Show Me The Money

Each month, the Treasurer gets to extract money from the other Lizards, dump it into the bank and write a check to the broker. In theory, the money extraction occurs at the meeting, and the rest of it occurs in the comfort and privacy of the software, the bank and the post office.

Collecting the Money at the Meeting

This is the easy part. Just write down the amount of the check and note if any part of it is for petty cash on the dues sheet. Make sure you record the check number also. It's easier to track checks, so that's the preferred mechanism for this sort of thing. However, if someone does want to make a cash deposit, there is a little book of receipts in the cash bag. Also note if there were special instructions for the check. The most common thing that will be different about a check will be that one of the couples in the group will write it for both of them. Usually the split is fifty-fifty. (Once in awhile, there'll be a split that isn't. Usually it will be one of the spousal units catching up with the other, or the other spousal units playing a little joke on the other and getting ahead.) Another thing that comes up periodically would be a direct sale of shares between members. We launder this through the club as one Lizard cashing out n shares without a commission, and another one buying that many shares, and the check will be written by the Loot Lizards to the cash out. This keeps the tax data correct for both Lizards and leaves a secondary paper trail of the transaction.

Loot Lizards can put in whatever amount they want, within percentage ownership limitations. Mostly, we see multiples of 5 or 10 dollars, but there's no particular problem with taking a check for 53.79 if that's what they want to put in this month. Be careful about recording checks for unusual amounts; these are the ones where a typo is most likely to occur.

Petty Cash

Petty cash can be written on the same check as the normal payment. When writing it down, note the total amount of the check (eg: $50) and then how it is divided between payment and petty cash by putting a slash in between the amounts (eg: $38/$12). Since we handle petty cash as an annual thing, one the major banes of the Treasurer's existence (eg: figuring out how many meetings a member skipped and then figuring out how much petty cash has to come off the top this month) is pretty much gone. For new members, we assess the $1 a month thing out of their first check. For members who skipped the January meeting, petty cash for 12 months comes out of the next check.

Making Notes of Stuff To Do

The other thing that usually ends up on the dues sheets is stuff that the Treasurer needs to take care of by the next meeting. This includes stock transactions, checking into things for various members, and occasionally where the next meeting is. Sometimes we include stuff like address changes, math problems, doodles, Sven's phone number or other irrelevancies - it's not a sacred piece of paper. (Every now and again, even the stock buys won't make it there during the meeting and get added after the meeting.)

When a stock buy or sale is to be done, put both the name and the symbol. There are a lot of stocks with similar symbols and there are many companies with similar names. For new stocks, it's worth double checking this through SmartMoney or Yahoo.

Collecting the Money after the Meeting

Often, a Lizard will forget the checkbook or want to mail a check. Nod pleasantly and ignore anyone who says they're mailing a check. They mean well, and it's always a pleasant surprise when one of them does. It can take several days for the Lizard sansa-checkbook to remember to bring a check or the checkbook to work. A lot of times, even the "I'll bring a check to work" Lizards change their minds, too. (Usually they'll wait until Wednesday or Thursday of the following week to come to that conclusion.) In the earlier years of the club when we genuinely needed all the checks the Treasurer would go out and beat the bushes looking for delinquents; now that's not really needed, and the current Treasurer has better things to do than run monthly skip traces on 3 or 4 members.

The real problem here is getting a late check, the dues sheet, the software, and the deposit slip in the same place at the same time. It makes things a little cleaner for the auditors (and the Treasurer) to make a single deposit per meeting, so a lot of times, it'll be Monday or Tuesday after a meeting before all the checks are in. Although the bylaws state that we're supposed to do buys ASAP, if we have to wait for funds (and we usually do), it's ok to wait as long as it takes the slowest Lizard to get their fiscal ass in gear. Occasionally, a member will be so spectacularly late as to miss the deposit. Credit the check for the current meeting, but it's ok to hold it until the next deposit rather than make a special trip to the bank. It's also ok to make out the deposit slip and decree that the offender gets to make the special trip to the bank. (The only problem is getting the deposit receipt back.)

Contemplating the Deposit/Crediting Payments/Filling Out the Deposit Slip

Once you've got enough payments, you can contemplate making the deposit.

First off, the payments need to be credited in the software. As you make up the deposit slip, compare back to the dues sheet to be sure that the amounts and check numbers are correct, and enter it into the Treasurer's Software. (Members/Enter New Transaction/Deposits - Mult). Mostly, this will be fees, except in January (February/March/new members) when we have to do Petty Cash. (Petty Cash is $1 a month, prorated for withdrawals and new Lizards.) It's to our advantage to only do this once, because you end up with a single neat entry in the ledger proclaiming "9 member payments" rather than "n member payments" and 5 separate late ones. (It makes it nicer for the auditors not to have to go back and figure out which n actually paid on time.)

Check the amount in the software against the amount on the deposit slip. They should match. Checks are endorsed by stamping the back of them with the rubber stamp in the cash bag.
 

Making the Deposit/Remembering To Go To The Bank

Since the sole remaining Treasurer doesn't ordinarily go out for lunch and has direct deposit, we then begin the cycle related to remembering to go to the bank. As long as all the checks are in, the deposit usually gets made on the Saturday morning after the meeting. (This gives the Lizards who need to move some cash to cover the check a little extra time.) The broker check then gets mailed on Monday morning; again, to give checks an extra day or two to clear. (If a Lizard bounces a check, we're probably ok on the broker check; the petty cash lives in the bank and we've got enough of a surplus to cover a little bit of fiscal confusion.)

Then, take the checks to the bank - Great Flakes is our bank; they are in the process of turning into TCF.  Staple the deposit slip onto the relevant dues sheet. The cycle of pain related to the deposit is now complete.

Making the Broker Deposit

With our monthly statement, the broker has started including envelopes and preprinted deposit slips, including the address and everything. (You'd think that'd be pretty basic, but oddly enough, this is a new development for our broker - we used to make a monthly trek to the website to find out where to mail things this month.) Write the check, record it in the software as a funds transfer and in the checkbook, and pop that puppy in the mail.

You're done.