Financial Services Manual (FIN)

Effective: 6/1/1985

Revised: 7/10/2012

FIN 305: Deposits at University Cashiering Services

Purpose

To deposit collected university receipts at Cashiering Services

Source

University policy

Background

The term “cash” refers only to coin and currency; the term “check” refers to checks and credit cards. Many departments on campus receive cash and check payments. The standards listed below provide minimum cash-handling requirements for these departments. Personnel from Financial Services or University Audit and Advisory Services are available to assist departments in revising cash receipting procedures to comply with these standards. Assistance of an hour or less quarterly is provided at no charge; assistance of more than an hour may necessitate the need for the department to hire an accounting firm under contract to ASU.

Policy

Deposits at Cashiering Services are made according to procedures established by Financial Services. Departments must not make any deposits related to sponsored grants or contracts at Cashiering Services. Instead, these receipts must be delivered directly to Grant and Contract Accounting. All cash receipts are to be deposited intact at Cashiering Services without any portion being used for departmental expenditures. The university procurement policy is to be adhered to for all university purchases, and under no circumstances may purchases be made directly from cash receipts.

Note:

FIN 301–01, “Deposits—General Policy,” contains the university policy on receipt of university funds. This policy (FIN 305) calls on university departments to deposit receipts directly at Cashiering Services unless other deposit procedures are in effect for the item, as discussed in FIN 301–01 and FIN 303, “Gift Deposits (Including Gift-in-Kind Donations) and Special Event Receipts with a Gift Component.”

Each department and area on campus receiving cash payments and/or check payments are responsible for establishing procedures to ensure:

• proper hiring and training
• proper receipting of funds
• adequate physical security
• timely and secure depositing of funds
• balancing and reconciling of transactions
• separation of duties

Best Practices related to the departmental cash and check receipting is available on the Financial Services Web site. Adopting these Best Practices ensures that adequate controls in compliance with this university policy are in place. While the chief business or financial manager of each department is responsible for the adherence of staff to these policies and procedures, the chief business or financial personnel for each college and vice presidential division are also responsible and accountable to certify through the Financial Certification the following:

• Employees with fiscal responsibilities have attended, or are scheduled to attend relevant systems and processes training offered by Financial Services.
• The department has processes and monitoring activities in place to ensure compliance with all ASU cash handling and deposit policies.

In accordance with the applicable Best Practices, an employee annual review form should be completed by each employee with cash- and check-handling responsibility. This annual review form is maintained in each department’s and employee’s file.

As a supplement to the individual training that each department supervisor provides to his or her employees, Financial Services also offers the training online that can be accessed via the Financial Controls Web site. Per Best Practice standards, it is recommended this training be taken within three months of hire date and every five years thereafter.

---

Report of Cash Payments over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business

A cash payment over $10,000 received from any activity that ASU carries on as a “trade or business” is reportable to the IRS via Form 8300 within 15 days of receipt of the cash. At the time of the cash payment, the following information needs to be collected from the payer and sent to the Tax Unit of Financial Services within five days of receiving the cash payment for potential reporting to the IRS:

1. name
2. Taxpayer Identification Number
3. address, including country
4. date of birth
5. copy of ID used to verify the above, such as a driver’s license or passport

   and

6. occupation/profession/business.

Note:

Collection of tuition and fees and student account payments are not currently subject to this requirement and would not be reportable.

For assistance, please contact the Tax Unit of Financial Services at 480/965-8479.

---

Credit Card Payments

Credit card payments are processed electronically through an electronic data capture terminal, an electronic ticket system, or other electronic processing system and automatically deposited to the university’s bank account. Credit card payments processed electronically are to be maintained by the department in a secure and restricted area in compliance with credit card regulations and federal privacy laws, and are recorded in Advantage by one of the following methods as determined by Financial Services:

1. cashier receipt submitted by Financial Services

   or

2. cashier receipt submitted by the department to Cashiering Services.

Procedures

---

Methods of Depositing Collected University Receipts

Collected university receipts may be deposited at Cashiering Services by two methods:

1. Departmental Input Receipt Form

   This is the preferred form to be used by university departments to make deposits through Cashiering Services, and any coding combination authorized by Advantage can be used.

2. Advantage Online Cash Receipt Input Form

   This form is to be used when a department has multiple accounting lines with different description fields. Any coding combination authorized by Advantage can be used. Online cash receipts must be approved via an online approval process in Cashiering Services. This approval will not be applied until the originating department has delivered two copies of the receipt that it entered online and the funds to be deposited to Cashiering Services.

   Departments that desire to obtain access to the Advantage online cash receipt process should contact the Advantage Helpline at 480/965-2334.

Certain procedures need to be performed to assure that deposited monies are credited to the proper university agency/org. Each department is responsible for establishing a procedure to ensure that university funds are handled in compliance with this policy. Best Practices related to the depositing of funds at Cashiering Services are available on the Financial Services Web site. Adopting these Best Practices ensures that adequate controls in compliance with this university policy are in place.

All monies deposited must be accompanied by a properly completed Departmental Input Receipt or Advantage Cash Receipt Form. Departments that deposit large amounts of cash and checks are encouraged to obtain a locked depository bag.

Upon receipt of funds departments should:

• verify the cash and/or check amounts
• restrictively endorse all checks
• complete the appropriate university receipt form
• attach two adding machine tapes showing equal totals for deposits of three or more checks
• separate cash deposits by denomination and stack all bills so they face the same direction
• deliver the funds to be deposited, along with the completed university receipt form, to Cashiering Services
• verify the validated information on the receipt copy returned to the department, especially if the deposit was delivered in a locked depository bag or by courier

  and

• review monthly Advantage reports to verify proper posting of deposit amounts.

Cashiering Services will:

• verify that the receipt is complete and free of obvious errors
• verify that the total cash deposited agrees with the receipt total (all cash received is counted before the receipt is validated)
• verify that the adding machine tape totals attached to the checks agree with each other and with the receipt total
• verify that the credit card batch report agrees with the receipt total

  and

• process the receipt in the cashiering system and provide a copy to the department.

Cross-References

For information regarding receipt of university funds, see:

1. FIN 301–01, “Deposits—General Policy”

   and

2. FIN 303, “Gift Deposits (Including Gift-in-Kind Donations) and Special Event Receipts with a Gift Component.”

  skip navigation bar

---

FIN manual | ASU policies and procedures manuals | Index of Policies by Title | FIN manual contact | Financial Services Web site

Back to Top