CASH RECEIPTS PROCEDURES
The sales order procedure described a credit transaction that resulted in the establishment of an account receivable. Payment on the account is due at some future date, which the terms of trade determine. Cash receipts procedures apply to this future event. They involve receiving and securing the cash; depositing the cash in the bank; matching the payment with the customer and adjusting the correct account; and properly accounting for and reconciling the financial details of the transaction. The DFD in Figure 4-9 shows the relationship between these tasks. They are described in detail in the following section.
OPEN MAIL AND PREPARE REMITTANCE ADVICE. A mail room employee opens envelopes containing customers’ payments and remittance advice. Remittance advice (see Figure 4-10) contain in- formation needed to service individual customers’ accounts. This includes payment date, account number, amount paid, and customer check number. Only the portion above the perforated line is the remittance advice, which the customer removes and returns with the payment. In some systems, the lower portion of the document is a customer statement that the billing department sends out periodically. In other cases, this could be the original customer invoice, which was described in the sales order procedures.
The remittance advice is a form of a turnaround document, as described in Chapter 2. Its importance is most apparent in firms that process large volumes of cash receipts daily. For example, processing a check from John Smith with no supporting details would require a time-consuming and costly search through perhaps thousands of records to find the correct John Smith. This task is greatly simplified when the customer provides necessary account number and posting information. Because of the possibility of transcription errors and omissions, however, sellers do not rely on their customers to provide this information directly on their checks. Errors are avoided and operational efficiency is greatly improved when using remittance advice.
Mail room personnel route the checks and remittance advice to an administrative clerk who endorses the checks ‘‘For Deposit Only’’ and reconciles the amount on each remittance advice with the corresponding check. The clerk then records each check on a form called a remittance list (or cash prelist), where all cash received is logged. In this example, the clerk prepares three copies of the remittance list. The original copy is sent with the checks to the record and deposit checks function. The second copy goes with the remittance advice's to the update AR function. The third goes to a reconciliation task.
RECORD AND DEPOSIT CHECKS. A cash receipts employee verifies the accuracy and completeness of the checks against the prelist. Any checks possibly lost or misdirected between the mail room and