Chapter 1970 - Closing the Accounts

"Write-off" was a term frequently employed in the tax system, generally referring to the confirmation of an item or document/voucher. Here, Nan Wan'er needed to deliver the Remittance Receipt (the first copy of the Summary Payment Slip mentioned earlier) brought back from Delong to Xu Zhewei. After Xu Zhewei compared it with the Hall Accountant's summary report and confirmed consistency, he would perform write-off registration, stamp it, and bind it for preservation as a reference voucher documenting that the tax authority had remitted tax funds. (Here Delong fulfilled the role of a commercial bank.)

Having instructed Xu Zhewei's section, Zhang Xiaoqi walked to the report accountants' desks to examine the General Journal they were registering. Unlike the Hall Accountant's summary report—which contained only simple subtotals for declaration and collection by tax category—the tax statistical report was considerably more detailed. It recorded not only tax category subtotals separated by opening balance, current period, and current cumulative, but tax funds were also subdivided into states like declared, invoiced, remitted, entered treasury, and in-transit. Consequently, it demanded high-level bookkeeping skills from personnel. To ensure the accuracy of tax statistical reports and to realize old-timeline-standardization of tax accounting in the future, Zhang Xiaoqi adopted the double-entry bookkeeping method, which proved quite challenging for Great Ming locals. In fact, this also formed part of the "New Financial System" currently promoted by the Senate in Guangzhou. Especially for taxpaying households above designated size, the new system was promoted via tax collection.

However, constrained by the limited number of personnel who could skillfully master this bookkeeping method, she abandoned the step of subsidiary ledgers and recorded directly to the General Ledger. In the General Ledger, subjects like Tax Receivable, Overpaid, Temporarily Collected, To Be Collected, Reduction/Exemption, To Be Remitted, Remitted, In-Transit, and Treasury Entry were established to account for tax funds. Tax funds just collected today had been separately registered under Tax Receivable and To Be Remitted subjects. Shortly, when Xu Zhewei finished the write-off of remittance receipts, they would also be registered into the Remitted Tax Funds subject. Naturally, these would all constitute "Tax Funds In-Transit."

Zhang Xiaoqi observed very carefully. Truthfully, she felt little assurance about these naturalized citizen cadres trained in short-term intensive courses, though they already represented the best tax accountants she could produce. Beyond time being too limited and knowledge too advanced, more critically, she also questioned whether she herself qualified as a competent teacher. Before transmigration, she'd been a computer major slacker who'd never received any systematic accounting training. Her only accounting knowledge derived from two books she'd studied to pass the accounting certificate exam required for work; purely dependent on continuous experience accumulation through practical work.

"It seems future accounting personnel still require selection from the finance class," Zhang Xiaoqi contemplated.

At this moment, a sharp whistle sounded, signaling the workday's end. Limited by Lingao's clock industry production capacity, transmigrators couldn't yet equip every office of subordinate agencies and enterprises with timepieces. So in Lingao, steam whistles and broadcasts were employed, while in Guangzhou, whistles served.

"Everyone go eat. We'll continue when we return this evening."

At the cafeteria entrance, Zhang Xiaoqi encountered a red-faced Ai Zhixin. Upon hearing Zhang Xiaoqi report that tax collection and remittance had proceeded smoothly, Ai Zhixin's joy increased a notch. Obviously, Director Ai had encountered some happy circumstance, but since he didn't volunteer it, Zhang Xiaoqi couldn't be bothered to inquire. It wasn't until she collected her food and sat beside Wang Qiyi that she realized her husband was somewhat displeased today.

"What's wrong? Everything went very smoothly today; why the long face?"

"Ai Zhixin went to the Harbor Treasury today."

"Oh, I know. Isn't that the one preparing to become the National Treasury next? He didn't allow you to accompany him, so you feel excluded?" Zhang Xiaoqi was somewhat baffled; her husband didn't seem like such an ambitious person.

"Am I that sort of person? I just feel a bit awkward. Look, Ai Zhixin is the Finance and Tax Bureau Director now. He disburses money with his left hand and collects money with his right. The basic principle of separate lines for revenue and expenditure is already compromised. Later if he also manages the National Treasury, then revenue, expenditure, and storage will all reside in one person's hands. It's really..."

"I don't think Ai Zhixin is that type of person. He's quite energetic and ambitious. Besides, we are all transmigrators; what would we need to embezzle for? Even if planning for people around him, he needn't act personally. Just a few days ago you lectured me to correct my attitude that this is the seventeenth century. I think you're the stubborn one clinging to old ways. Aren't we just starting out? Expedient measures for urgent circumstances."

"Uh... alright. I was just concerned this brother is assuming too expansive a scope, the risk... forget it, I'm worrying unnecessarily." Wang Qiyi shook his head. "Let's not discuss this. Are you genuinely working overtime today? Isn't doing it tomorrow equally acceptable? Anyway, normally these are jobs for accountants on the following day."

"No, I must complete it in one sitting. I'll only feel at ease when everything's organized. You go straight home after training; I don't know until what hour I'll be here."

Early next morning, just as Nan Wan'er and the others finished cleaning and pushed open the Tax Collection Hall doors, Xu Zhewei had already returned from the Reserve Bank in a Red Flag carriage with the first day's Tax Treasury Entry Receipt (Summary Payment Slip 4th copy, actually still issued by Delong but not using Delong letterhead) and the Treasury Daily Reconciliation Sheet. Returning to the office, he and Li Hongyu first separately performed write-off registration for the Entry Receipts, then verified the Tax-Treasury Daily Reconciliation. Upon confirmation, they transferred both receipts and reconciliation sheets to the report accountants for bookkeeping processing.

Days passed swiftly, and the Guangzhou Municipal Finance and Tax Bureau's inaugural tax collection period soon concluded. Whether it was the extensive broadcast of the transmigrators' prestige or the Great Ming locals possessing considerably higher tax paying consciousness than old timeline common folk, the tax collection work proceeded smoothly and uneventfully. How to characterize it? According to Zhang Xiaoqi, it was even smoother than in the old timeline: in her past experience, every collection period invariably featured a few difficult taxpayers. But this time there wasn't a single one—not even one who questioned.

Of course, a major factor was the high proportion of "sensible people" among this inaugural batch of taxpayers. Another reason was that many major households didn't comprehend the new tax system; they simply viewed this tax collection as a novel variant of "accumulation" by the new masters, approaching with the idea of spending money to purchase peace.

Wait until the system is refined in the next phase, work is fully deployed, and collection coverage expands further—such a harmonious tableau between collectors and taxpayers might cease to exist. But regardless, since the collection work concluded successfully, the compilation of tax reports was placed on the agenda.

The Guangzhou Municipal Finance and Tax Bureau Tax Statistics Division re-verified the General Journal the day after the collection period ended, and after confirming no errors, closed the accounts (i.e., period-end closing), then commenced compiling the Q1 Tax Statistical Report. The tax report represented the reflection of the final result of the entire tax operation and the most direct tool for grasping the tax situation. No matter how solid the preliminary management work or how detailed the collection work, in leaders' eyes, nothing compared to this report. It could be said that whether Liu Xiang, Cheng Dong, or even Wu De and the Supervisor, what they desired to see, what they wanted, was this report. The entire result of their busy half-year was actually embodied in this report.

Zhang Xiaoqi understood the logic profoundly, so she didn't even visit the hall in the morning and buried herself in the Tax Statistics Division. With the barely satisfactory General Ledger, the compilation of the Cent-level Table basically encountered no major obstacles. In the afternoon, Zhang Xiaoqi obtained the first "draft." She was pleased, very pleased. Though this report was merely an A3 sheet and the content was crude, it meant the transmigrators' tax work had successfully completed all fundamental links, and also meant the modern tax system could be implemented in the new timeline.

She ran excitedly with the table to find Wang Qiyi, partly to show off to her husband, and partly to hear his suggestions for improvement. After all, this report's audience was mainly those "leaders" who didn't comprehend the operations particularly well, and Wang Qiyi had been seconded as a deputy director at a county bureau for two years in the old timeline, so he was relatively familiar with these people's thinking.

After listening to his wife's excited explanation, Wang Qiyi seriously turned the report over and examined it twice. After complimenting her with even more "serious" demeanor, he gave his only suggestion—compile a Wan-level Table (Ten-Thousand-Unit Table).

Though the current report lacked numerous details, it was harmless; as long as key data existed, it was basically qualified. But looking at rows and columns of minuscule fly-head numbers was genuinely uncomfortable. Besides, for someone at Liu Xiang's level, he wouldn't care about a one-cent discrepancy, nor did he need such detailed figures for decision-making. So, for presenting to leaders, a clean and clear tax statistical report in units of ten thousand was mandatory.

"Agreed, I'll do it immediately. With the Cent-level Table, the rest is fast."

"Are you certain?" Wang Qiyi was a veteran tax hand after all and knew the problems inherent, but his wife brimmed with confidence, so he didn't want to point it out directly.

"I'll deliver it to you before closing time."

However, Zhang Xiaoqi miscalculated again. She forgot again that she existed in the seventeenth century without computers. After rounding the cent-level data, the numbers in the Wan-level Table didn't balance. The cross-check relations of every row were erroneous; totals of every column didn't match. To balance these—which number to increment by one, which to decrement by one—was the responsibility of veteran accountants even in the old timeline. She and her cohort of raw recruits worked and reworked until closing time without resolving it.

"Let them all return home; no overtime. They calculated all day; let these young people rest." At closing time, Wang Qiyi addressed Zhang Xiaoqi whose brain had become a muddled paste. "Time isn't pressing. Ai Zhixin notified me that the meeting is next week."

Hearing her husband say this, Zhang Xiaoqi felt even less confident and planned to visit Meng Xian tomorrow to coordinate borrowing a few veteran accountants to balance it. This idea was firmly vetoed by Wang Qiyi: "If you don't trust them, they will never be able to shoulder the burden. Anyway, there's the Cent-level Table as a foundation, and we don't genuinely understand it either. Just let them handle it."

Facts proved Wang Qiyi's idea was correct. Just one day later, the young women of the Tax Statistics Division produced a very beautiful Q1 Tax Statistical Wan-level Report.