Excerpt from System of Operating Accounts for Hardware Retailers: Explanation of the Profit and Loss Statement The purpose of this bulletin is to define the accounting terms used in retail hardware stores. There has been great varia tion in the meanings given by different retailers to accounting terms in common use. Hence a uniform accounting system, with standard definitions that will Show just what is meant by gross profit, selling expense, and each of the other items is essential if reliable figures are to be collected and if hardware retailers are to be able to compare their own results intelligently with the Bureau's summaries. The individual retailer's cost accounting-system enables him to compare his expenses of a recent period with those of an earlier period. Although the conditions are different, he can see the changes which his own expenses are undergoing. Additional guidance in managing his business is secured, if he can detect chronic weak spots, the points at which his business is behind the average standard. By using a system that is standard in the trade, he is alle to compare his ex penses with the expenses. Of other hardware retailers doing a business similar to his own, for the same period of time' under' like conditions. Such comparisons will enable him to learn when any expense is above the average, and thus direct. His attention to the opportunities for economy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.