MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT RECORDS
30. In every business enterprise there should be kept a record that will give a full and complete history of every machine or other article of permanent equipment. There are many ways in which such a record will prove valuable.
Not infrequently a new part will be needed for a machine which has been in use for several years. There may be no mark on the machine showing the name of the manufacturer; perhaps no one remembers from whom it was purchased. The result is a frenzied search through books and files—confusion—a vexing delay—all for the want of proper records.
LATHE DEPARTMENT IN THE PLANT OF THE BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE CO., DETROIT, MICH.
Or, there is a fire, resulting in the loss of a machine costing $3,000.00 that has been in use two years. The adjuster figures depreciation at, say, 10% a year, or $600.00. There is no record showing that it cost $400.00 additional to install the machine, or that repairs have been put on it to maintain its efficiency. At least the depreciation should be figured on a basis of $3,400.00, the real cost of the machine.
A proper record would show the original cost, the amount expended for repairs and additions, and the amount charged off for depreciation. Such a record should be kept, but no special form is required. The machine inventory form, Fig. 15, answers the purpose. For the more important machinery, one of these sheets should be used for each machine. These sheets constitute a machinery and equipment ledger, controlled by the machinery and equipment accounts in the general or special ledger. Thus the connection between these records and the general accounting system is maintained.