Excerpt from Farm Bookkeeping and the Federal Income TaxAny accounting or bookkeeping system is only a tool or a means to an end. Record keeping is worth while to the extent that it provides useful answers to questions about the business. Useful answers are given only if the system provides for consistent treatment of like items and like situations. This is important for any management analysis of the business and is required by the regulations governing income-tax reporting.As has been pointed out, the lawand the regulations governing the Federal income tax emphasize that the taxpayer's regular method of accounting is satisfactory so long as it clearly reflects the income. In addition to these general rules there are at certain points alternative procedures specifically provided for farmers by law or by regulation. The points at which the farmer is permitted to make choices include (1) figuring income on the cash or the accrual basis, (2) method of valuing items in the inventory, (3) method of figuring depreciation, (4) method of handling draft, breeding, and dairy animals, (5) treat ment of Commodity Credit loans, (6) treatment of income from farm woodlands. In addition, farmers may use as their tax year any 12 month period such as a crop or rental year, instead of the calendar year, if they regularly keep their books that way.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.