FILLING IN FORMS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 139, 15 June 1933, Page 14

FILLING IN FORMS

A GROWING INCUBUS

; WEIGHING DOWN BUSINESS *■ '

I ] ''Evening Post," June 13.' I: •■ "Of the filling in of forms there is no 5, end, and much figuring is a weariness of ■ the flesh."—Ecclesiastes XI, 12 (perverted). ■:. i Heads of all business houses, in their . valiant endeavours to cope with that in- '■ naiiable monster "Overhead"—especially in these times —arc wondering how much Taore clerical labour is likely to be involved in the filling in of forms other than those pertaining to their own business. ■It is not unti,l they look closely into this matter that its formidable dimensions are '.- realised. When the time and labour re--quired for. this .purpose are considered in iv terms of' money the question naturally '^•'arises in the business wind if some sim;"plification making for economy is within "vthe bounds;of possibility. Everyone more ■";' or less familiar with the interior of a Vr Government office must have noticed ;.: those bundles of papers, foolscap in size, **';md sometimes wearing a red label marked ♦"Urgent" on the left h and top corner of ".'tho page. They are called files, and may, ■;;.'stand on a desk or nestle in baskets, * /.reaching a height: of ,12 or 14 inches. No I,doubt these are indispensable, and no V,';.doubt the piles of them may be reduced ".(luring the day, but they have to be safely [•-'deposited somewhere if only for the * Might. But they often represent a vast jnass of writing and printing, and'filling 7u of forms. If they convey to the ob-t-ei-ser tho possibly quite erroneous idea that every individual of the' million and " n half population of this Dominion is indexed and cross-indexed and re-cross-indexed would it cause any business man to. wonder and ask: "To what end?" FROM A BUSINESS ANGLE. ' But the business man, although the first to, recognise the inestimable value and eionomy of system, is,, or ought to be, ever on the lookout for further shripliiintion of system and economies in the use of effective eifort, clerical or manual. But today he finds the filling up; of forms becoming much more frequent than it used to be with more blank spaces to fill, more dotted lines to' write upon. The work involved in.'collecting the necessary material seems to him to be growing day thy dajr, and'calling for the skilled specialist rather than the ordinarily intelligent i clerk. Mention need only be made of .the work involved in deduction of and- accountiug for the unemployment tax on wages and the onus placed on the employer .of iscertaining if employees have paid their ■unemployment levy. Then there is that Jatest infliction, the sales tax! ■'•'-■ : ■ , Some business houses are manufacturers, *■ i tpiirers and renovators, importers, re- | Uailers, and possibly do a little in the .wholesale way. Some large drapery establishments embrace all these activities., and in addition are restaurateurs and beauty-parlour proprietors, and radio dealers. As manufacturers sonic business .Jirms may make goods for their own retail departments, they may import ex>i olusively for their own businesses, and do repairs and renovations for their own customers. But the greater their ramifications the more forms they will have to fill, tho more regulations they have to comply with,'the greater the number of risks they run of committing offences ' igainst regulations or making breaches in the awards. Here are some of the forms that a large Wellington house requires to fill in,.and"that accurately,too:— Compile and furnish to the Income1 Tax 'Commissioner a list of employees receiving Wages or salaries of over £200 per annum—r thi-s firm-employs 150 persons. ■ Mike deductions (and keep account of » ihem) of unemployed tax from wages of ill employees liable for that; tax. This - jntails an enormous amount of work, and 'Has to be done every two weeks. The A employer, as stated, is also required to assure himself that his employees have 7,duly paid their £1 per annum levy, fpr the whole year or quarterly. Returns of sales of goods manufactured jiand passed over from factory to the.retail sklp of the business have to be made out. For their own sake they make duplicates l of these sales tax returns. MANY RETURNS. >■ They must keep a close -watch on the' "Factories Act to avoid infringements of "-jegulations. Similarly they must see that tho require^ ments: of the Shops and Offices Act are complied with. Their factory must be «registered. This means the filling in of yet another form. They must pay land tax—yet another form. ; They, have'income tax to pay as a company/ .Still another form with elaborate and intricate collection, of material required before! filling in can be begun, also * a balance-sheet to be attached. When it comes to importing, one such firm will be required to fill in four entry :forms' for every, line of goods. If goods ate imported1 by post there are more forms to fill; if goods, arc cleared from bond, there are four forms to be filled in. ■If .a firm CQnducts tea rooms', as spine 21 nge drapery establishments do, primarily *■ ioi the convenience of their customers and " <■ an auxiliary to their main business, then * they have to register as restaurateurs, and •} bide by an award covering that descrip- « lion of.business. ' • ■, If they engage in hairdressing.then.they ha-ve to 'register this branch as such, and Jill m another form. ■ . ' Some employers, as an act of courtesy, furnish - their employees ■' with details or "" salaries -or- wages paid for every year endnig March 31 in order, .to ensure- accuracy m the iUling-in of individual income-tax returns. The Government does not'ask * tint this.be done, but it repre*rhpnts a very large amount-of clerical work m a big establishment' the practice does ensure correspondence between what the firm's books show and. what the incometax payer',return? as; income. • •> ■

FORMS BY THE HUNDRED. ."V'Then there are-the forms required to •= be filled in by exporters. . They, too, ,T-! have the unemployment tax returns to "make, but ever so much more. In fact, ■some exporters have forms by the to fill in before they can trans-. '■ act any business. The Council o£ the ■ Canterbury Chamber of Commerce has t been moved to make a strong protest v-against. hindrances to trade as the de-

wands for these certificates imposed. The exporters' committee was iustructcil to examine the matter and to forward its representations through the Associated Chambers to the New Zealand delegation at the World Economic Conference. Investigations made by the committee have revealed that for :the export of a .consignment of 50 casks of a certain class of primary produce no fewer than 510 certificates have to be filled in and forwarded to London, in some cases many forms for each cask. This, the Chamber admits, is an exceptional .case, but .it lms been quoted as an instance of the extreme extent to which eovemreents' demands may be taken. Details qf the certificates required were submitted to the Chamber and they were startling in their number. Mr. H. S. E. Turner drew the attention of the Chamber to the large number of certificates that were required of _ exporters of meat and kindred produce:— (1) Foreign export certificate. (2) Official meat inspection certificate. (3) "Passed for export" certificate. (4) "Imperial preference" certificate of origin of goods. (5) Certificate of origin of containers. "This is adding new terrors to business," complained Mr. Turner. 'Tractieally all these certificates, if they are required, could be embodied in one. It seems to be carrying red tape altogether too far, and I think we- should look for relief through the amalgamation of the certificates. Our Exporters' Committee might investigate the matter and make representations to- the■ Government- and the British- Trade Commissioner asking for this relief." "REAMS AND REAMS TO FILL." Mr. W. Machin proposed that the Exporters' Coriimittee of the Canterbury Chamber should quickly examine the matter, that it should be referred quickly to the Associated Chambers, and that a cablegram should be sent to London asking" for the whole question to be investigated and a report presented to the World Economic Conference on the hindrances to transferring goods from one part of the world to another, arid' the' enormous cost in time and trouble involved.

"The importers have just as bitter a song to sing," added Mr. Machin. "I happen to be in both classes. On this sales.tax, if you saw the ream's and reams of stuff we have to fill in before we can accept our own goods and put them on our shelves, you would realise what an egregious pass things have come to. The Government seemed to be concentrating on' the business community for its income, yet by so doing it was steadily restricting the source," Mr. Machin added. Mr. Machin's proposal was adopted. '■■ From what could be learned from business firms in Wellington, it would appear that a certain amount of form-filling is inevitable, but the tendency of this practice is to grow and of late it has assumed serious proportions and fears are expressed that it may still further increase to the detriment of business at a time as never before when overhead expenses must be kept down to the barest possible minimum.