the sales record. There are special billing machines and typewriters with billing attachments for doing this work. During the month these double sheets are kept in a loose leaf binder, arranged alphabetically, from which any sheet can be removed quickly, if any new transaction is to be recorded. As the charge tickets come into the office, the items are entered directly on the bills. Credits for goods returned and cash payments are entered in the credit column. By this method the bills are always ready on the first day of the month and may be detached and mailed at once. The carbon copies are then bound in a loose leaf book, which takes the place of the bound sales book, from which the monthly totals are posted to the customers' accounts. This method obviates the necessity of rewriting the items in a sales book, and thus saves much time. It also avoids many errors in copying, for the sales book will contain an exact copy of the bill sent to the customer. The illustration on page 228 shows a bill and the sales book copy which have been prepared on a billing machine. 262. Important Features. This article has described only a few of the uses of loose leaf books, but enough has been said to demonstrate their general utility and great value. In choosing a loose leaf outfit some of the points to be considered are: security of contents, ease of manipulation, simplicity of construction, flat writing surface, method of indexing, and cost. It will usually be found economical to purchase the best quality, for the reason that a loose leaf binder is supposed to last indefinitely and does not have to be renewed at frequent intervals, as is the case with bound books. EXERCISE XIX. CARD INDEX SYSTEMS. 263. Origin. The card catalogue of libraries, now in such general help you to appreciate their great value and general utility. 264. Description. The card index consists primarily of three parts: a tray or drawer of wood, pasteboard, or metal in which all cards stand on edge; record cards with a suitable surface for ruling, printing, and writing; and guide cards of stiff material with projections extending above the record cards, such projections being lettered or numbered according to some system, for the purpose of readily locating record cards. The maxi mum number of record cards to be filed under one guide should rarely exceed fifty, and a smaller number is often advisable. The trays or drawers for containing these cards may be single complete receptacles or parts of large cabinets containing any number of drawers or compartments. 265. Advantages. -For many purposes this method of record keeping is superior to the usual book records, particularly where a large number of subjects is to be listed. The most obvious of these advantages are: Elasticity. The addition of new matter or the subtraction of useless records may be made by inserting or removing record cards without interfering with their systematic arrangement. A card index may be entirely reclassified according to a new method without rewriting any records. This capacity for unlimited expansion, contraction, and rearrangement is perhaps the most valuable characteristic of the card. index. It is to be compared with the following difficulties in book records: the impossibility of eliminating useless records, the impracticability of anticipating the probable number of entries under each subject and so securing the desired arrangement of items, and the necessity of rewriting a large number of entries when a new book is opened. Facility. Among the most important advantages are the ease and speed with which records can be found, because the guides and record cards are adjacent and in one compartment, and so a card index may be styled "self-indexing." In bound books it is necessary to refer first to an alphabetical index and then to the numerical paging. Classification. By the appropriate use of colors and tab projections, record cards may be subdivided according to more than one method at the same time. (See description of subscription accounts on page 232.) There is no satisfactory way of accomplishing this simultaneous classification in books. 266. Card Ledgers. The illustration shows one form of a card ledger indexed with alphabetical guides. It will be noted that open accounts and closed accounts are filed separately, which may be done in the same compartment, or in separate drawers or cabinets, and also that record cards are placed in front of their appropriate guides. Posting from the journal and cash book is rapid, because of quick reference and the absence of old accounts. The form and size of the record card may |