Bill (account)

“ In 1862, the Legislature placed an item in the appropriation bill which still remains law. It provides that the Comptroller shall not draw his warrant, except for salaries and regular expenses, until the person entitled to the money shall present a detailed account, verified by affidavit as to services; and if for traveling expenses, a detailed account specifying the distance and places from and to which, and receipted vouchers for all disbursements. ”

“ Among practically all merchants it is a very common practice to bill goods to customers with settlement allowed on an optional basis. The goods may be billed “net,” i.e., the full amount shown in the invoice must be paid. Since there is a relationship between the time allowed for payment and the amount to be paid, most concerns have an established credit term, at the end of which they expect full settlement of the account, but, as an inducement for earlier payment, they offer a reduction in the amount to be paid. ”

“ A principal may have constant dealings with his agent or representative, making periodical payments on account or making remittances to be used as needed by the agent. The agent may make purchases for the account of his principal, paying the bill out of his own funds. He may use in his own transactions any surplus funds of the principal in his possession. An account showing transactions of these various kinds is an account current. The customers’ accounts in brokerage houses and the accounts between banks—banks and their correspondents—are other examples of accounts current. ”

“ I encourage all Americans to learn more about credit fraud, to read their credit reports carefully, to protect such personal information as their bank account, credit card, and Social Security numbers, and to know how to recognize the characteristics of fraudulent proposals. By using credit wisely and remaining alert to the possibility of credit fraud, we can better protect the well-being of our families and preserve our financial health and security. ”

“ Sir: To preclude any possible misunderstanding hereafter as to the character of the drawing account opened in your name, I am instructed by the Governors to communicate to you in writing that, in conformity with the rule of the Bank, the account is considered a personal one; that the Governors have admitted the words appended to your name merely as an honorary designation; and the bank take no cognizance of, or responsibility with reference to the real ownership, or intended application of the sums deposited to the credit of the account. ”

“ The principle of the account-book consists naturally in the book forming a real account with debit and credit—like all accounts in ordinary book keeping,—in which is inscribed in a way which would be regarded as valid, having legal force the sums corresponding to the transactions effected either by being written out at full length, with the signature, or by marking in figures, and indicating at the same time the personality of the party making the transaction, or by means of stamps as we have just seen, or finally by some other way. ”

“ Furthermore, the increase in contested arrears during this period requires that the United States have additional flexibility in obtaining a contested arrears account. While many of the UN reform benchmarks in the package remain acceptable, significant revisions are required, and I look forward to working with the Congress next year to secure the payment of our arrears and an achievable package of UN reforms. ”

“ Whatever a government agrees to receive in payment of the public dues is a medium of circulation; is money, current money, no matter what its form may be—treasury notes, drafts drawn at Washington, by the treasurer, on the receiver-general at New York, or, to use the language employed in various parts of this bill, ‘such notes, bills, or paper, issued under the authority of the United States.’ These various provisions were probably inserted not only to cover the case of treasury notes, but that of these drafts in due season. ”

“ Definitions applicable to institutions other than banks- With respect to any financial institution other than a bank, the Secretary shall, after consultation with the appropriate Federal functional regulators (as defined in section 509 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) , define by regulation the term `account', and shall include within the meaning of that term, to the extent, if any, that the Secretary deems appropriate, arrangements similar to payable-through and correspondent accounts. ”

“ That, in 1911, more than one in every ten persons in the United States—counting all men, women and children—possessed a bank account, the total amount of these accounts being no less than $4,212,584,000. ”

“ Formerly, when credit was a considerably less important factor than now in commercial transactions, book-keeping was frequently limited to an account of receipts and payments of money; and in early times, before money was in use, to an account of the receipt and issue of goods of different kinds. Even now what may be called the “cash system” of accounts is almost exclusively used by governments, local authorities, and charitable and other institutions ”

“ There must also be on each page of the day-book, four other columns ruled, two on the left side, next the amount of the debits, and two on the right side next the amount of the credits, for receiving the letter or mark of posting, and the page of the ledger to which each amount is to be posted. The alphabet need not be ruled at all, but must contain the name of every account in the ledger, the letter that is annexed to it as a mark of posting, and the page of the ledger. ”

“ Where several bank accounts are kept and a check register—in addition to the cash book—is used to keep record of the accounts with the various banks, it may happen that checks drawn on one bank are wrongly charged to another; that checks drawn, or deposits made one day, are not credited until the next; that certain drafts deposited with the bank for collection are not credited to the depositor’s account until collection is made, whereas the depositor debited the bank at the time of the deposit ”

“ Will a proposition be made to authorize the government to issue exchequer bills to the amount of the annual revenue, redeemable at pleasure, to constitute a circulating medium equivalent to the notes issued by the United States Bank? ”

“ Then comes the term bills of credit, without any reference of explanatory words; but as it necessarily relates to the payment of money, the word bill must be taken as a paper, containing some evidence that a certain sum is due, to the person to whom it was emitted or issued, or by whom it was held. It is a word of legal import, as well defined as any in the English language, according to the subject-matter to which it is applied. 'A bill is a common engagement for money given by one man to another ”

“ The forged paper was in these words and figures: “Cashier of the Bank of the United States, pay C. W. Earnest or order, five dollars. Office of discount and deposit in Pittsburg, 10th day of December, 1829. A. Brackenridge, Pres’t, J. Correy, Cash’r.” “Pay bearer, C. W. Earnest.” Held, that a genuine instrument of which the forged and counterfeited instrument is an imitation, is not a bill issued by order of the president of the Bank of the United States, according to the true intent and meaning of the 18th section of the act incorporating the bank. ”

“ As the degree of analysis increased, the futility of such a procedure became apparent and now posting to the ledger accounts is made directly from column totals as shown in the illustration. The Sundry Charges column is posted in [Pg 37] detail to the named accounts as indicated. Proof of distribution should always be secured by checking the total of the distributive column totals against the total of the Vouchers Payable column. In posting, the total of the Voucher Payable column is credited to its account, while the totals of the distributive columns are debited to their respective accounts. ”

“ But when the instrument is drawn upon a bank, or a person engaged in banking business, and simply directs the payment to a party named of a specified sum of money, which is at the time on deposit with the drawee, without designating a future day of payment, the instrument is to be treated as a check rather than as a bill of exchange, and the liability of parties thereto is to be determined accordingly. ”

“ Dividends declared, capital subscribed, investments of a special nature, or amount of assets of any kind, can all be kept from the knowledge of employes.
20. How Operated. Accounts in the private ledger must not conflict with accounts in general or personal ledgers, and the fact that private accounts are kept should not interfere with the balance of the general books. To insure against any such conflict, a private ledger controlling account is kept in the general ledger.
In the general cash book, and sometimes in the journal, debit and credit columns headed Private Ledger are provided. ”

“ A bill of itself does not operate as an assignment of the funds in the hands of the drawee available for its payment, nor is the drawee liable on a bill until he accepts or agrees to pay it. An inland bill is one drawn and payable within a state. Any other is a foreign bill.
An indorsed promissory note and an accepted bill are very much the same thing, and that is why the law always treats of both together. ”

“ Columnar Analysis of Cash Receipts and Disbursements.—As illustrated in the chapters on purchase and sales journals, additional money columns are often used for the purpose of analyzing the purchases and sales by departments or classes of commodities. A similar analysis of both the cash receipts and cash disbursements may aid in segregating certain classes of cash items and thus save labor in posting. Of cash receipts, two classes are usually more active than all others combined. More cash is received from cash sales and from customers on account than from any other source. ”

“ With each report of the auditor is a 'statement of differences,' purporting to show in what particulars the amount stated by the auditor differs from that rendered by the collector. It begins by setting down 'the balance due the United States per his account ending' at such date, and this balance is increased by the addition of such sums as the collector has taken credit for, but which the auditor has refused to allow. ”

“ In every business there are certain expense accounts to which charges are infrequent, not more than one charge a month, and in some cases one or two in a year. Examples of these accounts are insurance, taxes, rent, etc. To add columns to an already large voucher register for the accommodation of these few items is impractical, hence the Sundries column is provided for charges to accounts [286] for which special columns are not provided. Space is allowed for entering the names of the accounts, and each item is posted direct to the ledger account.
Fig. 10
Fig. ”

“ To revert to our purchase record sheets: there is no necessity for noting thereon the amount paid on each invoice or the discount on same, as is sometimes done. This information will be shown in the cash book, and data should not be repeated unnecessarily. The remaining two columns (Balances) are used only when closing the books. Whenever this is done, the balance on each order is brought out to the proper column, the amount we owe being entered in the credit side of this column, and the amount due us being entered on the debit side. ”

“ The extent of a man's actual sales forms some limit to the amount of his real notes; and as it is highly desirable in commerce that credit should be dealt out to all persons in some sort of regular and due proportion, the measure of a man's actual sales, certified by the appearance of his bills drawn in virtue of those sales, is some rule in the case, though a very imperfect one in many respects.
"A fictitious bill, or bill of accommodation, is evidently in substance the same as any common promissory note ”

“ No such power exists; neither the man who holds the real bill, nor the man who discounts it, has any property in the specific goods for which it was given: he as much trusts to the general ability to pay of the giver of the bill, as the holder of any fictitious bill does. The fictitious bill may, in many cases, be a bill given by a person having a large and known capital, a part of which the fictitious bill may be said in that case to represent. ”

“ Accounts are kept both with persons, as the accounts receivable and payable already mentioned, and with things, such as land, buildings, machinery, merchandise, cash, and the like. Some asset accounts and some accounts kept with persons are usually composed of both similar and dissimilar items. For example, the cash account is composed of both cash received and cash paid out items; the accounts receivable record both the items for which the person is in debt to the business and those which show the cancellation or settlement of the debt, in part or in full ”

“ A's bill would have been taken in payment only by those who were acquainted with his reputation for solvency, but a banker is a person who has credit with the public generally, and whose notes are taken in payment by every one, at least in his own neighbourhood: insomuch that, by a custom which has grown into law, payment in bank notes is a complete acquittance to the payer, whereas if he has paid by a bill, he still remains liable to the debt, if the person on whom the bill is drawn fails to pay it when due. ”

“ On the contrary, the holder in such a case takes it subject to no equities of which he has not, at the time, notice; for a check is not treated as overdue merely because it has not been presented as early as it might be, or as a bill of exchange is required to be, to charge the drawer or indorser or transferrer. ”