For the purchase accounts with firms and individuals, a vertical file is used. Each creditor is assigned a folder, on the front of which a suitable record form is printed. This form is shown in Fig. 20. The name and address are written at the top, and the ledger account is kept in the columns at the extreme left of the form. All of the columns for distribution are left blank, it being seldom that purchases from one firm are distributed to more than a half dozen different accounts. When an invoice has been O. K.'d it is immediately filed in the proper folder. The total is entered in the credit column and distributed to the proper accounts, the names of which are written at the head of the distribution columns. Payments on account are posted to these ledger accounts from the cash book. If the distribution is properly made, the totals of all distribution columns will agree with the total of the credit column. At the end of the month the total of these distribution columns on the individual account folders are drawn off on the monthly recapitulation sheet illustrated by Fig. 21. The totals shown by the recapitulation are posted to the debit of the corresponding ledger accounts, while the grand total is posted to the credit of accounts payable account;--which is the controlling account of the purchase ledger. Totals of payments on account are posted to the controlling account from the cash book. The proof of accuracy of the controlling account is found in the usual way, by checking against the balances of the individual purchase accounts. With this system, invoices are filed, and the amounts posted, with practically one operation. The items which make up each ledger account are distributed as soon as posted, totals only being carried to the recapitulation sheet, from whence they reach the ledger. Accounts are quickly located, as the folders are indexed alphabetically. When an account is balanced it must be left in its place until the end of the month, provided credits have been entered in the current month, so that totals of distribution will be carried to the recapitulation sheet. At the end of the month, all accounts which balance may be transferred to a section of the file reserved for closed accounts. Should any of these accounts again become active, they are transferred to the regular file without the slightest confusion. For the purpose of saving time, the balances of all open accounts may be drawn off when the totals of the distribution columns are obtained. [Illustration: Fig. 20. Combined Purchase Ledger and Voucher System] [Illustration: Fig. 21. Monthly Recapitulation and Distribution Sheet]