The above material, received in Box 61013, your B#89375, 18 not satisfactory, being 3/32 in. too short for our D-3 Meters. Adjustment Requested We wish to return this material for replacement and request that you furnish us with shipping instructions. Return the above mentioned material to the Gen Elec. Co.. Ft. Fig. 35. Form used in presenting claims for adjustment to the vendor, showing vendor's reply as to disposition. Part VI-Subjects Referred to the Succeeding Committee Your Committee has devoted some time to the discussion of a number of subjects upon which it has not given sufficient study for a formal report. The most important of these are as follows: (1) Policy of Retaining Invoices in the Purchasing Department. (2) Duplicate Invoice. (a) On Vendor's Form: (b) On Standard Form sent out by the (3) Code number on Stock. A number of subjects were discussed by last year's Committee at its meetings and were referred to the present Committee for action. While these subjects CT BAUER KC CAMPBELL have been given some consideration during the past year, the present Committee did not find time to study and report on each as their importance required: (1) Salvage Work. (2) Routine of Handling Obsolete and Slowmoving Material. (3) Adaptation of Hollerith Tabulating System to Storehouse Work. (4) Some phases of Inventory Procedure which were not included in the 1920 report. It was voted that the above subjects be referred to the succeeding committee for consideration during the coming year. Respectfully submitted, PURCHASING AND STOREROOM ACCOUNTING COMMITTEE C MARDEN, Vice-Chairman GH DAVIS JT LANGMEAD THE CHAIRMAN: Gentlemen, this report indicates a very large amount of work on the part of this Committee, and brings forward some very interesting points. Are there any representatives of the different companies here who will discuss the report? This report was not available very far in advance of the meeting, so it was difficult to digest it thoroughly. I would like to hear from anybody who has any comment to make on the report of the Committee. CLAYTON E. OLWINE: In Part 1 responsibility for the delivery of materials is placed with the Storekeeper. This plan may work under a system of Central Storeroom Accounting, but where the Stores Stock is spread over an area representing 31 Storerooms, the plan of each Storekeeper communicating with the vender is an undesirable one. Referring to Part 5, on adjustment of claims: After our Storeroom determines that the material is defective or unserviceable, the shipment is returned, usually before certification of the correctness of the bill. A claim is prepared by the Storekeeper stating G F NEVINS the facts; this claim is forwarded to the Auditor with the bill. No effort is made to obtain from the vender a credit. The claim prepared by the Storekeeper in so far as our records are concerned, becomes a credit memorandum and the amount of the claim is deducted from the remittance. In cases where the company is at fault we pay handling charges. The plan is a good one and leaves you almost entirely free. from an open claim file. A Purchasing Agent's order is also prepared for the correct material. Mention is made on this order to the effect that the incorrect material will be returned. THE CHAIRMAN: May I say then, in concluding this session this afternoon, that the Nominating Committee, according to the schedule, are expected to produce their report at the session on Thursday afternoon, the second item on the program, which will give them two days' time to effect the function of their Committee. Is there any further business to come before this session this afternoon? If not, I will declare the session adjourned until tomorrow at 2:15. Second Accounting National Section Session The meeting was called to order by Chair- THE CHAIRMAN: The first report on the program is that of the Committee on Federal Income Tax Procedure. I do not see either Mr. Addenbrooke or Report of Federal Income Tax Procedure Committee The duties of the Committee on Federal Income Tax Procedure in a general way are: (a) To keep advised as to the requirements of the Federal Income Tax Law and the regulations thereunder applicable to electric light and power companies, especially the requirements relating to accounting and procedural features, (b) to bring to the attention of member companies from time to time points which will be helpful in the preparation of Federal Tax returns of such companies and (c) to consider and advise with respect to Federal Tax questions submitted to the Committee by member companies. During the forepart of last year the Committee prepared and sent to each member company a series of three articles dealing with the new Federal Income and Excess Profits Tax Law and the administrative regulations. There having been no changes in the law since that time, the Committee limited its article sent to member companies in March of this year to court decisions of interest and changes in administrative and interpretative regulations during the past year. In addition to the above and the consideration of specific problems presented by member companies, the Committee prepared for the Bulletin an article dealing with the attitude of courts and commissions on the question of whether Federal Income and Excess Profits Taxes, or either, should be considered as operating expenses before arriving at the "fair return" on the utility's property devoted to the public use. The organization and, as a consequence, the work of the Committee was delayed until the first of the year 1921 due to the apparent confliction of the work of the Committee with the work of other committees of the National Electric Light Association, especially the Committee on Uniformity of Regulatory Laws and Public Utility Taxation, which is a branch of the National Public Policy Section. The procedural features of the Federal Tax Law cannot easily or with the best results be treated apart and distinct from the substantive features of the law. The two are closely bound together and it would seem to be in the best interests of the industry to have the entire subject dealt with by the same committee. Divided authority means divided responsibility and when the line of division is not clearly drawn-and it cannot be in the case of Federal Taxation-there is a tendency to shift responsibility through fear of infringement on the prerogatives of others or otherwise. The subject of Federal Taxation-indeed, the whole subject of taxation, Federal, State and Local, is of the highest degree of importance to the light and power industry at this time and will continue to be for some years to come. Many member companies are paying as taxes as much as ten per cent of their gross income. None of the present proposals concerning changes in the Federal Law seem to contemplate a reduction of taxes on public utilities, assuming that the present Excess Profits Tax has no practical application. Many of such proposals contemplate an increase in the Normal Income Tax. Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, in his recent letters to Congressional Committees in charge of tax measures, recommended the repeal of the excess profits tax and the substitution of either a modified profits tax (which, in practical operation, probably would not affect many utilities) or a flat additional income tax on corporations. The latter tax might increase the burden on utilities by approximately 50%. Furthermore, the idea of an Income Tax has taken hold of the states of the Union, many of which apparently believe that such a tax should be superimposed on the present property taxes paid by the utilities. It is the belief of the Committee that taxation, Federal, State and Local, should be given more attention by the general association than it has been given in the past and that the authority and responsibility in this respect should be centered in one committee. Such a committee, it is believed, should work with other organizations, such, for instance, as the National Tax Association, should have data in its possession and available for the use of member companies, showing the forms of taxation imposed on public utilities in the various states, what relation they have to property values, gross and net income, and how they compare with the taxes imposed on other forms of industry. It should be equipped and empowered to act for the industry in connection with the proposed revision of th |