The McCaskey Credit Account System (to the left) and The McCaskey Cash Register (to the right) make up the McCaskey System.  These enabled the owner to make comparisons of business activities from one period to another and guide the business accordingly, on a permanent basis.  In order to help guide the owner through the system process this guide (pictured below left) was available with examples of how to use the system and its various record sheets.  The credit account system (to the left) is installed in The McCaskey safe register.  These were desiigned after a fire destoyed many of the wooden holders that they were originally installed in and they were totally fireproof to keep merchants records safe. Both types were available and it was up to the merchant to decide which one was right for them.

The McCaskey System

Pictured here is a McCaskey Credit Register.  It was a lettered and numbered credit system to be used by itself at first and then in tandem with The McCaskey Cash Register to form the McCaskey System.  It was a letteredand numbered multi leaved hinged box style system designed to fit inside a wooden and later metal desktop style stand.  It would stand upright in the top of the stand with the leaves being able to be lifted up or downbecause of the hinges.  On each leaf there would be ten numbered clips to hold credit receipts and each number would be assigned to an account belonging to a customer.

On the next level of the stand you would see a glass insert similar to a desktop.  Under this glass were very small slats with paper tags, on these tags would be the customers name and clip number for quick reference instead of having to go through all the leaves to find the customers account.  On the next level down on the stand was a pull out writing board that pulled out from the left hand side by using a knob located on the front.  The final bottom level of the stand had a drawer across the front of the stand for storage of extra receipt books and possibly for indexing customer receipts if the clips got too full.  It is also possible that the drawer was used for room accounts.  You can see by the pictures above how the accounts were set up and some of the receipts were actually white.  These were called The McCaskey Transient Account Folders.  They were the same a little bit larger than the credit receipts and had five numbered tabs.  These were used to start an account with the business owner.  If the customer had five or less charge purchases their slips remained in the transient account folder, if they had five or more charge purchases then their slips would be removed from the transient account folder and they would be assigned a regular account.  Their name would be written on the index of the credit register and they would be assigned the corresponding number for their charge account.

The McCaskey Daily Record Sheet (pictured above) was to provide a place to record in detail the activities of the business.  It was not a place for detailed records of sales, the McCaskey cash and credit registers handled those records.  The Daily Record Sheet did however cover practically every other detail of procedure and included such things as totals of sales so that these could be properly transferred from the Daily Record Sheet to the permanent records of the company. This sheet provided six sections for grouping entries and record totals. There is a Cash Record providing space for all items of cash recieved other than cash sales; and for all items of cash paid out. The same side of this sheet, there were also spaces for calculating Daily Balances.  This section included; Cash Account, Bank Account, Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable.  It also included accumulated totals of Cash Sales, Credit Sales and Purchases (merchandise only) to date. The other side of the sheet provided space for entries of Invoices Received, Credit Memos Received, Checks Issued and Journal Entries. Entries were then transferred from The Daily Record Sheet to the Business Recorder Sheet for control records.

To Accouting System and Forms pg.2

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