ABSTRACT
In the introduction of the series of lectures which it is my intention to give to the members of this Society on the duties and possible attainments in the mastery of a thorough system of costs necessary for the guidance of a manufacturing community. Direct expenses, such as the management of departments by foremen, managers, &c., unless they can be specially assigned to separate departments, are divisible by a percentage upon the wages expended. Indirect expenses, such as office management, commissions, directors' fees, auditors, rates and taxes, &c, are divisible by a percentage upon the value of the output. Manufacturers need more assistance than what is ordinarily contained in an audit. In designing Cost Accounts, a manufacturer looks upon every payment to his workmen as discharging a liability, from which ho naturally expects a compensating asset in the form of work in progress. The only true and correct system of Cost Accounts is that worked out on double entry system.
