Certificate III in Financial Services
Balance cash holdings / FNSRTS308Friday morning
The Customer Service Officer (Teller)
The Customer Service Officer (CSO) is the worker most people associate with their bank. Among their responsibilities are opening accounts, dealing with customer enquiries, cashing cheques, accepting deposits and loan payments, and processing withdrawals. CSO’s make up approximately one quarter of bank employees and conduct most of a bank’s routine transactions.
Prior to starting their work, CSO’s receive and count an amount of working cash for their drawers. A supervisor—usually the head CSO—verifies this amount. CSO’s disburse this cash during the day and are responsible for its safe and accurate handling. Before leaving, tellers count their cash on hand to ensure it balances:
– Starting balance less withdrawals plus deposits.
Being a teller requires a great deal of attention to detail.
As banks begin to offer more and increasingly complex financial services, CSO’s are required to identify customers who might want to buy these services. This task requires them to learn about the various financial products and services the bank offers so that they can explain them to customers and refer interested customers to appropriate specialised sales staff where required.
In most banks, head CSO’s manage teller operations. They set work schedules, ensure that the proper procedures are adhered to, and act as mentors to less experienced CSO’s. They may access the safe, ensure that the correct cash balance is in the safe, and oversee large cash transactions.
Bank Deposit
Customers will make a deposit at a financial institution for many reasons, including:
· Put money into their account (eg. deposit wages, payment for something sold, gift)
· Put money into someone else’s account (eg. Wages)
· Pay a bill (eg electricity)
· Pay their credit card
· Depositing business takings from sales
Customer deposits will usually be made up of cash, cheques or a combination of both of these.
Cheques
Cheques need to be checked before they are banked, to help ensure they will not be dishonoured:
· The date is not post-dated (dated ahead of today’s date)
· The cheque is not stale (dated more than 15 months ago)
· The cheque is signed
· The payee is correct. If another name appears next to ‘Pay’, there should be an endorsement on the back of the cheque, signing the cheque over.
· The amount in words and the amount in figures agree
· Any alterations are signed by the drawer of the cheque
When customers write out cheques they should do the following:
· Write neatly and clearly
· When writing the amount - make sure you write the amount as close as possible to the $ sign and 'the sum of'
· This is to prevent someone altering the cheque details
· Use a dash instead of a decimal point in figures
· Write the payee's name clearly
· Cross out incorrect information if a mistake has been made, write the correct amount then sign the correction
· Cross the cheque 'not negotiable' by either writing or using a 'not negotiable stamp' (some cheque books are preprinted with not negotiable
· Don't cross cheques marked 'Cash'
Deposit books
Customers may have a Deposit Book with their bank account details preprinted on the form, fill in a blank deposit slip or use a preprinted form with the bank account details to pay a bill.
Different size deposit books are available depending on the size of the deposits a customer will regularly make. For instance a larger business may have a bigger deposit book whereas a smaller business or personal customer may have a smaller size deposit book.
A bank deposit slip records all the amounts which make up the deposit. In addition the Bank Deposit slip has the customer’s account details, date and deposit total. The person making the deposit signs the deposit slip.
Below is an example of a small bank deposit slip.
FED Bank Deposit/ Account No
Date
Notes
Drawer / Bank / Branch / Coin
Total
(Proceeds of cheques will not be available until cleared) / Teller / No of cheques______
Signature / Total cheques
Name of Account /
TOTAL
Below is an example of a large bank deposit. Full details of the deposit are recorded by the customer on a separate sheet of paper and the deposit slip is called a summary slip that only shows the cheques total, notes, coin and deposit total.
FED Bank Deposit/ Account No
Date
Notes
SUMMARY SLIP / Coin
Total
No of cheques______
(Proceeds of cheques will not be available until cleared) / Teller
Name of Account / Total cheques
TOTAL
Example of deposit slip for bill payment:
Cash Summary Slip/ Cash docket
A cash docket is used to assist the teller to record the number of notes and coins:
CASH DOCKET
Tellers Stamp / COIN / NOTES
$2.00 / $100
$1.00 / $ 50
$0.50 / $ 20
$0.20 / $ 10
$0.10 / $ 5
$0.05 / TOTAL NOTES
TOTAL COIN / TOTAL COIN
ACCOUNT NUMBER:______ / TOTAL CASH
Cash Deposits
An important part of working in a financial institution such as a bank or credit union is processing customer’s cash deposits.
Before we look at the step by step process for taking a cash deposit we need to understand the correct way to group and count money (bank notes).
How Do We Group Money?
Notes
Money or bank notes are counted and stored in a system of grouping a certain number of each bank note together. There are special names for these groups depending on the type of bank notes you may be dealing with.
Flat: 10 notes laid flat and secured by a rubber band. (A flat of $5 notes would equal $50, $10 : $100, $20 : $200 and so on).
Section: 10 flats secured by a rubber band. (A section of $5 notes would equal $500, $10 : $1000, $20 : $2000 and so on).
Start counting the sections with the largest denomination first ie. $100, $50.... then the flats. Once all the sections and flats are counted then count the loose notes to get the total of each of the denominations eg.
$ 10 Notes2 Sections / $2,000
5 Flats / $ 500
4 loose notes / $ 40
Total $10 notes / $2,540
Note weighing/ counting machines will normally be used for large cash deposits.
Coins
Coins are normally bagged in resealable plastic bags or occasionally rolled in paper wrappers. Rolled coins are now quite rare.
Bags of coin can only contain one denomination, so a $10 bag can only contain (say) 50c pieces. It cannot contain a mixture of 50c, 20c or 10c pieces.
The counting of coins is usually left until after the notes. The same principles apply: start with the largest denomination of coin first, count the coin bags and then count the loose coins.
Coin weighing/ counting machines will normally be used for large coin deposits.
5 cents in bags of $210, 20 and 50 cent coins in bags of $10
$1 coins in bags of $20
$2 coins in bags of $50
If there are not enough coins to make up a full bag then put them in bags with the amount written on a piece of paper and placed inside the bags eg 27 x 10c = $2.70
Counting Money
Coins for bagging
Count in lots of twos
Coin / Amount / $ value / Counting5c / 100 / $5 / 10,20.30,40,50,60,70,80,90,1,10,20
10c / 100 / $10 / 20,40,60,80,1,20,40 etc
20c / 50 / $10 / 40,80,1,40,80,2
50c / 20 / $10 / 1,2,3,etc
$1 / 20 / $20 / 2,4,6,8,10,12,14
$2 / 25 / $50 / 4,8,10,4,8,20,4,8,30,4,8,40,4,8,50
Notes
Finger walk the notes one at a time with face value on right hand side.
Notes / Amount / $ value / Counting$5 / 10 / $50 / 5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50
$10 / 10 / $100 / 10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,100
$20 / 10 / $200 / 20,40,60,80,1,20,40,60,80,2
$50 / 10 / $500 / 50,1,150,2,250,3,350,4,450,5
$100 / 10 / $1000 / 100,200,300,400,500,600,700,800,900,1000
Once counted place elastic band around group of ten – FLAT
Then bundle up ten flats - SECTION
Policies and procedures
All financial organisations have set policies and procedures to follow in relation to the handling of cash including processing of customer deposits, withdrawals and cash limits. Therefore it is important that all employees follow these as it will reduce the chance of errors occurring.
Taking a Deposit
Step 1
Ensure the customer has provided a deposit slip and check that all details are completed. Verify account number from bank records.
Step 2
Count the Cash first:
Start with the Sections
Largest denomination first (i.e. $100 before $50 before $20 etc) and put them to one side when completed. If the customer has only provided their notes in flats, count these first and when you collect 10 flats, wrap these into a section.
Step 3
Count the Flats next, starting with the largest denomination first (i.e. $100 before $50 before $20 etc) and put them to one side when completed. You should now be left with the loose notes. These will be dealt with progressively in the next steps.
Step 4
Starting with the largest denomination. count the sections, then the flats and then the loose notes. Record the amount on the cash docket.
Step 5
Repeat Step 4 with every other denomination in descending order i.e. $50, $20, $10 etc.
Step 6
Add up the numbers on your cash docket and compare this figure with the deposit slip. If there is a discrepancy, point out the difference to the customer and recount the appropriate notes with the customer. If they agree with your calculations have them change the deposit slip and initial the change.
Step 7
Tick the cash on the customers deposit slip to show that it is correct.
Put your cash away now. Ensure cash docket is completed correctly and stamp.
Step 8 (If there are no cheques in the deposit go to step 9)
For each cheque deposited check the following:
· The date is not post-dated (dated ahead of today’s date)
· The cheque is not stale (dated more than 15 months ago)
· The cheque is signed
· The payee is correct. If another name appears next to ‘Pay’, there should be an endorsement on the back of the cheque, signing the cheque over.
· The amount in words and the amount in figures agree
· Any alterations are signed by the drawer of the cheque
If the cheque is in order ensure that the correct information is recorded on the deposit slip and tick the number of cheques received is correct.
Step 9
Check the additions on the deposit slip are correct. If not have customer change and initial the changes.
Step 10
Initial and stamp the deposit slip and process in accordance with procedures. Give the customer a receipt that has been stamped and initialled.
CASH DOCKET
Tellers Stamp / COIN / NOTES
$2.00 / $100
$1.00 / $ 50
$0.50 / $ 20
$0.20 / $ 10
$0.10 / $ 5
$0.05 / TOTAL NOTES
TOTAL COIN / TOTAL COIN
ACCOUNT NUMBER:______ / TOTAL CASH
FEDBANK DEPOSIT / Account No 146957
Date
Notes / 100.00
Drawer / Bank / Branch / Coin
Total / 100.00
(Proceeds of cheques will not be available until cleared) / Teller / No of cheques______
Signature Jan Jones / Total cheques
Name of Account Jan Jones /
TOTAL
/ 100.00Processing a withdrawal
Step 1
Ensure the withdrawal is dated.
Step 2
Check the account name and number are correct.
Step 3
Check the customer signature against the account signature on record.
Step 4
Check the balance of the customer’s account to ensure that they have the available funds.
Step 5
Confirm with customer what denomination they would like and record this on a cash slip.
Customer name:
Account Number:
DENOMINATION / TOTAL VALUE$100
$50
$20
$10
$5
$1
$2
0.50
0.20
0.10
0.05
TOTAL CASH
Step 6
Take the required cash out of the drawer.
Step 7
Count the cash and then count it again in front of the customer.
Step 8
Hand the cash to the customer.
Step 9
Stamp and initial the withdrawal slip.
Step 10
Place the withdrawal slip and cash slip in the drawer.
Processing a cash cheque
Step 1
Check the following:
· The date is not post-dated (dated ahead of today’s date)
· The cheque is not stale (dated more than 15 months ago)
· The cheque is signed
· The cheque is payable to cash or has been opened
· The amount in words and the amount in figures agree
· Any alterations are signed by the drawer of the cheque
Step 2
Check there is no stop payment on the cheque.
Step 3
Check the customer signature against the account signature on record.
Step 4
Check the balance of the customer’s account to ensure that they have the available funds.
Step 5
Confirm with customer what denomination they would like and record this on a cash slip.
Step 6
Take the required cash out of the drawer.
Step 7
Count the cash and then count it again in front of the customer.
Step 8
Hand the cash to the customer.
Step 9
Stamp the cheque.
Step 10
Place the cheque in the drawer.
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CSO limits
According to policy the CSO is allowed to hold a certain amount of cash in their CSO drawer.