Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 05 (of 10)

by American School of Correspondence

LOOSE-LEAF SALES SHEETS AND INVOICES

This style of billing was the first variation from the plan of using copying ink, or pencil, on invoices and then transferring the ink to tissue paper books, by wetting the leaves with water and then absorbing the surplus water with paper blotters. Or this was done by placing damp cloths on the under side of the leaf and covering it with a leaf, placing the invoice downward on the tissue leaf, closing the book, and placing it in a copying press. The ink from the invoice was sufficiently transferred to the tissue paper to make an impression thereon.

Fig. 6. Old-Style Sales Book. Underwood Typewriter Co.

If the person who did the copying did not use due care, the paper would be too wet and the ink would run and blur the copy and the invoice. If two invoices were accidently picked up by the person copying, the top invoice would not be copied on the tissue sheet. This is a most serious objection, for the reason that the copy in the tissue was used as record of the invoice for the purpose of posting into the ledger.

Another difficulty was the usual one experienced through the use of bound books in office work. Only one person can use a book at one time. If Fayette Henry, the accountant, was using the tissue-copy book, and Dave Pike, the order clerk, wanted to use it to see if all invoices had been copied by the office boy, he had to wait on Fayette Henry. The loose-leaf sales sheet shown in Fig. 7, with the pages serially numbered and placed in proper binders after each sheet has been filed, overcomes all of the difficulties mentioned—with many additional benefits.

Fig. 7. Loose-Leaf Sales Sheet and Invoices. No Ruling on Sales Sheet. Remington Typewriter Co.

The loose-leaf sales sheet and invoice were first used with the flat-bed billing machine, the sales sheet being held in position by being placed over studs (round metal posts), which fitted into the punched holes in the edge of the paper. These punched holes were used ultimately for fitting over the metal binder posts in the loose-leaf binders. The invoices were wider than the regular-size invoice and were perforated about 1 inch or 1½ inches from the left side, as shown in Fig. 8. To the left of the perforated edge were two small holes about 2¾ inches apart, which fitted over two small studs on a sliding bill-holder device. This plan provided a means of holding the large sheet and invoice in proper relation to each other. A piece of carbon paper the same size as the sales sheet was placed between the invoice and the sales sheet. This ruling of the sales sheet is shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 8. Invoice for Use on Billing Machine

When an invoice was written on the billing machine, it was manifolded on the sales sheet beneath. When the invoice was finished it was ready to mail—no delay in copying invoices, no blurred invoices through careless copying. No fading of the manifolded copy where black carbon paper was used. Inks are not made of indestructible carbons as black carbon paper is made. A condensed billing or invoicing loose-leaf sales book for this purpose is shown in Fig. 10.

The following are some of the many good features of the condensed system, as it is in use to-day, briefly stated:

Fig. 9. Loose-Leaf Sales Sheet

Bill and entry in sales book are obtained at one operation.

Entries upon sales book agree absolutely with bill rendered.

The bill clerk becomes bill and entry clerk combined.

There is no danger of a bill being rendered without the proper charge being made.

Entries under this system occupy but one-fourth the space required for those written with the pen.

There is no waste space upon sales sheet.

Both sides of the sales sheet may be utilized.

The saving in vault space alone is worthy of special consideration.

Fig. 10. Condensed Billing or Invoicing Loose-Leaf Sales Book.
Underwood Typewriter Co.

In recent years, the typewriter companies have placed devices on their typewriters which permit of the sales sheet being held independently of the invoices. This permits one to hold the large sales sheet in the machine until enough invoices have been manifolded thereon to cover the page, at which time the sales sheet is reversed. The invoices can be placed in the machine and removed therefrom after being written, without interfering with the sales sheet. No extra width of invoice is required, which permits of old stationery being used in the form of invoices. The flat-bed machines can use old stationery, but not quite so well. However, when billing by machinery, it is false economy to use stationery designed for pen work. The reasons for this will be touched upon later.

The use of two ledgers necessitates the use of two columns at the right side of the page. All names from A to L are placed in the first column; all names from M to Z are placed in the second. For instance, an invoice reading as shown in the sales journal, Fig. 11, illustrates the idea of writing the totals in the two columns at the right side of sheet according to the initials of the last name of the firm or the individual, as the respective ledgers are arranged in that manner. If at the end of the month the first column shows a total of $3,000.00 the bookkeeper knows that he has posted that amount into Ledger A-L, etc.

The above plan enables the bookkeeper to add separately the totals which are posted to the respective ledgers. The desire to separate the charges to a country ledger and a city ledger can be accomplished by using two columns in the same way.

The desire to place all credit memoranda in the sales book can be accomplished by using two columns in the sales book as noted above. The first column is used for the charges, and the second one for entering the credits. One difficulty arises in connection with this plan. Credits are liable to be entered in the debit column. To obviate this, the invoices are made just wide enough to reach over the first column, the credit memoranda are made wider to reach over the last column. When an amount is written in the last column of the invoice, it manifolds in the proper column of the sales sheet. The same is true of an amount written in the last column of a credit memo.

This subdivision of columns is carried a step further to permit of the analyzation of sales in several ways.

According to classes of goods, as follows:

LAMSON FOUR-INCH PNEUMATIC TUBE ORDER CARRYING SYSTEM FOR A LARGE WHOLESALE ESTABLISHMENT OR A FACTORY
Lamson Consolidated Store Service Co.

Fig. 11. Sales Journal Arranged for Distribution to Two Ledgers

According to territory, as follows:

According to salesmen, as follows:

To separate the sale of regular goods from goods which are being sold on consignment, as follows:

Generally the invoice is wide enough to reach over the total column only, as shown in Fig. 12. Therefore, a total amount written in the total column of the invoice will manifold onto the sales sheet, and in the column marked Total.

A wide-carriage billing machine, if used, can be adjusted with tabulator stops to jump to any column desired. The total amount is then written therein a second time. The amount of the total column should always equal the total of all the columns placed to the right of the total column. This plan eliminates the old way of waiting until the end of the month, and then laboriously going over the sales book with one total column only, and picking out the various items according to the classification wanted.

Fig. 12. Loose-Leaf Sales Sheet and Invoices with Columns for Distribution of Labor and Stock

The work should be planned in a manner which permits of each day's work being finished each day—leaving nothing to accumulate until the end of the month, necessitating the retracing of steps to secure certain statistical information.

In certain lines of business it is desirable to make two sales sheets, one of which is retained in a binder for an office record and the other is used for various purposes. It can be used as record of sales from a branch to a home office, each page being numbered in duplicate, and of a distinctive color. This is the plan used all over the world by the Standard Oil Company. As the sales sheets arrive at the home office, they are placed in their respective binders and are gradually made into a built-up book. The loss of a sheet would be instantly detected by the missing page number.

A large French perfumery firm in New York pursues this plan, and sends to Paris the duplicate sales sheet on thin paper. It gives the home office a fine record of every invoice sent out to any customer by the branch office or warehouse. As several invoices can be manifolded on each page, and on both sides of the sheet, it is the most economical method of billing as far as stationery is involved. The name condensed billing indicates this fact.

In other instances, the duplicate sales sheet is wide enough only to allow quantity and description of goods to be manifolded thereon, prices and extensions not showing. This narrow sheet can be used for posting to the stock records without disclosing to that department the prices at which the particular goods have been sold. This form of the sales sheet is shown in Fig 13.

Duplicate Invoices. There are many reasons, in various lines, why duplicate invoices are desirable and even necessary. Some customers request invoices rendered in duplicate with one copy complete, the other minus the prices and extensions. To accomplish this, it is either necessary to place a piece of paper between the carbon and duplicate invoice in such a manner that the prices and extensions will not copy, or to use a short invoice cut off at the left of the price column, or to use a short piece of carbon paper between the original and second, or duplicate, invoice.

It is desirable to make extra copies of invoices or duplicates for the use of various departments of a business, for instance, analysis of sales by salesmen. Where a company employs a large number of salesmen, it is very convenient to file in binders a duplicate copy of all invoices sold by each salesman, using a binder for each salesman. This is preferable to having separate columns in the sales book (sales sheets in binders). The latter method permits each salesman to see what every other salesman is doing.

Fig. 13. Sales Sheet for Condensed Billing

Department Records. A separate binder allows each man to consult his record without inconvenience to any other one. In large companies having a traffic department, it is necessary to provide a duplicate copy of each invoice for the record, showing complete details of every charge.

A distinction should be made between those firms who make their invoices before the goods are shipped, and those who make the invoices after the goods have been shipped. In the cloak business, for instance, the goods are generally billed before the goods are shipped, the invoice being placed in an envelope and packed with the goods.

Ofttimes the goods are manufactured in proper quantities, properly checked from the order to the packers' table, and then packed improperly—some customer receiving too many garments, another, too few. Yet the order will be properly checked. To obviate this difficulty, a scheme was devised whereby the packer received a duplicate typewritten copy of the bill (or invoice) showing everything but the quantities. This makes it necessary for the packer to count all the garments and mark down in pencil on this copy of the bill the quantity of each style and kind to be shipped. Before the goods are shipped, the packer's copy of the invoice, with his quantities marked in lead pencil, is compared with the quantities charged on the sales sheet. This scheme forces the packer to count all garments instead of double checking someone else's figures in an absent-minded, or even neglectful, way.

This is accomplished by placing a narrow strip of paper over the quantity column of the duplicate invoice, but under the carbon paper. The quantity figures manifold onto the strip of paper instead of onto the duplicate invoice. This plan is termed using a blind. The narrow strip of paper between the invoice and duplicate is the blind described a little further on.

The next step in short cutting work is the printing of a label in connection with the invoice and sales sheet. In the book business, where it is generally possible to fill orders from stock, and where the invoice can be made before the goods are shipped, it is possible to place a small piece of paper (the label) between a folded invoice in such a manner that when the name is written on the invoice it manifolds onto the label as well as onto the duplicate invoice and sales sheet.

Analysis of Quantities and Amounts. In certain lines of business which sell three or four varieties of goods, it is desirable to analyze the weights or quantities in the proper columns, which in turn manifold onto the sales sheets, as shown in Fig. 14.

Fig. 14. Sales Sheet for Analyzing Quantities and Amounts of Goods

This saves a great deal of time as compared with making out the same invoice in the following way:

3000 # Brass Rods	@20 $60.00
2500 # Brass Bars	@21 $52.50
1000 # Zinc Bars	@15 $15.00

By following the first plan, all of the weights for the respective classes of goods will be manifolded into the proper columns, and it is therefore an easy matter to total each column, and at the end of the month the classification of sales will be totaled according to weights as well as according to dollars and cents. The invoice is ruled to match the sales sheet.

Information on Sales Sheet Not on Invoice. In certain lines of business, such as wire-screen manufacture, it is desirable at times to substitute the next size of wire in order to fill orders promptly. In such cases, it is necessary to have the invoice show the size of wire ordered, but to have the sales sheet show the size really sent. It would seem impossible therefore to write No. 8 wire on the invoice and have No. 9 wire manifold on the sales sheet.

The idea used to accomplish the desired result is to place the invoice in such a position with relation to the sales sheet that a margin is left on the left-hand side of the sales sheet, which would permit the operator typewriting directly on the sales sheet, and placing thereon the actual size of the wire shipped. The size ordered would be written on the invoice in the regular manner, and of course would manifold onto the sales sheet.

There are other cases where it is desirable to use this idea. For instance, wholesale dry goods firms when purchasing dry goods from eastern manufacturers request the latter when billing to use lot numbers furnished by the purchaser. It is also necessary for the manufacturers to bill the goods according to their own lot numbers. Hence it becomes necessary to have both the customer's lot number and their own on the sales sheet. This is accomplished by writing their own lot numbers directly upon the sales sheets at the left of the invoice and then making the invoice out in the regular way. This idea carries out the customer's wishes, and always gives a comparison of lot numbers to the manufacturers on their sales sheets. Flat-bed machines require wider invoice, Fig. 15.

Goods Purchased Outside. It is possible to make a short cut in some lines of business where the goods sold are not kept in stock but are purchased from other firms in the same city. When placing the invoice in the billing machine over the sales sheet, requisition blanks in duplicate or triplicate can also be placed in the machine with the invoice, and the items which have to be ordered outside written first on the invoice. When all of these items have been entered on the invoice, the requisition blanks may be removed, and the invoice and sales sheet left in the billing machine, putting the remaining items which are to be shipped and charged on the invoice (sales sheet). This occurs where orders can be shipped complete.

This plan can also be used when writing up the order, where the billing is done after the goods are shipped. It is to be remembered that there is a great distinction to be made in handling the billing work of firms who are able to fill their own orders complete, as contrasted with those firms who have to wait until goods are shipped in order to determine which items to bill. Some firms who always carry a complete stock are able to make up an invoice and order blank, a label for the express package, and a charge on sales sheet, simultaneously, because they know that they can ship every item called for, and consequently do not have to wait to see what items are shipped before billing them.

Fig. 15. Form to Provide on Sales Sheet Information not on Invoice

Unit Billing. The unit idea in billing has grown considerably in the last few years, notwithstanding that the size of the bills have to be uniform, and as large an invoice has to be used for one item as for a large bill. Many firms prefer the unit idea to the condensed sales sheet idea.

This is due chiefly to the elasticity of the scheme. The duplicate, triplicate, or quadruplicate of the invoice can be sorted in any desirable way. It is especially convenient for bookkeepers to sort duplicates of the invoices alphabetically, and save a great deal of time in posting to loose-leaf ledgers arranged alphabetically, in the same manner. (In mentioning loose-leaf ledgers, card-ledgers are always included, as the same principles are applied to one as to the other, as far as accounting methods are concerned.) It is easier to handle unit billing forms on the typewriters with billing attachments, which is an added reason that many firms prefer to use them. Some of these forms are shown in Fig. 16.

Another idea to be recommended is the color scheme, whereby each copy of the invoice is manifolded onto a different-colored piece of paper. In sorting the various copies for different departments, different colors will greatly facilitate the recognition of various sheets, and the uses or departments for which each is intended.