Before processing a withdrawal, you have to be sure that the value of the club hasn't gone down between the meeting that the Lizard announced they were leaving at and when the assets we had to sell to cover that withdrawal have actually settled. If they have, then a special valuation needs to be done. (EG: If the valuation stands at $10.00 and a member decides to withdraw, and the market goes down by a lot, if the valuation is worth $8.00 after the sale of assets, they have to cash out at current value.)
If we have cash in the bank to cover a withdrawal, the Treasurer can usually get it done inside a week. (Maybe faster now that we've got an actual checking account.)
If funds need to settle from the sale of stocks and we need to get a check from the broker, it can take a couple weeks, or if we have to wait for money from the sale of one of the drip stocks, it can take even longer.
When we process a withdrawal (Members/Enter New Transaction/Withdrawal in the software), we return the total valuation less 3% or $200.00, whichever is smaller. (The 3% ensures that the last member over the wall doesn't get stuck with all the brokerage commissions and random fees. 3% was what the early version of the NAIC Accounting manual recommended.)
The cap of $200.00 came into being at the time Heidi and Jerry left. At the time, their fees would have been into the $300.00 range, each, which didn't seem fair. The 3% made sense when we were a new club, and didn't have that much in the way of assets. The $200.00 cap seems on the high side of reasonable, but is enough to cover most of the broker fees in the event we need to sell.
Another thing that we allow is the direct sale of shares in between members. We treat this as one Lizard selling n shares without a commission and another buying n shares, just like new ones. Normally, I'll put something on the memo line, but because the treasurer software won't let you do more than one type of transaction for the same member on the same day, this got to be a pain (oh, say when Heidi and Jerry bought shares directly from Mark, or when the Barb and Don bought shares from Heidi). Now I'll note it on the copy of the withdrawal and the dues sheet, and try to put something on the memo line for the purchaser, but typically, this gets ugly fast, especially if more than one member is involved. Since we don't typically lose members that often (1999 was a banner year for it), notes on the paperwork should be fine.
At a minimum, we'd like a copy of the check and the withdrawal report with comments on it in the folder so that it's there if we need it. If something other than the $200 cap or 3% thing comes into play for a member making a withdrawal, make sure you say why, and what members made direct purchases. (For example, I have no trouble seeing the Loot Lizards voting to waive the fee altogether in the case of one of the members withdrawing due to some severe hardship.)
In the case of complete withdrawals, also refund the prorated petty cash in a separate check.