Good cash handling policies and procedures are critical to any organization that works with cash on a day-to-day basis. Let’s face it, cash is just too tempting for many people and it is up to management to ensure an organization safeguards its cash assets. Good cash handling can help prevent fraud in the workplace.
Every organization is different and every organization has very specific needs when it comes to cash handling. The basic premise should be that cash is never handled by only one person.
Following are some general guidelines and things to think about that can help you develop a cash handling policy specific to your organization.
- Safes should always be used in organizations that handle cash. Even small amounts of cash (petty cash) should be secured and under lock and key.
- Safes should always be opened with two people present.
- The person with the combination to the safe should not be involved in counting cash in the safe.
- All cash should be kept in safes. This should include cash drawers that are used in cash registers.
- There should be a cash count sheet. This sheet should include:
- Names of people counting cash
- Date cash is removed
- Date cash is returned
- Cash breakdown
- Two signature lines for people signing cash
- When cash or cash bags are removed from the safe, it should be counted by two people and both people should sign the cash count sheet acknowledging that the recorded amount of cash was in the bag.
- The person taking the cash should also take the signed copy of the cash record and keep it with the cash.
- When cash is returned to the safe, it should again be double counted and the cash count sheet should be signed by both parties.
These are very simplistic guidelines and should be expanded and adapted to your particular organization.
Other things to think about:
- Where is the safe located?
- Is the safe out of public sight?
- Who has keys to the room the safe is in?
- The person who has keys to the room should not be the same person who has the combination.
- Background checks should always be done on employees. Some organizations do credit checks to find out if there are financial issues with employees.
- Safe combination should be changed whenever there is staff turnover with the person holding the combination.
- There should be a drop slot in the safe to allow for one way access to the safe eliminating the need to open the safe every time something is put in there.
- Camera monitoring should always be done on safes and cash registers that are isolated and out of a manager’s sight.
Organizations lose billions of dollars each year from embezzlement. Good policies and oversight of cash handling is one way to safeguard against theft.
