ACCOUNTS

[71

chief engineer, or other chief officials will report periodically
in regard to their own branches of the business. A report
will, in all probability, be made on all these branches at the
periodical meetings of the board, and it will fall within the
secretary’s province to provide returns of this nature, dealing
with other than the purely secretarial side of the business.

The secretary will be well advised to keep running sum-
maries of the work of all departments, such as the value
and classification of orders received, and of goods delivered;
of the output of the factory, mine, or estate concerned;
of the number of men engaged in each operation of the
work, and so on, according to the nature of the business.
He should also periodically have in his hands a list of balances
owing by customers and to suppliers, with indication of the
approximate dates when both become payable. Lists of bills
receivable and payable are also necessary for that full survey
of the business which the modern secretary should have, if he
is to be the ‘chief of staff’ to the board.

The modern secretary should be skilled in reading a
balance sheet. He should be able to examine the pub-
lished accounts of any company, and, if called upon, reduce
them to their lowest terms, leaving out extraneous items and
taking into account all relative considerations, even though
not immediately apparent in the wording and figures, so
that a person not so skilled may be able to digest the result.

The secretary should assure himself that vouchers or
invoices, duly checked and passed by the authorised officials,
are in existence for all amounts, payment of which is demanded
by the cashier. He should also see that complete lists of
these items, with brief descriptions and the numbers of
the cheques, accompany the cheques which are placed for
signature before the board, or the finance committee, if
one exists. One very important incidental task of the
secretary, frequently overlooked, is to make sure that duplicate
payments for the same items are not called for, either bv
negligence or fraud. He should personally examine all
spoiled cheques and assure himself that they are cancelled anc
that every cheque is used or accounted for.

A careful secretary will always require cheques to be Drawing ot
drawn fully, legibly, and according to the oft repeated advice Cheques.
of bankers, to prevent fraud, and he will make rules with
regard to the insertion of the full and proper names of the
drawees, the due crossing of cheques, and the adequate
checking of the letters and enclosures which may have to
accompany the cheques when they are posted.

The preceding remarks deal with those portions of the

Summarising
Balance
Sheets.

Vouchers for
Payments.