By received sum due from Messrs. W. ? and A. Sinclair Hoggins' executors, sum due 1857 Jany 28 LAZELL & JOYCE (By received sum due by? ... ... ... ... ...S 1857 .................. Contra....... ......... Jany. 31 By cash on account ... ... ... account 25 This account should be balanced (like that of Messrs. Jackson and Johnson) when sent in to the principal. LEDGER-Folio 7. Br......... William Douglas, Esq....... England to the account of the Accountant- The above-mentioned payments, with the exception of the sum paid for furniture (as stated folio 1 of Ledger), may be considered to have been made in respect of business for which the bills are not yet received, and, therefore, the whole of the ascertained profits in the sums received, as on the Cr. side, may properly be drawn out, or, say, an even sum, £500, as above. See also note on Cr. side. NOTE.— With solicitors, generally, Profit and Loss and Balance Accounts, are seldom resorted to. If, however, their accounts be otherwise well kept, the “Weekly Statements," shown in the Petty Cash Book, would go far to form, in their effect, a sufficient substitute for the Profit and Loss and Balance Accounts. Although the sum of £739 16s. ld. (the amount of the receipts shown on the Cr. side), is partly composed of payments, the balance thereof (£566 4s. 70 ) may be considered as profits, inasmuch as the capital used in the business may be elsewhere accounted for, viz., in the balance at the Bankers and in payments included in bills not yet received. These statements will be more easily understood by supposing the business to have been carried on for a year, instead of a month. NOTE-Although the whole balance 5661, 4s. 7d., may safely be drawn, yet that sum is not entirely composed of profits. One-third of solicitors' bills, on an average, is made up of payments, those payments being made out of capital. The profits in the above sums received would, therefore, be arrived at as follows: £ 8. d. From the whole amount 739 16 1 Deduct and set apart the 50% and 21. 2s. as being entirely profits ... 52 20 687 14 1 229 48 Payments, one-third... ... ... ... .. . .. See, however, page 76. H |