The Berridge Company is a discount tire dealer that operates 25 retail stores in a metropolitan area. The company maintains a centralized purchasing and warehousing facility and employs a perpetual inventory system. All purchases of tires and related supplies are placed through the company's central purchasing department to take advantage of the quantity discounts offered by its suppliers. The tires and supplies are received at the central warehouse and distributed to the retail stores as needed. The perpetual inventory system at the central facility maintains current inventory records, which include designated reorder points, optimum order quantities, and balance-on-hand information for each type of tire or related supply.

The participants involved in Berridge's inventory system include (1) retail stores, (2) the inventory control departments, (3) the warehouse, (4) the purchasing department, (5) accounts payable, and (6) outside vendors. The inventory control department is responsible for maintenance of the perpetual inventory records for each item carried in inventory. The warehouse department maintains the physical inventory of all items carried by the company's retail stores.

All deliveries of tires and related supplies from vendors are received by receiving clerks in the warehouse department, and all distributions to retail stores are filled by shipping clerks in this department. The purchasing department maintains the subsidiary ledger with vendors and other creditors. All payments are processed by this department. The documents used by these various departments are as follows:

Retail store Requisition (form RSR). The retail stores submit this document to the central warehouse whenever tires or supplies are needed. The shipping clerks in the warehouse department fill the orders from inventory and have them delivered to the stores. Three copies of the document are prepared, two of which are sent to the warehouse, and the third copy is filed for reference.

1. Draw a document flowchart for the Berridge Company.
2. Could the company eliminate one or more copies of its RSR form? Use that flowchart to explain why or why not?
3. Does the company create too many copies of its purchase orders? Why or Why not?