CHAFTER Xv

ACCOUNTS

IN a company of any magnitude the book-keeping and
accounts will be under the control of a separate official,
who may or may not be responsible to the directors through
the secretary, but the secretary who desires to be efficient
in the highest sense—and indeed every man wholly or par-
tially controlling or directing a commercial undertaking—
needs to be acquainted with the principles of accountancy,
even if his duties do not actually demand executive ability in
that direction. It is for this reason that this chapter is in-
cluded. It is intended to be of assistance to the secretary in
the execution of his duties to the directors of his company,
and is not in any way a treatise on book-keeping or ac-
countancy. There are many excellent works dealing with
accountancy which can be consulted by any secretary who
requires a deeper knowledge of the subject.

The secretary is in a fiduciary position in relation to his
directors, and through them to the proprietors of his com-
pany, and in this sense the more abstruse side of accountancy
interests him to a greater extent than the elements of book-
keeping. He should be concerned with the results obtained
by the book-keepers rather than with the actual machinery
of book-keeping. In every large business in which the
accounts are in the charge of a separate official, it may be
taken for granted that an adequate system of book-keeping
by double entry will be in use, and that it will be intelligently
adapted to the particular business concerned, so that the
results obtained may be clear and of practical service to the
directors.

If the secretary is directly responsible for the accounts
he will necessarily, unless the business operations are very
small in number, require the ‘assistance of a competent
book-keeper whose work ir detail will be checked bv the
auditors of the company.

When there is a responsioi:
the company, the secretar

. accountant in the service of
>a the directors, relies upon

Duties of
Secretary.