What's the score? -- Record-keeping for a school district;

              WHAT'S THE SCORE? - by George F. Kerkhove
RECORD-KEEPING FOR A Principal, Omaha office
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Presented before the Annual Meeting of the Nebraska Association of School Business Officials, Omaha - March 1971
Good morning ladies and gentlemen! What's the score? It's 9:15 Tuesday morning. Last Fall, on Saturdays, people around the state were asking, "What's the score?" "Nebraska is ahead 49 to 20, two minutes to go." Then the following Tuesday, people were asking, "What's the score?" "Still in third place." Very recently I completed my income tax return for 1970. When I finished, my wife asked, "What's the score? How much do we pay this year?" The other day, she took the children to the dentist and when I got home, I asked, "What's the score? What is it going to cost me this time?" Today is March 30. Next week your superintendent and board will want to know, "What's the score? How do our school's operations this year compare with the budget?" For you see, just the other day, I received my 1971 real estate tax bill. The mill levy is up and obviously the taxes are up. Your superintendent and board are well aware of this, and they are sensitive to the feelings of the taxpayers. It is for this reason that they will be asking you what's the score so that they can intelligently and satisfactorily answer any questions they may receive from the taxpayers. In each of the instances just mentioned, you can readily tell that the necessary ingredient for a proper answer to each of these questions is the existence of proper records. Records, their creation and importance, will be the topic of my talk this morning.
One of your duties, among other things, is to supervise the financial aspects of your school district. Along these lines I will talk about methods of keeping score — accounting. My talk will deal primarily with financial records, but the same principles used in connection with financial records would also apply to the various other records and nonfinancial reports coming under your supervision and direction.
THE TOTAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM - A CHAIN
Accounting has been described as the art of recording, classifying, and summarizing in terms of money, transactions and events that are financial in