Methods Of Counting Cash

By the time these things are done it will doubtless be approaching ten o'clock when the bank's doors are to be thrown open. It has already been mentioned that among the first customers will be the officers from the other banks with their deposits. Immediately on opening the package presented by one of these, the cash which it contains, consisting of the bank's own notes, is checked and ticked off with the specifications on the deposit slip. There are two methods of counting; each has its advocates. In one, the bills are held firmly on the counter with the left hand while the right runs through the pile, throwing up one bill at time; in the other, the bills are held in the left hand and leafed out one by one on to the counter.

A great many tellers use both methods, the one for the original count, the other for the check count. In counting receipts of all kinds it is very desirable to get a view of the whole of each bill taken. It aids in passing on genuineness, and prevents attempts to pass bills from which large portions have been torn.

Experienced tellers prefer to have the depositor handing in cash remain directly in front of the wicket, with eyes fixed closely on the deposit until the cash is checked and found correct. When this is done there can be no misunderstanding in the event of a shortage being found in the deposit. In every way such practice is superior to the loose methods followed by some depositors. They push their deposits through the wicket while the teller is, perhaps, checking another deposit, and, without waiting even to see that the teller takes it and places it out of reach of parties from outside, they run off to the ledger-keeper's wicket or to some other. When the teller finds a $5 or $10 shortage in the cash specified on one of these deposits the situation is not very comfortable for him. Though the depositor cannot dispute the teller's count, he may think him capable of slipping the missing bill into his pocket or the till. It is a good plan for the teller to insist on depositors, private as well as bank, watching him while he counts the cash.

Disposition Of The Vouchers

When the cash has been checked and ticked off, each cheque or voucher listed on the deposit slip is taken up in turn. As he is to give credit in his books for each item, the teller has to be careful to see that all are in shape to be treated as cash or its equivalent. Is it an obligation of the bank? is the first question to be settled. Cheques drawn on the bank, bills and notes domiciled at the bank, when due and accepted by the ledger-keeper, have to be accorded consideration.

The next thing is the scrutiny of the signature, and after that of the date and the amount, the attention being given, with reference to the last, to the written words in the body of the document rather than to the figures. Then, if a cheque be not accepted, has the customer so much at his credit? Some few will have to be referred to the ledger-keeper to settle this question. After that the endorsements are to be examined. The endorsement of the payee of "order" cheques must be on the back, in the same form as written in the body or face of the cheque. If the payee has endorsed it over to another party, the discharge from this endorsee must be in evidence. Lastly, the stamp of the bank depositing the item must be there for the purpose of tracing the payment and guaranteeing the prior endorsements.

As each document is passed it is ticked off on the slip. Any that are rejected-cheques for which there are not sufficient funds, items incomplete or informal-are laid aside, deducted from the total, and handed back to the depositor with the explanation why they are refused. The slip, with its amended total, is now initialled by the teller, entered among the general items on the credit side of his blotter, and handed out to the ledger-keeper for entering in the depositor's pass-book. This is the process followed with other bank deposits. It is much the same as that followed with individual depositors.