Page 1 |
Previous | 1 of 3 | Next |
|
This page
All
Subset
|
96 HASKINS & SELLS October WH I L E all of our practice offices are cognizant of the fact that we have had a number of quite extensive engagements from railroad companies during the past two years, many are not aware that most of these engagements arose through the taking over of the important transportation systems by the Government in December, 1917, and consisted of checking "lap-overs." It will be recalled that without previous notice, President Wilson, by a proclamation dated December 26, 1917, took possession of all important transportation systems on December 28, 1917, and directed that their control and operation be exercised by William G. McAdoo, who was appointed Director-General of Railroads. While possession of the railroads was assumed on December 28, 1917, the proclamation stated that for accounting purposes possession and control would date from midnight of December 31, 1917. While the President had power under the Act of Congress approved August 29, 1916, to take possession of the railroads, he had no authority to enter into agreements with the companies for compensation for the use of their properties until granted such authority by the Act of Congress approved on March 21, 1918, nearly three months after the roads had been taken over. It took nearly six months longer for the representatives of the Government and of the railroad companies to agree upon standard clauses for use in the contracts between the Government and the railroad companies, with the result that few contracts were signed before the year 1919, and, in fact, some contracts have not yet been signed. A few days after his appointment as Director-General of Railroads (on December 30, 1917, to be exact) Mr. McAdoo issued an order reading as follows: "Until otherwise directed, no changes in the present methods of accounting as prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission will be required. The accounts of your respective companies shall be closed as of December 31, 1917, and opened as of January 1, 1918, in the same manner as they have heretofore been handled at the close of one fiscal period and the beginning of another, and in the same manner that you should have handled your account had the Government not taken possession and control." No other general orders relating to methods of accounting were given until April 3, 1918, when General Order No. 17 was issued. This order provided, among other things, that each carrier subject to Federal control should open new and separate books of account (designated as "Federal Books"), such as cash books, general and subsidiary ledgers and journals, and all supporting and subsidiary books and records incident thereto, upon which should be recorded transactions which arose under and were incident to Federal control on and after January 1, 1918. This same order provided that all transactions which arose after the closing of the Checking Lap-overs
Object Description
Title |
Checking lap-overs |
Author |
Anonymous |
Subject |
Railroads -- Accounting Railroad law -- United States |
Personal Name |
McAdoo, William G. |
Citation |
Haskins & Sells Bulletin, Vol. 03, no. 10 (1920 October 15), p. 096-098 |
Date-Issued | 1920 |
Source | Originally published by: Haskins & Sells |
Type | Text |
Collection | Deloitte Digital Collection |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Libraries. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2009 |
Identifier | HS Bulletin 3-p96 |