Budgets and Standardized Accounting for Golf Course Maintenance

Transcription

1 May my own accounts call "green _servce" be accumulated under another head. Under actual ~'mantenance" nclude such expenses as electrc lght and power -new and replaced equpment express and freght fertlzer and seed flags gasolne and ol Green Secton dues hardware lumber motor and ma:chre repars pant payroll postage prntng and statonery sand teamng telephone and telegraph~ tle and top. sol. Under "green servce" nclude such expenses as Assocaton dues ball washers caddy house repars electrc lght and power ce laundry payroll postage prntng and statonery repars and trophes. Under ths system t wll be possble to make comparsons of the cost of upkeep per hole. When such cost means the same for every club the resultng fgures wll then make t -possble to compare the results of the efforts of greenkeepers and green commttees. Nearly all clubs complcate ther accounts so that t s mpossble to make a comparson that wll ad anyone n hs future work. The useless attempt to allocate recepts to ths actvty and that s carred to excess by many club accountants. t s easy to allocate to the golf course as an earnng the fees taken n for playng prvleges. But what good does t do when such allocaton s made? The attempt of some club accountants to allocate the recepts from club dues to the varous actvtes of the club s just plan slly. Sayng that 42th percent of a member's dues shall be credted to the golf course as an earnng and 13 percent to the locker room as an earnng and so on s lke standng a dog on hs hnd legs-very nterestngbut. what good does t do? f we shall standardze our defnton of what ought to make up golf course mantenance and pay attenton to those costs and ther results whch we may do by ntellgent comparsons country club accountng wll get qute a boost. Budgets and Standardzed Accountng for Golf Course Mantenance By Frederc C. Hood At the meetng of the Unted States Golf Assocaton Green Secton held at the -Hotel Astor early n January dscussons on varous subjects brought out a wde varance n the cost of golf course mantenance the lowest beng about $7500 and the hghest over $ As a few clubs connected wth the New England Servce Bureau have agreed on standardzed accountng was asked to prepare an artcle for The Bulletn tellng our experences. The amount of money to be spent annually by the charmen of green commttees s usually approprated by the board of governors and ths gross amount must ft n wth the total- recepts and expend-:- tures of the club. Ths appropraton usually covers new constructon as well as mantenance. Some new constructon work may be added to "plant" values and some work s a repar and does not add any "plant" value. A new bunker usually s an expense. A new green may not add any "plant" value whle -a new hole or two may add "plant" value. The determnaton of what constructon changes add "plant" values to the assets of the club s usually depend-

2 0' 0-90 Vol. 8 No.5 - Name ~ Week Endng Rate ---- BUTLER'S LABOR PONT ASSOCATES DSTRBUTON 'c c : ~ ~ ~ '~ Mowng: Greens! Best Farways ; Rough Farways Outsde Rough Waterng: Greens : k: Total!.c () Total Amount f-o Hra. rr! 1! Best Farways. jt Top Dressng: Greens ". Best Farways 1 Weedng: Greens Best Farways 1 Outsde Rough: No. Bunkers: Care Haulng Sand -r Other Work: Greens Best Farways Rough Farways ' Outsde Rough! ' t ;1!!.1 Turf Gardens!! Compost Ples:. Bakng Loam: Turf Gardens: Mowng Waterng Top Dressng.. ~ Repars Mowers Tractors Trucks![ Grounds: Tee Boxes and Cups Other Repars - Msc. Tenns Courts Clubhouse " Bam &Work Offce.' 1 r--r. Tme card n use at the Kttansett Course of Butler's Pont Assocates.

3 t May 'c e. ~ 1.1~t l~. T~tal t Total l~ f-o :l ~ ~ ~ len Grounds (Cont.): Beaches j 1 Care of Grounds CottageS. \.\ \ Golf House 1 j Kttansett Realty Trust l Wnter House P Repars: Roads! Constructon: Totals Hn t Amount Tde Gates! Water Lnes 1 : " d Tenns Courts \ Clubhouse Wnter House Cottage A B \' D F l : Golf House Barn Work Offce Bath House Green No. Tee No. Best Farway No. Rough Farway No. Outsde Rough No. Bunker Hole No. Dran Hole No. Water Ppng Hole No.. Roads &Paths Tde Gates Cleanng Beaches Wood 1! '"Plantng Trees and Shrubs ' j _ Approv_e_d_b_y~ Entered Gr~nkeeper Accountant _ Remarks: Renrse sde of the Kttansett tme card.

4 92 Vol: 8 No. 5 ent upon the sze and mportance of such changes as well as the exchequer of the club ts fnancal and socal status e. whether a busness corporaton or a socal club and the polces of the board of governors regardng ts fnancal statement of assets and labltes. For these and other reasons (many of them controversal) the standardzed accountng of the New England Servce Bureau elmnates all work that s "constructon" and for the present confnes tself to mantenance. The ledger accounts have no real controversal problems but are determned arbtrarly as are most ledger accounts and are named and defned to cover groups of actvtes that a green commttee charman usually dscusses as natural groups. A lst of these ledger accounts the meanng of each ledger account and the cost of mantanng the Kttansett Club's 18-hole golf course at Maron Massachusetts for the calendar years 1926 and 1927 are gven at the end of ths artcle. The lower costs of 1927 as compared wth 1926 llustrate the value of budgetng and standardzed accountng though of course proper weght should be gven to the fact that Kttansett s a new course bult n a vrgn New England forest and full of rocks stones and weeds. As a result some tme s requred to get the layout nto proper condton for reasonably straght shootng. The cut farways at Kttansett average 160 feet n wdth and are never less than 150 feet wde at 200 yards. The clearngs through the woods average 210 feet n wdth and are never less than 200 feet wde at 200 yards thus provdng about 25 feet of sheep's fescue rough between the cut farways and the woods. The woods are cleared for a dstance of not less than 25 feet from the edge so that a player has an average of 250 feet at 200 yards for a playable le and where the ball can be readly found. Each course has ts own problems but ths descrpton s gven so that those who attempt to compare ther operatons wth Kttansett wll understand the reasons for dfferences n sub-ledger account costs. t mght also help to say that Kttansett's tees are large n sze that t has three full sets of tees the three lengths beng and 5800 yards respectvely. There are about 70 sand traps about 70 mounds and the greens average 6000 square feet n area. Kttansett pays 6 men 55 cents an hour and the others 50 cents an hour. Whle the Kttansett course s playable all wnter mantenance usually begns n March and ends n November so that lttle outsde work s done for four months. Full-tme work s done for sx months and half tme for two months but as there are houses and roads to be constructed and grubbng and general outsde work to be attended to we are usually able to keep our sx key men occuped throughout the year. The arguments n favor of budgetng are so well known that t seems futle to repeat them n ths artcle. would not know how to run a busness or home or a golf club unless had budgets to gude me. Budgets are harbor buoys to nform the plot where the safe channels are for the shp; budgets are the drecton flags on the golf course to mark the best drecton for the golf player; budgets are gudes to lead you on the rght course and to desgnate the desred

5 May end; budgets are safeguards to keep one from' spendng money before he knows he has the money 'to' spend; budgets are warnngs not to spend money for somethng you don't need and' remnders of the needs:hat you' wll requre money for later. Every person wth a fxed personal ncome must budget hs expendtures or he wll suffer for hs foolshness. But the whole s smply the sum of the parts. and ths artcle has to do wth the parts..just as9ne knows hs total ncome and hs total expendtures he should keep enough fgures to know what he spends for food -clothng~ shelter sckness pleasure etc. so f hs ncome s reduced he can know whch tem he can reduce wth the least nconvenence~ -for thrft s wse spendng. We establsh sub-ledger accounts under golf mantenance each wth a defnte meanng. As a result the several years are comparable snce the accounts have been kept alke. f several clubs wll keep ther accounts by the same system of ledger accounts each can compare ts operatons wth the others and each can both learn from the mstakes of others' and proft by ther effcences. '.Greenkeepers are greatly- aded n ther work wth the charmen of the green commttee greenkeepers wth other greenkeepers and green commttee charmen wth other green commttee charmen because they all talk the f?ame language. Everybody s ready to pay. for servce rendered f he knows how to measure the servce rendered.' Ths artcle therefore s a plea to ad the greenkeeper by gvng hm the detaled costs of other clubs as well as hs own costs and a plea to the green commttee charman to reward hs greenkeeper for servce rendered. The sub-ledger accounts used by several clubs n the New England dstrct for golf course mantenance are as follows: Standardzed Accountng - Man Account Mowng Sub Account Greens Farways Rough J~edger Accounts tems ncluded.' Wate1.ng Water used Topdressng Greens Loam used. Chemcals used Cost of bakng loam Loam used Chemcals used Farways Loam used Chemcals used

6 94 Vol. 8 No. 5 Weedng Outsde Rough Bunkers Turf Gardens Merchandse Repars Deprecaton ncdentals Greens Farways Seeds Fertlzers Chemcals Gasolne & Ol Golf Machnery Barn & Contents Golf Equpment Everythng Else. (does not nclude mowng) Teams Sand for mowng waterng topdressng weedng Merchandse for stolons fertlzer chemcals Note: Turf gardens account wll be credted wth sales of turf and stolons and nventory taken to show value of net cost. Note: Wll be kept under an nventory account and cost wll be stock at begnnng to whch add purchases and deductng nventory wll gve cost. All seeds or stolons purchased. Sulfate of ammona ammonum phosphate manures. Calomel sodum arsente arsenate of lead and other chemcals for golf course. Gasolne ols grease etc. for machnes. Such as mowers tractors trucks Such as pants repars to machne shop. Such as tee boxes golf cups poles flags water lne repars. An nventory of fxed assets taken 12/31 and deprecaton fgured by treasurer once a year on all golf machnery barn contents and golf equpment. Note: 1. The total of the above accounts comprses the mantenance budget. Note: 2. t s suggested that each charman however nclude an amount for ncdentals to take care of unforeseen contngences. Note: 3. nventory s taken four tmes a year of all merchandse on hand n detal coverng Turf gardens Baked loam.unbaked loam Chemcals Seeds Note: 4. Budget sheets wll he made monthly. Note: 5. Addtons of wood roads major constructon new tees enlargement of tees new traps charged to constructon. Note: 6. All other repars and mantenance of other property kept separate from golf course budget. The greenkeeper keeps the tme of hs men on a weekly tme card wth a carbon duplcate one card for each man. These cards comprse the pay roll. The men are pad by check. The facsmle of each sde of the card s reproduced herewth. All fgures are carred for-

7 May ward and totaled on the reverse sde. Each week the bookkeeper sends the greenkeeper a summary of weekly costs on ths form and each month sends hm a budget sheet wth the current year's budget and prevous years' costs for comparson. As an llustraton of budgets andactuals the mantenance costs for the Kttansett Club for'1926 and 1927 and the budgets for 1927 and 1928 are lsted below but wthout the salary of the greenkeeper. Mowng: Greens.. Farways. Rough. Waterng. Topdressng: Greens.. Farways. Weedng. Outsde Rough. Bunkers. Turf Gardens. Merchandse: Seeds. Fertlzer. Chemcals. Gas & Ol. Repars ;.'~. Deprecaton ". ~cdentals. ' Actual 1927 Actual Cost Budget Cost $ {) Total $ Total $6794 Total Materals etc Budget $828 $1001 $ $9852 $9683 $ $5006 $5050 $ Total. ~ $13995 $9852. $9683 $10176 Any detaled nformaton regardng the procedure wll be gladly furnshed on wrtng to the New England Servce Bureau 50 State Street Boston Mass. '. Cost Groupng at Msson Hlls Country Club By Henry Burr Kansas Cty Mo. The artcle by Mr. Wllam J. Rockefeller on "Standardzed Accountng" n the March BULLETN strkes a responsve chord n the wrter's breast and am sure the subject must be of vtal nterest to hundreds of green charmen n the Unted States Whle t wn be mpossble to lay down hard and fast rules that would be adaptable to any great number of clubs there are certan underlyng prncples of cost accountng that may be used not for the purpose of comparatvec~sts but for assstance n makng up theannualbudget and explanng.rwhy we cannot "do t for less ths ;ye~r." ' "As Mr. RockefellE;ll'states the average greenkeeper s not a very poor 'bookkeeper but very lttle nterested n that part of the.: