no each dividend; but it is, as a rule, better to transfer to a separate bank account the sum required to pay all the dividends declared, and for the dividend cheques to be drawn from this account. In the somewhat exceptional case of a dividend being declared "free of income-tax" deduction for income-tax must of course be made; but a dividend cannot be legally declared "free of income-tax" if holders of a class of shares. more deferred would be prejudiced thereby. For example, income-tax must always be deducted from debenture interest, or all the shareholders are prejudiced. Income-tax must be deducted from preference dividends when the full amount of such dividends is paid, or the ordinary shareholders are prejudiced; and income-tax must even be deducted from ordinary dividends if the surplus profits, after payment of a prescribed dividend to holders of ordinary shares, may be allocated to members of any other class. If the rate of income-tax has been altered during the period under review, the amount to be deducted must be apportioned according to the number of days prior to (and including) the 5th of April on the one hand and the number of days after the 5th of April on the other hand, included in the period covered by the accounts in respect of which the dividend is paid. If the Articles of Association give the directors the necessary power, the Board may, by a resolution to that effect, pay an interim dividend, which must be treated as a payment on account for the year; but no dividend other than an interim dividend can be paid without the sanction of the company in general meeting, although many Articles of Association limit the powers of the shareholders by stipulating that the company in general meeting may not declare a dividend larger than that recommended by the directors. The above somewhat exhaustive recital of the duties of the secretary of a company registered under the Companies Acts will, so far as it goes, apply to the duties of secretaries of companies otherwise incorporated. In matters of detail the position will, of course, be modified by the statutory enactments regulating these particular undertakings; it is not, however, thought necessary to deal with these modifications in detail. With regard to the duties of secretaries of other institutions, such as clubs, charitable societies, and the like, what has already been said will give a sufficient indication of the general outline of the position, and inasmuch as there are no special statutory regulations to be taken into consideration the problem is of course considerably simplified. In conclusion, it may be added that while the position of the secretary is in all cases one of no little difficulty, in that while formally having but little authority and legally but little responsibility, he is in practice usually held responsible for the success of the whole undertaking. These difficulties, like many others of a similar character, exist, however, more in theory than in practice, and may easily be successfully combated by a judicious exercise of tact, combined, of course, with those most necessary qualifications, knowledge and experience. LAWRENCE R. DICKSEE. Seigniorage. See MINT, vol. v. p. 63. p. 319. Septennial Prescription. See PRESCRIPTION, vol. v. Sequestration. See BANKRUPTCY (SCOTLAND), vol. i. p. 335. Settlement Estate Duty. See DEATH DUTIES, vol. ii. p. 323. Share Warrants.-Under Section 27 of the Companies Act 1867, a company limited by shares, if authorised by its regulations, may, either with respect to any share which is fully paid up or with respect to stock, issue a warrant stating that the bearer is entitled to the shares or stock mentioned in the warrant. The share warrant entitles the holder to the shares or stock specified in it, and such shares may be transferred by delivery of the warrant. Particulars of share warrants issued must be contained in the Annual Summary. The stamp duty on warrants is an amount equal to three times the amount of the ad valorem stamp duty which would be chargeable on a deed transferring the share or shares or stock specified in the warrant, if the consideration for the transfer were the nominal value of such share or shares or stock. Shipbuilders' Accounts. The operations of a modern shipbuilder are of a very complex nature, and a shipyard comprises within itself a number of independent trades; pattern-makers, moulders, blacksmiths, machinists, millwrights, shipwrights, platers and rivetters, fitters, joiners, cabinetmakers, painters, boat-builders, etc. In the larger yards it is an ordinary practice to build the engines and boilers for the ships constructed in the yard, and in some instances to construct the electrical and hydraulic machinery necessary for operating the larger types of vessels. In order that such an establishment may be economically worked, it is necessary to ascertain the cost of each trade, and the expenditure on each item of work on which they are severally employed, as well as the total cost of each contract passing through the yard. The ordinary books of a firm would become too involved for practical commercial use if they were employed for this purpose, and it is therefore needful to supplement them by detailed cost accounts, but as the results of the two sets of account should agree in the aggregate, it is desirable that the Commercial or Financial Books should be arranged so that they may be used in conjunction with, and as a basis for, the cost accounts of the firm. Financial Books.-The books necessary to keep in the counting-house and auxiliary offices, are:-Invoice Book. Credits to Departments Book. Debits to Works Book. Wages Book. Day Book, or Sales Journal. Credit to Customers Book. Cash Book. Ledger, Personal. Ledger, General. Ledger, Private. Journal for Transfer Entries. Stores Received Book. Stores Issued Book. Stores Ledger. In addition to the foregoing books the usual Shareholders' Ledger and subsidiary books must be kept for a Limited Company. It is also unnecessary to detail the numerous Requisition Books, Job Order Books, Specification and Instruction Forms, which are employed for the carrying on of the business. They are more properly matters of yard management than of accounting, and must conform to the ideas of the shipyard manager rather than to those of the accountant. It is, however, desirable that the Directors of a Limited Company should exercise very close supervision over the ordering of stores, and for that purpose their authority should be obtained, whenever practicable, before the orders are sent out. The following form has been found useful for submission to the Directors' meetings: THE TENNANT VALE SHIPBUILDING COMPANY, Limited .1903 The sanction of the Directors is requested to the ordering of the following supplies: A column may be inserted between "Description" and "Quantity wanted" for the "Quantity on Hand"; but this is not imperative, and is practically valueless for most of the larger materials. Plates and angle steel are ordered to specified shapes and dimensions, whilst anchors, chains, compressors, steering gear, binnacles, prisms, and other articles not constructed in the yard, are purchased for the individual requirements of each ship, and not for stock. The Invoice Book may be a guard book ruled with analysis columns on the right hand page, or it may be merely a register of the invoices which are themselves kept on a separate file. There are advantages in both methods, but when the file is adopted it should be such as will fix the invoices, after the manner of Shannon or Stolzenberger files, so as to prevent their accidental loss or removal. The form given on next page is equally suitable for guard book or register: when the former is used, the columns for date, name, process, and ledger folio may occupy the left-hand side of the book, and the others the right-hand side. In this form the invoice book serves all the purposes of a journal for the purchases of the firm, and the ledger postings are made direct from it. The items in the column "amount of invoices" are posted to the credit of the several vendors, and the totals of the perpendicular columns ("stores," "engine coal," etc.) to the debits of the several accounts each month. In some establishments all purchases of materials are passed through the Stores Accounts, and debited to the Consumption Accounts through the Stores Issued Book; but the more usual method is to charge immediately to a contract, without the intervention of the Stores Account, any materials specifically ordered for such contract. In the example given, the column so used is headed "manufacturing account," but where this plan is adopted a separate column should be used for each contract or order; thus Number 59 having been completed prior to the month under review, and therefore not leaving any debits against it during that period. Repair work of large magnitude should always be treated as an order or contract, and given a progressive number; but smaller repair jobs may be grouped together in the books under the title of "sundry repairs." VOL. VI 5 A large marine engine, or a first-class ocean steamship, or a war vessel, is not a single construction, but an aggregation of constructions, each of which may, for cost purposes, be regarded as a separate and independent entity. Such a vessel as H.M.S. Vulcan, for instance, contains no less than 128 distinct engines with 284 cylinders, the cost of each of which, as well as that of the cabin furnishings, electric lighting, magazine fixtures, and numerous other fittings, must be ascertained for statistical and management purposes. It is for the purpose of such Cost Accounts that the column head "process" has been inserted in the Invoice Book. Process may be defined as the subdivision of a contract, an engine, a machine, or even one piece of work, such as a length of shafting, into such component parts or classes of materials and labour as the manager may deem needful to be separately stated for his information. But in the invoice book it has also a supplementary signification, and is used to indicate the department as well as the contract and service to which the goods are to be charged in the Cost Accounts. Thus, in the invoice for iron from the Dugdale Iron Company, the amount of £394 is made up as follows: all for contract No. 39, and a note to this effect must be made in the process column, so that the cost clerk may apportion them to those details of work when writing up the shipwrights' or platers' cost sheet. |