§ 126. Uniform system of accounts; access to accounts; forfeitures.
The commissioner may, whenever he deems advisable, establish a system of
accounts to be used by common carriers which are subject to his
supervision, or may classify the said carriers and prescribe a system of
accounts for each class, and may prescribe the manner in which such
accounts shall be kept. He may also in his discretion prescribe the
forms of accounts, records and memoranda to be kept by such carriers,
including the accounts, records and memoranda of the movement of traffic
as well as the receipts and expenditures of moneys. Notice of
alterations by the commissioner in the required method or form of
keeping a system of accounts shall be given to such persons or carriers
by the commissioner at least six months before the same are to take
effect. The system of accounts established by the commissioner and the
forms of accounts, records and memoranda prescribed by him as provided
above shall conform in the case of railroad companies as nearly as may
be to those from time to time established and prescribed by the United
States department of transportation under the provisions of the act of
congress entitled "An act to regulate commerce" approved February
fourth, eighteen hundred eighty-seven, and the acts amendatory thereof
or supplementary thereto. The commissioner shall at all times have
access to all accounts, records and memoranda kept by common carriers
and may designate any officers or employees of the department who shall
thereupon have authority under the order of the commissioner to inspect
and examine any and all accounts, records and memoranda kept by such
carriers. The commissioner may, after hearing, prescribe by order the
accounts in which particular outlays and receipts shall be entered,
charged or credited. At any such hearing the burden of proof shall be on
the common carrier to establish the correctness of the accounts in which
such outlays and receipts have been entered, and the commissioner may
suspend a charge or credit pending submission of proof by such carrier.
Where the commissioner has prescribed the forms of accounts, records and
memoranda to be kept by such carriers it shall be unlawful for them to
keep any other accounts, records or memoranda than those so prescribed,
or those prescribed by or under authority of the United States.