long closed. It is questionable when a cost system is maintained merely for the purpose of history, whether it is worth the cost of its compiling. If this is its entire use the question might reasonably 500621 |