Page 64 - Accounting Best Practices

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3–28 Incorporate Copy Protection Features into Checks
it is important to consider the cost of the printer. As it is generally a more expen-
sive tractor-feed model, this approach is probably not cost-effective unless there
are a substantial number of manual checks being created.
A third alternative is to make the process of creating a manual check so diffi-
cult that requesters will avoid this approach. For example, the request may
require the signature of a senior manager (who will be less than happy to be inter-
rupted for the signature) or multiple approving signatures. In addition, the
accounting department could charge an exorbitant amount for this service to the
requesting department on the corporate financial statements. Further, a report
itemizing all manual check requests can be sent to senior management each
month, highlighting who is bothering the accounting staff with these items. Any
combination of these actions should reduce the use of manual checks.

Cost: Installation time:

3–27 HAVE REGULARLY SCHEDULED CHECK-SIGNING MEETINGS
If company management insists on signing all checks, as opposed to the use of
signature stamps, then the accounts payable staff must either track down these
people and loom threateningly over them while they sign the checks, or else
meekly leave piles of checks on their desks and hope to receive the completed
checks back within not too many weeks. Either approach is unacceptable, since
the first puts the accounting staff in the uncomfortable position of forcing managers
to interrupt their workdays in order to sign checks, while the latter approach
interferes with the timely distribution of checks to suppliers and employees.
A good way to resolve this difficulty is to arrange for regularly scheduled
check-signing meetings, preferably immediately after scheduled check runs. By
doing so, managers will have already blocked out time for this work and will feel
less compelled to drop other work to complete their signing duties. Also, it means
that the accountant delivering the checks can sit and amicably discuss issues with
the check signer, such as queries about the reason for some payments, while also
presenting issues on behalf of the accounting department. Because of the
increased level of communication available under this approach, it is not unusual
for an assistant controller to deliver the checks, rather than an accounting clerk.

Cost: Installation time:

3–28 INCORPORATE COPY PROTECTION FEATURES
INTO CHECKS

Though rare, check counterfeiters occasionally either modify a check created by
a company or create an entirely new one, resulting in significant losses to the