=24.= Owing to the fact that a very large amount of stock of various companies is being bought and sold continually by a brokerage firm, no book kept in the accounting department is of greater importance than the _stock record_. Not only is the broker's business with customers but it is also very largely with other brokerage concerns as he is buying and selling continually. Every share of stock which is bought or sold must be recorded in the stock record. This record shows: Record number, date, number of certificate, number of shares, from whom received, in name of, record number, number of shares, to whom delivered, and date of delivery, as in Fig. 8. It is not necessary in this book, to keep a record of either the price paid or the price at which sold, as this register is intended merely to show the disposition of the certificates of stock and whether they are still in the house, or if disposed of, to whom they have been delivered. It is needless to point to the necessity for the greatest care in keeping this record, as any errors might make it very difficult to trace the paper and result in loss, or at least considerable trouble for the house.
=25.= The general cash book for a brokerage firm in loose leaf should be sheet size 14 by 14 inches. In a bound book, it would not be necessary to have it more than 12 inches wide. In this particular business, it is not desirable to carry the general cash debit on one sheet and the general cash credit on another, although it might be advantageous in certain cases to run the grain in the general cash book and to keep a subsidiary cash book for the stocks, which might be run upon similarly ruled sheets, the total of the day's transactions being brought into the general cash at night. By doing this the posting clerk could be using one of the cash books while the cashier was working on the other.
At the heading of the general cash sheet appears the sheet number and either the date (providing one sheet or more is used for each day), or the month with an extra day column, next to the margin. The columns are ruled and printed to show stocks, grain, and general ledger on the debit side and the same on the credit side, with the posting columns and sufficient room for the names of customers in center, as in Fig. 9. In this cash book should be entered all payments for margin on purchases of either grain or stock, all deposits by customers, which should be carried into the column indicated by their account—if they deal in grain their account is in the grain ledger and if in stocks their account is in the stocks ledger. All items of receipts or expenditures, not from or to customers, should be entered in the general ledger column, except as shown in the subsidiary cash sheet called _office cash disbursements_. Cash book sheets should always be paged consecutively when made, and each sheet accounted for, if loose-leaf cash books are used.