Forging Ahead in Business Part 10

As business becomes more complex we are more and more dependent upon accounting methods to show us the trend of the individual business in which we are interested.

Hence a knowledge of accounting principles is indispensable. Yet, even among experienced bookkeepers, comparatively few have a clear understanding of the principles which underlie all correct methods of keeping financial records.

This section of the Course, therefore, starts with a clear explanation of the fundamental principles of bookkeeping, and progresses step by step until it reaches the most complicated cases of partnership and corporation accounting.

Within recent years the great importance of proper accounting methods in the conduct of business has come to be fully recognized.

This section of the Course should enable any executive or accountant to determine what accounting methods are best adapted to his own line of business.

CREDIT AND COLLECTIONS

_Mercantile credit_ _Book credit_ _Doc.u.mentary credit_ _Granting credit--personal considerations_ _Granting credit--business considerations_ _Sources of credit information_ _Cooperative methods in credit investigation_ _a.n.a.lysis of credit information_ _The credit man_ _Credit management_ _Collecting the money due_ _The collection manager and his work_ _Principles underlying collection effort_ _Collecting on a friendly basis_ _Unfriendly stages of collection_ _Credit protection_ _Bankruptcy_ _The role of the credit department in developing business_

When a bill of goods is sold, the transaction is by no means complete--that is, if the sale is on credit. The purchaser must pay the bill. But some purchasers cannot pay, others will not; therefore caution must be exercised in granting credit, and pressure brought to bear in obtaining payment.

Often seekers after credit are foolishly offended at the questions they must answer. They do not realize how personal is the favor they are asking, nor do they usually understand the combination of factors which the credit man must consider.

These factors range all the way from personal habits of the applicant to a survey of general business conditions.

There is a well-organized machinery for gathering credit information both in this country and abroad. This machinery, however, should be supplemented by the personal observation of the salesmen, many of whom now fail to cooperate in the right spirit with the credit manager.

The credit operation is incomplete till the goods are paid for; collections are the complement of credit granting, and they receive an extended treatment in the Text. As a last resource, the law may be resorted to, as is evident in the treatment of credit protection and bankruptcy.

The possibilities of the credit department as an agency in building up business, which have not always been understood, are set forth in the concluding chapter.

BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE

_Letters that get action_ _Seeing through the reader's eyes_ _The spirit of the letter_ _The proposition in the letter_ _The proposition a.n.a.lyzed_ _Fundamentals of the presentation_ _The aid of formula in presentation_ _Applying formulas to the presentation_ _Routine and individual letters_ _Adjusting complaints by letter_ _Credit letters_ _Collection letters_ _Working the mailing list_ _Planning the letter_ _Writing the letter_ _Mechanical form_ _Getting the most out of words_

Nearly all of us are constantly receiving and sending letters, and we know in our experience the common types--the nasty letter, the sloppy letter, the cold-as-an-iceberg letter, and, on the other hand, the direct yet cordial letter which makes us feel as if we had gripped a friendly hand.

The profit-making influence of good correspondence can hardly be overestimated.

A good sales letter may be the means of getting thousands of dollars'

worth of business; a poor adjustment letter may be the cause of losing a worth-while customer.

To a large extent business must be carried on by means of letters, and there are few subjects of more vital importance to the business man than business correspondence.

Business letters always have a direct purpose in view and there are certain underlying principles which should be observed in all business letters, whatever their particular purpose. But these letters serve many different purposes, and some of the prominent types and their characteristics are treated.

Especial attention is given to sales correspondence, which forms a most important branch of business correspondence.

COST FINDING

_The importance of cost finding_ _Problems of cost finding_ _Identification of costs_ _Issuing and evaluating material_ _Evaluation of labor costs_ _Expense or burden_ _Depreciation_ _Distribution of factory expense_ _Production centers and the supplementary rate_ _Effect of volume of work on expense distribution_ _Other features of expense distribution_ _Distribution of administrative expense--resume_ _a.s.sembling and recording costs_ _a.n.a.lysis and reduction of costs_ _Predetermination of costs--materials and labor_ _Predetermination of costs--expense_ _Application of cost finding methods_

Of late years, and as a direct result of growing compet.i.tion in all branches of industrial enterprise, the subject of cost is receiving increased attention.

Every year sees hundreds of progressive concerns adopting methods designed to ascertain the real cost of producing and selling goods and of managing a business enterprise.

Manufacturers are no longer satisfied with merely making a profit. They want to know what lines are paying and what lines are not--not in a general way, but specifically in actual figures. They want to know which departments are producing economically and which are not.

In this part of the Course, the various methods of keeping track of costs are described and ill.u.s.trated. Particular attention is given to the mixed question of allotting general factory expense or burden.

The possibilities of predicting costs are fully discussed and the significance of this development of cost finding methods is fully impressed upon the reader.

The problem of costs is one of the widest application in business management and its significance in different lines of business is pointed out.

ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

_The purpose of the campaign_ _a.n.a.lysis of demand and compet.i.tion_ _The advertising appropriation_ _Methods of identification_ _The advertising department_ _The advertising agency_ _Advertising media_ _Weighing circulation_ _Weighing prestige_ _Letters and direct advertising_ _Sampling_ _How periodicals are used_ _The use of signs_ _Campaigns to obtain distribution_ _Campaigns to obtain dealer cooperation_ _Mail-order campaigns_ _Public sentiment campaigns_ _The trader's campaign_ _The campaign as a whole_

In the Modern Business Course and Service the study of advertising is divided into three parts. First, in Marketing Methods there is a complete presentation of the plan behind the campaign--of the things that have to be considered by anyone who has anything to sell, before he sends out salesmen or prepares advertising.

The section of Advertising Principles shows what advertising can do for business, guides one in choosing the right advertising appeal, and treats of the technique of advertising, writing the copy, preparing the ill.u.s.trations, and getting the advertis.e.m.e.nt before the public.

There is much more to advertising, however, than the making of a preliminary study of the writing of advertis.e.m.e.nts.

The advertiser has to consider problems of organization, methods of identifying his goods, his relation with agencies, the selection of media, distribution, dealer cooperation, and a host of other things, all of which have an important part in the complete campaign.

This section deals with the many essential parts of an advertising campaign which have not been considered in preceding sections of the Modern Business Course. It gathers together all the diverse considerations of the advertiser, shows their relation one to another, and binds them into a unified whole.

CORPORATION FINANCE

_The corporation; a preliminary sketch_ _Capital of the corporation_ _Capital stock_ _Stock not paid in cash_ _Trade credit and bank loans_ _Short-term loans_ _Mortgage bonds_ _Collateral trust bonds_ _Bonds secured by leases_ _Miscellaneous bonds and preferred stock_ _Amortization of bonds_ _Capitalization_ _Investment and maintenance of capital_ _Income, dividends and surplus_ _Promoting the new enterprise_ _Promoting consolidations_ _Selling stocks and bonds_ _Financing the small company_ _Financing reorganizations_

The advantages of the corporation have made it the most popular form of financial organization, and nearly all business men are now interested in one way or another in the formation or management of corporations, or in the buying and selling of the stock and securities of corporations.

The stability of practically every business concern depends in a very large measure upon the keenness of judgment used in its financial management.

This section of the Course enables one to think along financial lines with accuracy and decision. The methods by which corporations are promoted and financed are fully described, and the principles that underlie successful corporate management are stated.

The different kinds of bonds, such as mortgage bonds, collateral trust bonds, bonds secured by leases, etc., are explained and the methods of selling them discussed.

There are sections on capital and its maintenance and a full discussion of income, dividends and surplus that will be of value to the executive and to the investor.

In the last three chapters the application of the principles of corporation finance to the small company is fully described.

TRANSPORTATION

_The railroads and the shipping public_ _The Government takes the railroads_ _Government reorganization of railroads_ _Railroad rates_ _Cla.s.sifications_ _Rates in Official Cla.s.sification and Southeastern Territory_ _Transcontinental rates and the Panama Ca.n.a.l_ _Export and import rates_ _Special services and charges_ _Terminal services and charges in New York_ _Express and parcel post_ _The Transportation Act_ _Inland water transportation_