Classification of Operating Expenses, Operating For the Use of Electric Railways ADOPTED AS STANDARD BY THE AMERICAN STREET AND INTERURBAN RAILWAY [NOW AMERICAN ELECTRIC RAILWAY ACCOUNTANTS' ASSOCIATION] ·་ SUBSTANTIALLY CONFORMING WITH THE CLASSIFICATIONS INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION TWENTY OF THE ACT TO Through the courtesy of the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Central Electric PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION 29 WEST 39th STREET NEW YORK JUNE, 1909 (Reprinted January, 1912) CONTENTS. Page Committee on Classification of Accounts and Form of Report, Ameri- can Street and Interurban Railway Accountants' Association- Report of Committee presented at the 12th Annual Convention, Atlantic City, N. J., October 15, 1908... Adoption of the Classifications as Standard.. Report of Committee on Construction and Operating Expenses of Electric Railways, presented at the 19th Annual Convention Classes into which Electric Railways are divided...... Method of Combining Text of Operating Expense Accounts...... 271858 AMERICAN STREET AND INTERURBAN RAILWAY ACCOUNTANTS' ASSOCIATION. STANDING COMMITTEE ON A STANDARD CLASSIFICATION OF (June 1, 1909.) W. F. HAM, Chairman, Washington, D. C. H. L. WILSON, Boston, Mass. W. B. BROCKWAY, New York, N. Y. W. H. FORSE, JR., Anderson, Ind. F. E. SMITH, Chicago, Ill. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON STANDARD CLASSIFICATION OF ACCOUNTS AND FORM OF REPORT. At the 12th Annual Convention, Atlantic City, N. J. October 15, 1908. To the American Street and Interurban Railway Accountants' Association: GENTLEMEN::- During the past year the classification of accounts for electric railways has been a very active subject. Both the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Public Service Commissions of the First and Second Districts of New York have issued tentative classifications which have kept the question prominently before the attention of electric railroad interests as a whole. It is safe to say that at no time in the history of the industry has the question of accounting been considered of such vital moment and so occupied the attention of not only the accounting officers, but also the managers and presidents of the roads. In order that there may be a clear understanding of the situation, let us refer briefly to matters occurring in the early days of this association. The Street Railway Accountants' Association was organized at Cleveland, Ohio, March, 1897. At that time a paper, entitled "Suggestions for a Standard System of Accounts, Classification of Operating Expense Accounts and Form of Report That Will Admit of Comparison and Diffuse Information Between Companies," was presented to the convention by Mr. C. N. Duffy, then secretary and treasurer of the Citizens' Street Railway Company of St. Louis. One quotation alone from that paper is suggestive in view of recent developments. The one object that should be uppermost in the mind of the accounting officer of a street railway is to keep his operating expense accounts in such a way that the management of the road will profit by the information. In order to have a classification of operating expense accounts that will admit of this, there is great danger of having too much subdivision and itemization. This necessitates not only a mass of figures, but a corresponding amount of detail work that sometimes proves unwieldy. At this convention there was appointed a Standing Committee for the Standard Classification of Operating Expense Accounts, etc. This committee was active in its work and submitted a report to the first annual convention, at Niagara Falls, October, 1897, which report was the subject of animated discussion by the convention. Again, at the second annual convention of the association, at Boston in September, 1898, they submitted a revised report, which was adopted and the classification recommended for general adoption by the members of the association. That classification called for 39 operating expense accounts and, with some minor alterations, has remained the standard of this association up to the present time. Its simplicity was its chief recommendation, making it possible for the smallest companies to keep their accounts in accordance with the classification without undue trouble or expense. Yet it was capable of indefinite expansion, and its elasticity and flexibility made it entirely possible and practicable for the largest companies in the country to keep their accounts in accordance with the classification and yet have |