Preparing For The Public

On getting the cash out, the first thing is to arrange it in order convenient for handling through the day. The cash drawer will have a row of compartments for the till money. A compartment each will be provided for the ones, twos, fours, fives, tens and twenties; a block of wood with several bowl-shaped hollows is there for the coins. Only the broken parts of bundles are put in the drawer; the bundles themselves are stored in convenient order in the tin box, which is kept on the floor or on a low shelf or table immediately to hand.

The pressure will fall chiefly on the fives and tens, and to a less degree, if there be quite a demand for change, on the ones and twos. It is necessary to take stock of the supply on hand. Should it be deemed insufficient the accountant or the manager must be asked for some of the treasury stock. This latter is under the dual charge of the two of them. It is kept in the treasury compartment of the safe, on which there are two combination locks, the numbers of one being known only to the manager, those of the other only to the accountant.

Requisition For Treasury Cash

We may suppose the teller to be in short supply of certain denominations. He has requisitioned for some treasury cash. The process - the accountant would take the treasury book, which is a continuing record of the denominations and total of cash held in the treasury, and enter therein the specifications of the notes to be handed over, deducting them from the amounts at present held. Then he and the manager, in company, take the money from the compartment. The teller signs the treasury book opposite the amounts set down as given to him, and the new money thereon belongs to his cash. In the cash book at the end of the day, as the treasury balance is reduced, there is so much the more for the teller to account for.

Clearance With Other Banks

There are several things to be done before the opening hour. The bills for the day have to be taken over. They are initialed for in the diaries, as already described. Then the deposits, or clearances, with other banks in town are to be made up and sent in. By way of illustration we may suppose that there are two other banks to deal with, the Bank of A. and the Bank of B. In the deposits received from the customers during the previous day would be a number of cheques drawn on these two banks; also a number of their notes. Among the notes and bills due the day before would be some that had been presented at and accepted by each one of the other two. Their notes, and cheques on them, would be received in various manners in the ordinary course of business. All this must be cleared early in the morning. So the teller makes out a deposit slip for each bank. Taking the Bank of A. first, he specifies the cash at the top, then enters each one of the cheques and items to be sent in.

To be secure against a fraudulent or wrongful claim of shortage, which might be made by the teller of the bank receiving his package, he would have to get a fellow-clerk to check his count of the cash. This checking would have to be done in such manner that the two of them could positively declare that the cash, as stated on the specification, was within the package on its being closed, sealed, and initialled.

There is not the same necessity for the checker to examine the cheques and bills belonging to the deposit, for they can always be traced. Each one would have the bank's stamp on the back, and could hardly be negotiated wrongfully.

When the two deposits - for the Bank of A. and the Bank of B.-have been made up, checked, and sealed, in packages, they are sent out at ten, or shortly after. At important branches two officers are entrusted with these deposits. A guard is also sent by smaller branches when the amount of cash enclosed is large. The banks receiving the packages check them over, and, all the items and the total being found correct, the latter is entered in the pass-book, which is sent along, and initialled, and the clearance is completed.