... S

1857

Jany. 28 POPE v. KING (By received of defendant's solicitors for copy plaintiff's costs

This account should be balanced (like that of Messrs. Jackson and Johnson) when sent in to the principal.

H

TAPPING (To bill sent, for admission
DITTO (To transferred to the account of Sir
Alexander Doughty, folio 7, fines received S

...

Sir Alexander Doughty, Bart....

MANOR OF ELLESMERE (Tapping) To paid
to your account at the Bank of England S

.Messrs. English, Corbet & Co....

TANNAHILL'S ESTATE (To paid Compton,}

accountant, for drawing out accounts
To amount of bills sent, for 1856

...

...

...

6

10

0

1

1

0

363

17 10

343

17 10

Jany. 30 TAPPING (By received fees on admission (By ditto fines...

Ditto

49

14

2

:

...

Cr.

Jany. 30 MANOR OF ELLESMERE (By received fines on admission of Mr. Thomas Tapping

Br.

LEDGER-Folio 8.

...Profit and Loss.......

1857

Jany. 31 To balance of "Miscellaneous" pay

9 0605

15

10

5821

2222

15 3 0

To depreciation in value of furniture,
&c. (see Cr. side of Balance Account)

*NOTE.-The sums entered in this account
as payments are only such as cannot
be included in bills of costs.
Such pay-
ments as stamps and parchment, which
are afterwards received back, on payment
of the bills in which they are included,
are not to be considered as "loss."
It will be found on investigation that, on
an extensive average, the payments for
stamps and parchment, &c. (exclusive
of large ad valorem duties,) in law sta-
tioners' bills, are rather more than half
the amount.

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 £739 168. 1d. (the amount of the receipts shown on the Cr. side), is partly composed of payments, the balance thereof (£566 4s. 7d) 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 5667. 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:

Deduct and set apart the 50% and 21. 2s. as being entirely profits

£ s. d. 739 16 1