Author Description

Excerpt from Factory Administration and Accounts: A Book of Reference With Tables and Specimen Forms, for Managers, Engineers and AccountantsThe aim of this work is to present an analytical study of the problems pertaining to factory administration and accounts as a whole, in such a way as to be understandable alike by the business man, the accountant and the engineer. Previously the subject of management, more particularly works management, has been written of as being apart from works accounts, in any full sense, and especially from financial accounts. The present comprehensive treatment has necessitated virtually two books in one, and special attention has therefore been given to condensation in tabular form, wherever possible. Further, to bring this within practical reach it has been necessary to consider more specifically the class of factories or works engaged in the engineering and machine making industries.In attempting to set out the problems that necessarily arise in administration, the author has sought to elucidate principles rather than to enlarge on the particular methods of any one firm, which must necessarily be governed by special conditions, and in many details, reflect the peculiarities of staff arrangements.Touching the problem of analysis, there has seemed no alternative to referring to some items under a number of heads. This has increased the responsibilities attaching to the index, but has made for more complete discussion under the respective heads or sections.The work as a whole may hardly be said to reduce administration to a science, but it is intended as a demonstration both of the desirability and feasibility of a critical treatment of every routine essential to the well-being of a factory. As to what routine is essential to efficiency in any given case depends on local conditions rather than local opinion. The size of any Works does not regulate the relative size of all its problems as compared with larger Works, and it seems fundament