S E C R E T A R Y ' S OFFICE Real Costs and Control ACS accounts are kept in such a w a y that we know the real cost of each activity except those for which the expense of accounting w o u l d exceed t h e value of t h e information. Obviously, such a procedure is necessary for income-producing operations expected to be self-supporting. W e feel it is just as important to k n o w the real cost of every undertaking in order to measure» efficiency of operation and to determine periodically if the value to those served is worth the expense. Equally important in an operation as big as ours is b u d g e t control. The Board of Directors must b e certain in advance that t h e expenditures of one year roughly are in balance with income. E v e r y administrator must know w h a t he is authorized to expend. W e believe t h a t the members will be interested in some details of h o w these two aims are realized. T h e h e a d of each administrative unit, no m a t t e r h o w small, each October lists in detail the expenditures h e believes desirable for the following year. Higher administrators review and coordinate the details for t h e units they supervise; changes may b e m a d e . Forty-four departmental b u d g e t s are built up from salaries, travel, supplies, new equipment, postage, a n d other appropriate items. For a journal, a b u d g e t includes also details for artwork, composition, printing, mailing, and m a n y other like expenses. Accounting records of expenditures conform to these headings a n d each administrator thus can be certain that w h a t he is spending is within authorized limits. However, because of interrelationships among departments, these records of b u d g e t a n d expense do not always show h o w one single project is performing. For example, t h e person responsible for operating the headquarters building has a b u d g e t and a record is k e p t of expenditures. But the total is allocated to each office in proportion to space occupied, a form of rent. T h e r e are other "service" budgets which are spread in a like manner. Special expenses such as postage, telephone tolls, and other miscellaneous items are recorded carefully 7B
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and allocated as expenses to t h e proper d e p a r t m e n t or activity. Thus, the b u d g e t a n d accounting schedules are both a form of control for each administrator a n d a means of ascertaining true a n d complete costs of each identifiable project. Published b u d g e t information is on an a n n u a l basis, b u t for internal control this is broken down into a monthly b u d g e t for each operating unit. T h e monthly " p a r " may not b e one twelfth of a n n u a l , b u t reflect the time at which certain irregular expenses will be incurred. T h e monthly statement gives the a c t u a l expenses and budget for the month, the same information for t h e year to d a t e , a n d the annual budget. E a c h administrator receives each m o n t h t h e schedules which report on operations for which he is in any w a y responsible. T h e b u d g e t and financial reports for general distribution carry groupings by major headings only, especially activities for which there is both income a n d expense, a n d special items which should be spotlighted. The Society operates efficiently w i t h i n this general framework. T o its directors and staff, accounting is a working tool. Changes in form are m a d e whenever there is n e e d to follow some special m a t t e r . Every business has special conditions to m e e t and provide for. Some of those that are believed to b e peculiar t o t h e ACS m a y b e of interest. The Office of the Executive Secretary is responsible for t h e circulation operations of all ACS publications, except for t h e circulation promotion for applied journals. But within O E S , several departments play a role in circulation operations. T h e p r o p e r proportion of their expenses is allocated to circulation servicing. Thus, t h e entire expense oi the Non-Society Subscriptions Department is so allocated and 3 0 % of the total expenses of t h e Mailing List D e p a r t m e n t becomes part of the circulation servicing schedule. T h e Member Business Services D e p a r t m e n t handles all t h e records for t h e members, and one third of its expenses is charged to servicing m e m b e r subscriptions. In varying amounts, parts of t h e operations of seven other departments also become part of the circulation servicing
schedule. This total then is d i v i d e d among the various journals in p r o p o r tion to the n u m b e r of subscriptions t o each. Activities having i n c o m e a n d expense, such as most publications, b a c k issues, and national meetings, are expected to be self-supporting. I n arriving at a n e t operating b a l a n c e , t h e expense items include the salaries a n d office expenses of persons employed full- or part-time, a charge for t h e space occupied, and all other direct a n d indirect expenses or charges. T h e A C S administers activities such as T h e P e troleum Research Fund and the chemical segment of the National Science Register. All expenses incident t o these operations are taken into account in t h e Society's records, and t h e a m o u n t s charged to each are reimbursed periodically. T h e r e are exceptions to these general procedures, b u t they stand out a n d are under continuous study. T h e Executive Secretary and his i m m e d i a t e assistants participate in a greater or lesser degree in every aspect of Society operations. The cost of determining t h e a m o u n t of time spent on each of these many activities might be as great as many of the allocations t h a t would b e made. Therefore, at present, the items which are broken out of t h e expenses of his office a n d charged t o some specific program are only those covering his responsibilities as Secretary of the Council, the Council Policy Committee, and the Board of Directors which are great enough to justify t h e effort. U n d e r this system of accounts a n d records, it is possible to ascertain at any time n o t only how closely each operation is following the plans laid d o w n in a d v a n c e and for which a b u d g e t h a s b e e n a p p r o v e d but just w h a t it costs the Society to provide a special service, such as the Employment Clearing House. As w e have said, there are exceptions, largely for small expenditures. But staff studies continue a n d the Society constantly is improving and perfecting its record and reporting procedures. The accounting system used b y the ACS is far in advance of t h a t used by most other professional organizations. The m e m b e r s are the beneficiaries. A.H.E.-R.V.M.
