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down under the strain of increased business. The
book-keeping system in current use was designed
in the days when the amount of work handled by a
practice was comparatively small and it has not
progressed as have other office systems. There are
many reasons for this, but the principal one is that
the majority of solicitors are not expert accountants
and they would rather put up with a certain amount
of inconvenience than attempt to improve a system
whose working they do not fully understand.
This situation continues until some sort of crisis
occurs; usually it is simply that the pressure of work
on the cash office becomes so great that the books
fall into arrears and consequently all the work of
the practice is disrupted.
When this happens
something must be done and there are two alterna
tives. Either, additional staff are engaged to carry
out the increased work or, an attempt is made to
simplify the system by eliminating unnecessary
operations so that the existing staff are adequate.
The second of these alternatives is obviously the
most sensible. Overheads must not be allowed to
increase unchecked if the maximum profit is to be
obtained.
Having made the decision that the system should,
if possible, be made more efficient, all unnecessary
operations in the system must be eliminated.
There are certain basic functions which should
be performed in the cash office.
i. To keep all the books of account,
ii. To handle all money which comes into and
goes out of the office.
iii. To collect the costs and keep the records of
all delivered bills,
iv. To ensure that the Solicitors' Accounts Rules
are observed at all times.
v. To pay staff wages and to keep all the necessary
records relating to them,
vi. To prepare regular statements of the firm's
financial position.
For the purposes of this article it will be assumed
that all the records kept by the cashier are, in effect,
bound books, even though loose-leaf stationery may
be used. It must also be assumed that the volume of
work in the cash office is not great enough to justify
the introduction of an accounting machine.
Having agreed that none of the operations listed
above can itself be eliminated, each must now be
considered individually to find out what can be
done to simplify them.
i. Keeping the .books of account
The information needed by the cashier for writing
up the books is usually passed to him orally or on
slips of paper. Neither method is satisfactory as the
information is frequently incomplete and the
cashier has to make further enquiries; thus time is
wasted. This can be saved if the profit-earners are
made responsible for passing complete details of
receipts and payments to the cashier. So that this
information is standard for all transactions, a printed
slip should be designed for the purpose.
Having received the information the cashier writes
up the books of account and, in conventional
book-keeping systems, the details must first be
written in a book of prime entry and then copied
into one or more other books. It is here that a
considerable amount of time can be saved by
eliminating unnecessary copying operations. If the
writing up of the books of prime entry is combined
with the ledger posting at least one copying operation
can be eliminated. Although the finished article
will not be as neat as if the operation had been
carried out on a book-keeping machine, the same
result will be obtained if the posting is made in
longhand. It may also be possible to eliminate other
copying operations at the same time by doing away
with books which do not serve any really useful
purpose.
Apart from eliminating unnecessary copying
operations, combining the ledger posting with
writing up the books of prime entry also saves time
in that checking the books to find and correct
copying errors is unnecessary. Proving procedures
can be designed which will eliminate the possibility
of error almost entirely, provided the information
passed to the cashier is correct.
ii. Handling money
The cashier must always be responsible for
handling the money which is received and paid out.
Cheques and cash should not be passed around the
office but should always be passed direct to the
cashier as soon as they are received. Cheques should
not be drawn by anyone but the cashier, nor should
any other member of the staff handle petty cash.
The slips on which the posting information is
passed to the cashier can be of great value in con
trolling the movement of money and can eliminate
the necessity for keeping separate records. If
suitable procedures governing the use of the slips
are devised, a further saving of the cashier's time
can be achieved.
iii. Collecting costs and keeping records of
delivered bills
Once a bill has been delivered, the collection of the
costs due becomes the responsibility of the cashier.
This is very necessary if the cashier is to exercise
complete control over the firm's accounting pro-
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