CHECK REGISTER
34. Most brokers have accounts with several banks; it is therefore necessary that a check register be kept with each bank, showing the date, number, to whom issued, amount of each check drawn, the deposits, and the daily balance, as in Fig. 18.
Fig. 17. General Journal in Which All Orders are Entered
By using this register the account with each bank may be kept separately, and the necessity for filling out stubs in a check book entirely avoided. Many houses have given up the use of check books altogether, having their checks padded in numerical sequence and as the numbers follow consecutively on the check register, each numbered check must be accounted for. In case a check is spoiled, the line should be voided in red ink, and the spoiled check filed with returned checks.
In case the office cash carries an account for itself from which checks are made, a separate check register should be kept for this account, as its balance does not enter into the general cash balance of the firm.
Fig. 18. Check Register Showing Condition of Bank Account
In no just sense can a broker be held to be the owner of shares of stock which he purchases and carries for a customer, and it is a breach of trust to use this collateral to his own advantage. The certificate of shares of stock is not considered, according to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, property itself; it is but the evidence of the property in the shares.
To sum up, the accounting work in connection with the brokerage business is in taking care of the orders received from customers, being sure that they are correctly interpreted and promptly filled, noting the loans necessary to complete the contract, keeping a careful record of commissions and interest due the house, being watchful in regard to the margins of customers, and arranging all accounts with customers so that they may be kept up to date and instantly available.