68. Interest Sheets For Use With Boston Ledger

When either of the Boston ledgers is used it is necessary to keep a separate record for interest calculation. Interest is usually allowed on average daily balances at a rate agreed upon when the account is opened. A very simple method of record keeping and interest calculation for Boston ledgers is shown in Figure 50 on page 101.1 The sheets are perforated at the dotted lines so that the portion belonging to an account may be detached and forwarded with the statement. The daily balances, omitting amounts below $100, are posted to these sheets at convenient times during the day and on the twenty-seventh of the month, and one day's interest allowed on the total, as before. By dividing the month in this way, just so much work is saved on the last day of the month, which is usually a very busy one.

There are many ways of keeping a record of the detail of the individual accounts where the Boston ledgers are used. Some banks keep duplicate ledgers, on which is displayed the detail of all debits and credits. The skeleton ledgers, of course, show only totals of exchanges, totals of checks paid over the window, etc. If statements are sent to customers, they must be laboriously copied from the duplicate ledgers or made up from the debit and credit books and compared with the duplicate ledger. A blotter or slip of paper should be placed in every account on the detail ledger which has changed during the day and the balances compared with the balance shown on the skeleton ledger, before any entries are made on the next business day. Every account should be compared two or three times a month.

1 Copyrighted by Edward White, 1884-8.

69. Separate Sheets For Detail And Statements

The keeping of duplicate records, as mentioned above, is one of the best known methods of preventing the manipulation of the individual ledgers, but it is rather cumbersome and therefore expensive. The Boston ledger is, without a doubt, the best one for keeping track of the accounts, for it is proved every day with the general ledger and therefore the possibility of an error in posting a credit or debit or striking a balance is reduced materially. However, the ledger is faulty in that it does not readily disclose the detail of any one account. We have suggested that a duplicate record is a successful check and the detail may be kept very easily.

The larger the bank, the more readily this scheme may be adopted. We will assume that the large bank is in a city having a clearing house and that the exchanges have been received in the morning. If the bank has a number of adding machines, the very best and quickest way to check off the exchanges is to list them, making the same footings as the sending bank. If discrepancies occur in any footing, the difference will be very quickly found. This will be found far more satisfactory than calling or checking off the items. The assistant bookkeepers or check clerks, as they are called in some banks will then sort the checks in the proper order and begin to list on sheets like Figure 51 on page 104. These sheets are printed in copying ink.

The Buffalo National Bank

....................................................................In Account With New York No....................

If No Errors Are Reported In Ten Days This Account Will Be Considered Correct ....................Vouchers Returned

Figure 51. Statement Sheet.

Figure 52. Interest Sheet.

Note that the sheet appears to be printed on the back; this is intentional. An interest sheet, shown in Figure 52 on page 105, goes with this form and is bound facing it in a post binder, which can be opened at any point and a sheet removed or inserted. Some bookkeepers post ledgers of this kind from back to front instead of from front to back, and if this scheme is adopted, it will be found convenient to arrange the sheets accordingly.

Since these sheets contain the detail of the. debits and credits of each account, they will be the best record the bank can have. When a statement is desired for a customer, the sheet may be torn along the perforated line, the balance struck and compared with the skeleton ledger. If it agrees, a press copy should be made and preserved for the bank's record and the original handed to the customer. Much experimenting has been done on copying inks, but there is no ink on the market that gives as satisfactory results as a high grade copying pencil. The best are made in Germany and are about medium grade of hardness.

This scheme will not be convenient if one customer's account is balanced at one time and another at a different time. As far as possible they should all be balanced at once. It will be found that an expressed desire on the part of a bank to mail statements on a certain date of every month will meet with unanimous approval on the part of the customers.

After the assistant bookkeeper or check clerk has entered the checks against a customer on his sheet, he should turn them face down on his desk. The next customer's checks, whether one or a dozen, should he crossed. If there is more than one check on a customer, the clerk should turn them over and foot the several amounts, striking the total on the back of the last check instead of on the sheet. After all his checks are posted, he should enter the total amount of each customer's debits in a debit book, or on a machine slip, which can be pasted in a book, for future reference. It will be necessary to indicate the name of an account here and there to facilitate checking back. The sum of the debit books should equal the amount received from the clearing house.

After entering the checks in the debit book, they should be passed to the bookkeepers and by them posted to the accounts on the Boston ledgers. Where more than one check is found against a customer, the total as noted on the back should be posted so as to make but one amount for debits through the exchanges. After posting on the ledger the checks should be laid straight again.

The bookkeeper will instinctively glance over the checks and note whether or not they are properly sorted and check the footings mentally. After the checks have been posted they should be handed to the paying teller for inspection of signature and for stop payments. The checks should then be returned to the check clerks to be checked back on the sheets by a clerk other than the one who listed them originally, and the postings footed and carried out into the second column shown in Figure 51 on page 104. These new footings should be checked back to the debit books. The sheets, being in the same order as the checks from which the debit book was originally made, no difficulty will be experienced in checking off. This checking will disclose any error in posting, footing or entering in debit book, and no difference should pass this stage of the work.

In Account with Library Bureau Savings Bank, New York

Figure 53. Card Ledger.