Collecting And Accounting

The matter of the actual collection of the bills and of the method of accounting for them, though not falling within the junior's duties, can be described here. The bills have been followed from the time of their receipt to their instalment in the bill-case. Here they rest, unless recalled or paid in advance, till their respective maturities, the manager being primarily responsible for them. Let us observe the fate and disposition of a batch of matured bills on the day of their maturity. All payments and receipts of cash must go through the teller's hands. Therefore, one of his duties is to collect the bills. In the morning, after getting his cash-box, he takes over the bills for the day, initialling for each one in the diary. Amongst them will be some signed by customers of the bank as promissors or acceptors. A number can be charged at once to the customers' accounts. In these instances, all that is necessary is to make proper accounting to the owners of the bills and then to cancel them, stamp them paid, and put them through the books in exactly the same manner as cheques.

It may be that some of the customers with bills due have not enough funds at their credit to permit charging up the bills; some may have issued standing instructions not to charge bills to their accounts without cheques. With these it is necessary to wait until the customers deposit sufficient to cover the amount of their bills in the one case, and until they hand in their cheques in the other.

Bills Payable At Other Banks

Amongst the bills, perhaps, will be some accepted or made by customers of other banks in town. These will be accepted payable at the other banks. Presentment of each must be made at the bank at which it is domiciled. Here the junior resumes his acquaintance with the bills, for it falls to him to make the presentment.

At each one of the other banks he hands in the bills payable there to the ledger-keeper, or the man who has charge of the deposit-ledger. The ledger-keeper examines them, satisfies himself as to the due date and as to the genuineness and regularity of the signature of the promissors or acceptors, and proceeds to honor or dishonor them. The junior does not collect cash for the bills now about to be paid; he merely gets them accepted or certified. When the ledger-keeper of the bank, at which he is making presentment, has selected the bills he intends to pay, he enters each one as a cheque or debit in the account of the man whose name is signed on the bill as acceptor or promissor; then he stamps the "acceptance" or "certification" of his bank on each bill so entered, along with his initial.

This constitutes an acceptance by his bank. When the bills are formally handed back by the ledger-keeper so stamped and initialled, the ledger-keeper's bank becomes primarily liable to the holder of the bills. If the accepting bank is in good credit, the bills now are regarded as paid, and when the junior returns them to the teller, the latter proceeds to account for them to the owners.

Some of the bills taken out in this way will be dishonored for the same reason that some, payable at the junior's own bank, were not paid, the parties signing them not having enough funds at their credit, or having left instructions to pay nothing without cheques. These the junior gets back from the ledger-keepers of the banks at which they are made payable, with the answer, "Present again," "Not sufficient funds," or "No instructions to pay."