PAY-ROLL RECORDS
28. The designing of pay-roll records to meet the special conditions in the great variety of manufacturing industries, offers a wide field for the ingenuity of the bookkeeper or accountant. Where all employes are paid a stated wage and their employment in one department is continuous, the problem is a simple one, resolving itself into a mere record of the number of hours worked each day, the rate, and the amount due. But this condition seldom exists.
In most industries more complex problems are encountered. The same employe may be called upon to work in more than one department during a pay-roll period, or he may do several different kinds of work in the same department. In either case the form for the record must be so constructed as to furnish complete information relative to the cost of the different classes of work. Elaborate systems for gathering records of time on each detail of the work are employed in most modern factories, and the pay-roll record or time book is arranged for a consolidation of these detailed records.
Fig. 26 illustrates a form used in one factory for a distribution of time records where men are employed on different kinds of work in different departments, and on both day wage and piece work plans. In this form provision is made for the record in each department, and each day's record is divided between time and piece work. Several lines are set aside for each employe, so that the record will be complete for each kind of work. At the extreme right, department totals are extended. These are quickly calculated for the reason that while an employe may do different kinds of work and in different departments the same operation is not performed in more than one department. To provide for records of more kinds of work this principle can be carried still farther by allowing more space for each employe, and in some cases a full sheet is assigned for each. In one factory the pay-roll book is loose leaf, one sheet being used for each employe. Each side of the sheet holds the record for two weeks, and by using both sides, it gives a complete record for four pay-roll periods.
29. Combined Pay-Roll and Check Register. Many industries pay their employes by means of checks instead of in currency. Special pay checks are used which merchants willingly cash as an accommodation to their customers. Whenever the check system of payments is adopted it is best to carry a special bank account for the purpose. When the amount of the pay-roll is determined, a check should be drawn on the regular bank account and deposited in a special fund against which the pay checks will be drawn.
Fig. 27 shows a form, designed for the use of a concern paying by check, which combines a check register with the pay-roll record. Since all checks drawn against this special fund are pay checks, this register gives a complete record of the special bank account.
Fig. 27. Combined Pay-Roll and Check Register
A TYPICAL GRAIN ELEVATOR IN CHICAGO HARBOR, WITH A MODERN FREIGHTER READY FOR LOADING