Importance Of Arithmetic And Writing

As for special studies, arithmetic looms large in banking work, and there is writing to do all day. The columns of figures that are to be added are long and wide; problems in subtraction, multiplication, division, and percentages are presenting themselves more or less all the time. There is no time to make rough drafts of the work first, and then to follow it with a laborious copperplate copy. Everything must go at first hand into the books, and remain standing for years as records. It must go quickly, too, for through the teller's wickets the items come fast. If they be not promptly dealt with, congestion follows, and other departments are delayed. It needs clearness of vision to read quickly and accurately the names, figures, and amounts on the cheques, drafts, notes, etc., that pass through; then a close attention to the business in hand, to transcribe them rapidly and without errors to the books or statement forms in writing that is both clean and legible.

Geography An Important Item

To give proper expression to his thoughts and ideas, in conversations with fellow-officers and with customers, demands an acquaintance with grammatical rules; and to know something of the art of composition is exceedingly helpful. The junior should also know his geography, for if he be ignorant of the location of certain branches of his own bank or of places on which customers wish to purchase drafts, he is apt to become sadly out of date. He should know also the general geography of foreign countries with which Canadians have commercial or financial dealings, and that means almost the whole world. It is well to know the chief products of the various parts of the Dominion, where they are sold or disposed of, the chief items of our import trade, and where they come from, the trade routes connecting the various countries, the monetary systems in vogue in the different parts of the world, the systems of weights and measures. All these matters will arise on occasions, and the man who knows them will draw profit from his knowledge. For calculations of interest, of sterling exchange conversions, of length of unexpired time on notes, etc., and for some other calculations, books of tables are provided and used universally. Many offices now are equipped with adding machines. The object of their use is the saving of time and labor.

To use the various time-saving devices intelligently the clerk should possess the ability to make the calculations independent of them.

Bookkeeping Methods

With regard to bookkeeping, though the systems of all the banks are necessarily founded upon the same basic principles, each institution has its peculiar methods. In every well-organized bank the men are constantly devising improvements; and thus it has come that the systems now in vogue have been gradually evolved. Presumably, the evolution in the case of each institution has proceeded along lines suggested by its particular usages. Some of these systems have been built up out of a half century's experience, and at considerable cost. The banks that have the best feel that they thereby possess an advantage; and they are properly averse to divulging for the benefit of their competitors their various special labor-saving and time-saving devices. In consideration of this it is the intention to sketch the general principles of bank bookkeeping rather than to define particular methods. If the student gets a clear understanding of the purpose and effect of bank bookkeeping in general he will have little difficulty in mastering any of the particular methods with which he may come into contact.