Cash Transaction Procedures

(investment fund calls or reallocation transfers). The College requests advance
notification for incoming wires, and most agencies provide such notification. Investment
accounts are established with authorized account(s) – generally, only one - to which the
investment firms can transfer funds. To add an account to the list, the fund managers
typically request significant documentation, sometimes a board resolution. These
industry-standard requirements of the fund managers mitigate the risk of any individual at
the College directing funds into an unauthorized account. Other agencies provide
different types of controls. The Commonwealth of Virginia, for example, sends emails to
at least two individuals at the College before transferring funds into a designated College
bank account for the state tuition assistance program.
Cash is sometimes received by departments other than the business office. An
example of such receipts would be athletic event concessions, t-shirts sold for a
fundraiser, etc. In these cases the department collects the money and then brings it into
the business office with a checklist. If the activity occurs after business hours, the
department places the deposit into a locking bank bag and puts it into one of the two safes
located outside the business office. One safe is in Nininger Hall and the other is in the
Kline Campus Center. The safes have two compartments with a drop slot into the top
compartment. The department notifies the Campus Police and Safety Department to
request a cash transfer. Either the Chief of Campus Police or the Sergeant of Campus
Police delivers the deposit to the business office the next morning. The Controller is the
only other person, besides the two named individuals from Campus Police, who has
access to the top compartment of the safes. The bottom compartments are used to secure
any petty cash funds before the event. The departments control the combination to the
bottom compartment.
Procedures for the receipt of cash, checks and securities as donations are
established jointly between the Office of Institutional Advancement and Finance. See
OIA Contribution Processing Procedures for these procedures.
Cash Disbursements
For disbursements made by check, the process is mostly performed by the
Accounts Payable Manager (APM) in accounts payable. The APM receives a voucher or
purchase order, approved from the appropriate department chair, with a general ledger
account number assigned. Sometimes the request comes via email. The APM is
responsible for contacting the department chair/manager for any missing GL numbers.
For invoices received directly by the APM, the APM first attempts to match the invoice
to an approved purchase order. If there is a match and all items from the invoice have
been properly received by the ordering department, then the invoice can be paid without
additional processing. Any discrepancies are resolved by the APM with the ordering
department before vendor payment is initiated. Some invoices are first received by the
ordering departments and are approved by the department chair/manager and then sent to
the APM to be paid. The APM runs accounts payable checks on Mondays and Thursdays.
See AP Check Processing Procedure for more details. After checks are written, the
Controller transmits a file to the bank which includes the check number, check amount
and the payee information. Any check that is presented for payment which is not on file