SECTION C: BUSINESS AND SUPPORT SERVICES

 

BUSINESS AND SUPPORT SERVICES
CASH HANDLING PROCEDURES

Procedure

SCOPE

Navarro College departments that regularly collect cash, money orders, and checks are responsible for ensuring that adequate control procedures have been put in place in order to safeguard such collections and that the funds are timely deposited with the College cashier office.

All departments responsible for the collection of cash, money orders, and checks/or processing of credit card transactions are subject to the standards set forth in this Procedure.

PURPOSE

This procedure establishes the standards for the handling of cash, money orders, and checks and the processing of credit and debit card payments received by the College. In addition, the Procedure defines the roles and responsibilities related to the receipt, safeguarding, and deposit of cash, money orders, and other payments received by the College in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and industry standards for the protection of such assets.

DEPOSITORY BANK ACCOUNT

All cash, money orders, and checks collected by departments must be transferred to the College Cashier office for deposit in the College’s depository bank account, in accordance with the procedures set forth in this procedure.

The authority to establish or make changes to the College’s banking and investment accounts is limited to the Vice President for Finance and Administration, or her/his designee. No other person is authorized to open or make changes to a College banking or investment account.

OBTAINING APPROVAL TO ACCEPT CREDIT AND DEBIT CARD PAYMENTS

Departments must seek prior approval from the Director of Business Services and Cashiers Office to accept credit or debit card payments in connection with the sale of goods or services. Departments seeking such approval must submit a written request to the Director of Business Services and Cashiers Office.

Contributions and donations made with credit card or debit card are processed only by the Cashier Office.

EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND CHECKS

New employee must undergo a pre-employment background check prior to assuming any cash handling responsibilities. Departments must arrange with Human Resources to schedule a background check.

PETTY CASH FUNDS

These procedures provide guidance for full-time employees seeking reimbursement through petty cash and do not apply to employee reimbursement of expenses made directly through Accounts Payable via a purchase order or travel expense voucher.

Reimbursements must be:

  • for amounts less than $20.00
  • for a valid College business purpose
  • supported by proper documentation
  • submitted for reimbursement within 30 days of purchase but no later than sixty (60) days after incurring the expense. The College will follow IRS Revenue Ruling 2003-106 which states that a claim received later than sixty days after incurring the expense the reimbursed amount will be added to the taxable wages section of the W-2.

a) Procedures to request reimbursement through Petty Cash:

For each reimbursement request, please follow these steps:

  • Complete a Petty Cash Reimbursement Form (PCRF) available on the MyNC portal under Employee Services.
  • Complete and print the form, check for completeness, specifically the description of the expense and the approval signature. Verify that the expense is reasonable, necessary, and appropriate. (See below for allowable expenditures)
  • Ensure the expense is adequately documented by a receipt. Receipts and invoices should show the name of the company providing the goods or service and indicate zero balance due.
  • Take the completed and signed form to the cashiers’ office for final approval and issuance of cash.

PCRF must be submitted for reimbursement by the full-time College employee who made the purchase. Employees requesting reimbursement should be prepared to show their NC identification upon request. PCRFs with non-authorized approval signatures cannot be reimbursed.

b) Expenses Reimbursable through Petty Cash

  • Urgent need lab/classroom supplies

c) Expenses Not Reimbursable through Petty Cash

The following are business expenses that require reimbursement through a Purchase Order and/or a Travel Expense Voucher:

  • Business meals
  • Travel (mileage, public transportation fare, meals, parking, registration, hotel, etc.)
  • Office supplies (whenever possible, should be purchased at the Bookstore)
  • Personal purposes (any event or expense not directly related to conducting College business, e.g. birthday cakes, flowers, cards, gifts, etc.)
  • Office hospitality items (coffee, sugar, cookies, etc.)
  • Postage (employees at the Corsicana campus should utilize the mail room for mailing out information)
  • Sales tax (the college is a tax-exempt organization and does not reimburse Texas sales tax)
  • Tips or gratuities
  • Shipping costs
  • Subscriptions, periodicals, etc.
  • Amounts over $20.00 must be submitted through a purchase order.
SEPARATION OF DUTIES

Departments with cash handling responsibilities must ensure that no single individual is responsible for the collection, handling, depositing, and accounting of cash, money orders, and checks received by the unit. Accordingly, the following departmental duties should be performed by separate individuals:

  • Cash Handler – Collects cash, money orders, and checks; completes deposits for submission to the Cashier Office. Funds collected should be taken to the Cashier’s or Business Office by the next business day for deposit.
  • Ledger Reviewer – Reconciles departmental records of cash receipts to the general ledger on a monthly basis.

To the extent possible, a separate employee should be assigned to backup each of the individuals identified above when he or she is unavailable. In order to maintain adequate segregation of duties, the same employee should not be designated as the backup for more than one of these functions.

HANDLING CASH

Cash (i.e., currency and coins) is the most liquid form of payment and the most easily misappropriated. Cash handlers, therefore, must immediately establish a record of cash acceptance in accordance with the security standards set forth in this procedure. In addition, cash must be protected against loss upon receipt and at all points thereafter. To this end, departments with cash handling responsibilities must implement security procedures in accordance with this procedure.

Departments shall not accept non-U.S. currency as payment.

ACCEPTANCE OF MONEY ORDERS AND CHECKS

All money orders and checks presented for payment should be made payable to the “Navarro College.” Departments should instruct their payers to use this name and not a variation of the College’s name (e.g., NC). Checks should never be made payable to an individual employed by the College. Invoices and other notices used to request payment should instruct payers that checks should be made out to Navarro College. Checks should not be accepted if:

  • The check date is 90 days or more prior to the date of receipt.
  • The check has a future date.
  • The payment amount is not legible or the numerical dollar amount does not match the amount written on the check.
  • The check is signed by someone other than the holder of the account.

In addition, employees can cash personal checks in the Cashier Office for an amount less than or equal $250.00 depending on availability of cash.
Checks received that are drawn on a foreign bank account may require special handling procedures. The Cashier Office should be contacted to determine the correct procedures.
The person receiving the check must carefully examine every personal check for information that is essential for chasing the check:

  • Personalization – The customer’s complete name and address must appear on the check.
  • Date – The check date must be current.
  • Bank I.D. numbers – The check must have a bank identification number, or routing transit number, that runs across the bottom, along with the customer’s account number and check number. This information is used by a bank to identify the transaction and resolve payment issues.
  • Payee – The “Pay to the Order of” section must indicate Navarro College.
  • Dollar amounts – Both the written and numeric amount must match.
  • Customer Signature – The check should be signed in your presence and verified with photo identification.
  • Always write down in the check the driver’s license or state ID number, phone number, and date of birth of the person signing the check. Never allow the check writer to tell you the ID number always look at it yourself and record it carefully.
  • Always obtain and verify a physical address for the check writer.
PREPARATION OF RECEIPTS

Departments must prepare a receipt for each collection of cash, money orders, and checks in accordance with the following procedures:

  • A copy of the receipt should be provided to each payer making an in-person payment.
  • All voided receipts must be retained (i.e., not given to the customer) and have signed approval by a supervisor.
  • A receipt should be produced for a check payment received through the mail.
ELECTRONIC CASH REGISTERS AND POINT-OF-SALE EQUIPMENT

Electronic cash registers, micro terminals, and other point-of sale (POS) equipment used by department cash handlers must meet the following security and operational standards:

  • All cash registers and point-of-sale equipment must produce a College cash receipt for each customer.
  • The cash-recording equipment must be controlled by unique consecutive numbers generated automatically and recorded with each transaction, as well as imprinted on the customer receipt.
  • The numbering mechanism providing consecutive transaction number control must be accessible only to the manufacture’s service representative or appropriate College personnel who are independent of the cashiering function.
  • Each cash handler must be assigned a unique identifier that is not shared by or accessible to other individuals.

The purchase of electronic cash registers, micro terminals, and other Point-of-Sale (POS) equipment used for departmental cash-handling operations must be approved in advance by the Director of Business Service and Cashiers Office or the Vice President for Finance and Administration, or their designees.

PROCESSING CREDIT AND DEBIT CARD TRANSACTIONS

All credit and debit card transactions must be processed in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) adopted by the College (as PCI regulations change, procedures are updated). In accordance with those standards, credit and debit card payments may be processed for both “cardholder present” and “cardholder not present” transactions, as follows:
a) Cardholder Present – Under these circumstances, the cardholder is physically on site to present his or her credit/debit card for “swiping/inserting chip card” through the POS terminal. Identification Cards are requested for all methods of payment. The transaction is completed when the authorization code is received and the cardholder has signed the card transaction receipt. .

b) Cardholder Not Present – When the cardholder is not physically on-site, the cardholder’s data (i.e., name, card number, expiration date, billing address, etc.) would typically be collected by mail, telephone, or via a College website (email card numbers are never accepted). This transaction is completed when the cash handler enters the cardholder’s information into the POS terminal and obtains either an authorization code or rejection message from the system. New Swipe Simple method processes payments immediately and electronically with over the phone information, and no data is stored to ensure security and compliance.

Mailed and telephone requests to charge a customer’s credit or debit card must be processed as follows:

  • The authorization form must be correctly signed by the cardholder (mailed requests only).
  • The credit or debit card account number and three-digit security code must be provided along with the card expiration date.
  • The correct billing address for the credit and/or debit card must be provided.
  • When processing a debit card transaction, the PIN number should never be gathered or entered for the customer. PIN debit transactions are only allowed in a cardholder present environment where the customer enters the PIN directly into an approved keypad.
  • After a transaction has been authorized by the system, only the last four digits of the account number and the authorization code may be retained. All other information must be redacted or destroyed once a transaction has been authorized.
  • Departments should store cardholder data containing only the last four digits of the card and demographic information for payments taken by phone to verify processing. Full credit card number is immediately destroyed.

For data security reasons, credit or debit card information should never be requested or transmitted via e-mail. Departments may accept credit or debit card payments via fax transmission only if the fax machine is housed in a secure location with restricted access.

Donor contributions for non-scholarship items can be processed through either the President's Office or the Navarro College Foundation. Donor contributions for scholarship purposes should be processed through the Foundation or Navarro College Financial Aid Office.

SALE OF ADMISSION OR EVENT TICKETS

Procedures for the safeguarding and sale of admission or event tickets must meet the same standards and security requirements as those set forth in this Procedure.

Each ticket is considered both a product and a receipt. Tickets shall be consecutively pre-numbered. When tickets are produced by electronic means, the numbering system must not be accessible to the ticket seller. All ticket sales must be balanced to recorded revenue on a daily basis by the department selling the tickets. The department must also develop adequate controls to safeguard the tickets and ensure that the number of tickets sold corresponds to the expected revenue from such sales.

A full accounting of all tickets sold and payments received must be taken to the Cashier office to receipt and verify the cash.

RECONCILIATION OF CASH COLLECTED

a) Each cashier should start their day’s business with a new beginning cash and their own cash drawer (cash drawers should never be shared).
b) All checks and money orders should be made out to Navarro College.
c) All checks should be restrictively endorsed with “For Deposit Only Navarro College.”
d) Each cashier should balance their business at the end of their shift.
e) The Head cashier needs to verify that the cash received matches the cash register’s report of business by cashier.

DEPOSITING CASH PROMPTLY

The preparation of the deposits should not be done by the person collecting and recording receipts. The person preparing the deposit should be the Office Manager or his/her designated backup. To maximize cash flow and safeguard assets, deposits need to be made on a daily basis. All deposits are prepared in the Cashiers Office. The Navarro College Police department takes the locked bank bags to the College depository bank.

Updated: July 27, 2020

 

 

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