All large notes ( 20 and over) should be checked to ensure they are not forgeries.

Transcription

1 Page no: 1 of 6 Approved: 21 January 2013 Introduction A significant proportion of income to the organisation is in the form of cash transactions. These take place in several areas of the organisation and involve many employees. These policies are to ensure that proper security is maintained in handling cash and to protect employees from unnecessary allegations should cash go missing. This policy include handling of petty cash, ie small amounts of cash used for making ad hoc purchases outside the scope of FP01 Purchasing and Procurement Policy. Procedure General Unlike most assets, cash is very difficult to trace and has an immediate transferrable value. It is because of these qualities that particular rules are in place that do not apply to other assets that employees control. Staff who handle cash are expected to be responsible, accountable and liable for it. It is particularly important, therefore that the procedures in place leave no room for error or mistakes that might expose staff to undue risk. Where possible we should encourage customers to pay through online booking, by standing order or other bank transfer. The minimum payment acceptable by cheque is No post-dated cheques are acceptable. All large notes ( 20 and over) should be checked to ensure they are not forgeries. Petty Cash There are petty cash balances held in the following areas of the organisation: Location Designated holder Max. Balance Finance Office Zoe Garratt 500 Nursery Office Vadna Chauhan 50 Older People s Group Kim Chojnacki 20 Reception Mikaela Howard-Kyan 80 Anyone receiving funds from the petty cash must fill out a petty cash slip and sign for the cash. Having made the purchase they must return any change and a receipt to the designated holder of the cash. All petty cash balances must be reconciled by the Finance Administrator at least once per month.

2 Page no: 2 of 6 Approved: 21 January 2013 Café The café has a high volume of cash transactions. The majority of these are handled through the till, however a separate cash tin is also kept for sales of eggs and farm produce (which is accounted for through the charity, not the trading company and therefore kept separate). Staff should take care that the correct change is given in return for tendered cash. Any cash taken from the till to pay for goods delivered must be replaced with an invoice or receipt to the same value. Cashing up One member of staff must be responsible for cashing up at the end of the day. A second member of staff must verify that the cash counted is correct and matches the Z reports of till and card machine (less any receipts and invoices). At the end of each day a Z report must be run on both the till and the card machine. The float ( 75) must be separated from the takings, checked by a second member of staff. It should be put into a cash box and locked in the café safe. The takings should be counted and recorded in a book kept in the café with the following Date Cashier Cash amount Receipts Z number Z amount. The takings should be verified and initialled in the book by a second member of staff. The individual card machine receipts must be added up and checked against the Z reading of the card machine. The takings and receipts or invoices should be placed into a sealed container. The staff member responsible for cashing up must ensure that the sealed container is deposited into the deposit safe. The deposit must be noted in the log book of deposits kept by the deposit safe with the following The deposit safe will be emptied by a member of the finance team witnessed by one other person. Egg and Farm Produce sales Takings from the sale of eggs and produce should be kept in a cash box during the opening hours of the café, not put through the café till. The café till may be used to manage change for these sales if necessary. These takings do not need to be cashed up by café staff. They should be simply bagged up, with a label to identify them and deposited at the end of each day into the deposit safe.

3 Page no: 3 of 6 Approved: 21 January 2013 The deposit must be noted in the log book of deposits kept by the deposit safe with the following Reception The reception area receives cash and cheques for courses, memberships and general donations. It also handles paying out of volunteer expenses and petty cash for minor purchases. Receipts All cash and cheques received must be noted in one of three duplicate books according to the type of income. Charity. Trading. WEA. All memberships (including Farm Friends) and donations. Course bookings onto non-wea courses. All fees for room bookings All course bookings for WEA courses Customers are issued a receipt from a common duplicate receipt book. Other paper work is associated with these transactions, but does not form part of the cash handling procedure. Note: post-dated cheques cannot be accepted under any circumstances. At the end of each day, all receipts should be bagged up with appropriate paperwork, labelled and dropped into the deposit safe. The deposit must be noted in the log book of deposits kept by the deposit safe with the following Expenses At the start of each week the finance team will supply to reception the following cash. 40 for general volunteers expenses 40 for general reception expenditure (eg stamps) 20 for the Older People s Groups volunteers (Wed & Fri) 20 for the Older People s Group drivers 12 for the Tuesday evening mental health group

4 Page no: 4 of 6 Approved: 21 January 2013 This cash is stored in a cash tin that should be locked in the receptionist drawer (note that reception should not be left open and unattended at any time). Release of expenses to volunteers needs to be authorised by the volunteer s manager. For regular volunteers, a list of authorised recipients may be provided by the volunteers manager. Volunteers need to sign a receipt for the cash they receive. This should detail the date, volunteer name, project (funding source), authorising manager. Where cash is released to other staff members (for example, for Older People s Group expenses) it should be signed out by the staff member receiving it. The cash (or receipts to account for it) should be returned to reception every week and the receipts and change returned to the finance office for accounting. Nursery Cash in the nursery is controlled by room leaders to provide petty cash for minor expenditure and in the main office as payments are received for child care places, crèche and parent and toddler group fees and staff meals. Petty cash Each room can access petty cash which is stored in a locked cabinet in the main nursery office. All petty cash expenditure is logged on an expenditure sheet with receipts retained as evidence. Once per month the remaining cash and receipts are brought to the finance office by the nursery administrator where they are counted and the stock replenished to 120. Main office receipts A float of 30 is retained in the main office, which is kept locked in a secure cabinet overnight. Money received from staff for meals taken in the nursery is collected in a pot in the nursery kitchen with staff members noting when they have paid into it. The amount in the pot must not exceed 5. The money is taken at the end of each week, bagged and labelled and kept in a locked cabinet until the main log sheet is totalled. Receipt of fees should be paid in promptly on a daily basis. Only the named following staff will have a set of keys to access the Fee Income tin: Vadna Chauhan (Children & Family Services Manager) Laura Carey (Deputy Manager) Nick Walters (Administrator) Charmaine Nethercott (Finance Administrator) Steve Sayers (Farm CEO)

5 Page no: 5 of 6 Approved: 21 January 2013 Daily Paying In Procedure: All income must be paid in on a daily basis. The following must be applied: The log sheet should be filled in with all the necessary details: Date, amount, type (cash, cheque, voucher), name of parent, name of child, account number, received by (staff member). All payments (cheques, vouchers and cash) in the tin should match with what has been logged. All income must be recorded in the duplicate book. A photo copy of the log sheet must be taken and the copy should be placed in the Daily Payment Log Sheet folder by the Administrators desk. The original log sheet with the top copy of the duplicate book should then be placed in an envelope with all the payments. This envelope must be secured and the envelope should state the date that it is a C & F Services payment and who is paying it in. This should then be put into the drop deposit box immediately by the main Farm office and details of the deposit must be logged in the book on top of the box. What to do if a payment takes place after the daily paying procedure has taken place: Take payment and issue the parent with a receipt. Put the payment in the numbered plastic container (you will find these in the Nursery office). In this container you will find an un-logged payment slip. Fill in the details on this slip and place the slip in the box with payment. Take this container to the drop deposit box immediately, log the details required in the book and drop the container into it. The next time Steve and Zoe empty the deposit box they will return the payment, the un-logged payment slip and container back down to the Nursery and give it to an office staff member so that this payment can be recorded. This slip must not be binned; it must be attached to the main log sheet when paying in money for that day. The Nursery staff member that has received the container must ensure they put a new un-logged payment slip into the container ready for the next payment. Parent & Toddlers Cash is received into this group on each day it operates as parents attend the sessions. It is counted at the end of each session, sealed into a paper envelope with the amount written on it and taken to the nursery main office. The envelope is bagged with the other nursery cash (unopened) with the amount logged onto the main nursery log sheet. Farm and gardens The contents of donations boxes in the farm and gardens should be emptied on a daily basis. They should be sealed in a labelled (with farm donations and date) bag and dropped into the deposit safe in the stairwell.

6 Page no: 6 of 6 Approved: 21 January 2013 The deposit must be noted in the log book of deposits kept by the deposit safe with the following Events Special arrangements for handling cash at events are put in place as and when needed and appropriate to the scale of event. Safes Safes are located in the following areas. Café used only to store the café float overnight and during weekend closures. A key is held by the café staff. Stairwell Deposit safe used to store daily takings from the café, reception and donations. A key is held in the finance office safe. A log book should be used to record all deposits into the safe. Stairwell Safe to store the reception float overnight and during weekend closures. A key is held by caretakers. Finance office Holds the main petty cash tin and counted cash prior to banking. A key is kept in a locked cabinet in a different location to the safe. A spare set of safe keys (all safes) are held off-site by the CEO. The terms of our insurance limit the value of cash to a maximum of 2,000 to be held in any one safe. Banking The deposit safe will be emptied on week days by two people who will record in the log which packages have been removed in the deposit safe log. The packets will be transferred to the cash office to be counted and prepared for banking. Counted funds will be kept in the finance office safe until they are banked. Funds will be banked once or twice each week with no regular pattern of days or times. Two people will take the funds to be banked in a discreet manner. If a theft of the cash is attempted the primary objective of staff is to avoid personal harm (ie to hand over items if threatened).