Tale of the token;

              74 HASKINS & SELLS October
The Tale of the Token
By A . J . FARBER and P. C . JENNINGS, of the Pittsburgh Office
ONE of the most recent developments
in the operation of modern street
railway systems has been the introduction
of the token (metal check) to take the
place of paper tickets and cash fares. This
has resulted in a new phase in the auditing
of the books and records of a street railway
company.
All new tokens, whether purchased from
a manufacturer or made by the company,
are received by the treasurer and a record
made of the quantity thereof. Upon
receipt they are counted and wrapped in
packages by machines, the number in a
package depending upon the rate of fare
in effect, e.g., where the tickets are sold to
passengers at the rate of three for 25c, they
are wrapped in packages of thirty each,
representing a fare value of $2.50 a
package. The packages are then placed
in canvas sacks, each sack containing a
similar quantity of tokens, usually one
hundred packages, which in the case of the
rate mentioned would have a value of
$250.00. The sacks are stored in the
vaults of the treasury department and the
tokens are then ready for use.
All barn ticket offices and other ticket
offices are furnished with a fixed supply of
tokens from the stock of the treasurer, the
amount furnished being governed by the
needs for a period of two or more days.
These advances are in the nature of im­prest
funds for which the accounting de­partment
holds receipts. Out of the im­prest
token funds of the barn ticket offices,
the conductors attached thereto are fur­nished
with a fixed amount of tokens and
their receipts taken therefor. As the
conductors dispose of their tokens through
sales to the public, they replenish their
supply by purchasing for cash additional
tokens from any ticket office which in
turn replenishes its supply through pur­chases
for cash from the treasury depart­ment.
Sales are made by the treasury
department in sack lots only and by the
ticket offices in package lots only.
In order to establish a control of tokens
on hand a stock account is kept by the
treasury department which reflects quan­tity
of tokens only and not the value
thereof. This account is charged with the
number of tokens received from the manu­facturer,
and with the number received by
the treasury department through the
daily fare collections. The account is
credited with the number of tokens ad­vanced
to the various ticket offices, and
also with the number sold to the ticket
offices to replenish their supply. There­fore,
the stock account is a perpetual in­ventory
of the number of tokens on hand
in the treasury department.
The accounting department also keeps a
stock record which shows the location of all
token funds, the quantities thereof, and the
value at the rate of fare in effect. The
stock account kept by the treasury de­partment
should be in agreement with the