Storage of weekly donation records

I wanted to pass along a successful idea for storing the weekly donation records.
Fill a large 3" binder with 50 clear sheet protectors and slip a label in the binder's spine pocket for the year. Insert each week's batch records into a single sheet protector, repeat weekly for a the complete year. Continue with the process until four binders have been created, or start out creating four binders (recommended). The four binders allow you to maintain three years plus current year for record retention. Once you have gone through the four years with the binders, at the beginning of a new year clear out the oldest year's binder and properly dispose. Reuse the cleared binder and relabel the binder with the current year.

The benefits have been:
Clean, organized, compact way to keep the year together.
Stake auditors and the bishop find it very easy to work with and review.
Easier to maintain and keep track of the required years of retention.

Where do you store those four large 3-inch binders? Do they fit in the filing cabinet?

What I've done is to put a week's donations into an old stationary envelope from the prior bishop and write the date on the front. Then I put them in the filing cabinet in chronological order.

At the beginning of the next year, after the tithing report is turned in, we stick them in the box tithing envelopes come in. (Somewhat haphazardly given the mismatch of dimensions.) Write a destroy date on them, and put them on the high shelf in a locked cabinet.

We store the current year in a large locked drawer in the clerks office and the additional 3 years of binders are in a locked upper cabinet. I am sure you could lay them down to fit in a filing cabinet.

We have additional binders which hold expense backup records that have been 3-hole punched for each year . We choose not to put them in sheet protectors because we are accessing the backup detail, receipts, etc. for the expense disbursements more often.

The old stationary envelopes is exactly what we were trying to get away from since it is so difficult to review as an auditor, especially to check for sequential processing of the weekly batches. I also enjoy breaking "traditions", even in the clerk's office.

mildengr wrote:The old stationary envelopes is exactly what we were trying to get away from since it is so difficult to review as an auditor, especially to check for sequential processing of the weekly batches. I also enjoy breaking "traditions", even in the clerk's office.

There is no way we could fit a week's worth of donation slips into a single sheet protector. Even if we could, there would be no practical way of maintaining their order unless we strap them together with a rubber band or something similar, which would only increase the thickness.

The system I used as a finance clerk was simple. In our filing cabinet, I had two large folders. Once held MLS expense reports, check requests, and backup documents for January - June. The other held similar items for July - December. The documents were filed by check number. The donation slips, batch records, and other donation records were put in #10 envelopes, with the date marked on them. The envelopes kept everything in order, which makes it easy to run through the audit. The envelopes were filed in chronological order. All of this was done to keep things organized and make it easy to find particular items for the audit.

As an auditor, I still find that to be my favorite system.

One problem with sheet protectors is that I find that laser printed pages frequently bind to the protector creating a number of minor problems and discouraging re-use.

I think binders with sheet protectors would be a lot easier to deal with, because you could pull the whole thing out of the cabinet without worrying about holding the sides carefully so nothing falls out. Some of them might get a little bit thick some days, but not too thick for a sheet protector. And if you put the laser-printed sheets at the back of each sheet protector, they're less likely to stick.

russellhltn wrote:One problem with sheet protectors is that I find that laser printed pages frequently bind to the protector creating a number of minor problems and discouraging re-use.

I know your concern, but we have not had that problem so far. Maybe the quality of the sheet protector or toner has improved. On the box it says the sheet protectors are heavyweight non-glare with no photocopy transfer.

We used hanging folders with a months worth of records in each folder. Four years easily fits in one drawer. We secure all the records for a week with a staple, and put it in the hanging folder for that month.

At the end of the year, we throw out the last year and move the 12 empty folders to the front of the drawer.

We use 2 drawers in the locked Filing cabinet for 3 yrs plus the current year. Each monthly hanging file holds 5 or 6 manilla folders: one for each week's donation records and one for the month's expenses (the expenses are filed numerically by check #). Each week's donation slips are tucked in a leftover envelope from the last Bishop to keep them all together (we used to staple them but the auditor made us un-staple them for him and then we had to re-staple to keep it all together). Completed Bishop's Storehouse forms and the Storehouse report are filed right behind the last Manilla folder for each month.

This is a system our Stake came up with so all wards file the same. It seems complex at first, but makes the audit go very easy - you can pull out a full month at a time and the auditor has everything he needs, separated by week, in that one package. The Stake purchased the supplies for each ward to start this system and then instructed the wards they were expected to manage it (replace worn-out folders etc).

I feel better keeping the completed storehouse forms and report in the locked filing cabinet in my office where only my councilors and exec secretary have access, since the folder also contains the budget analysis report for each family. Feels a bit more private and secure.

The only secure lockable location in our ward is in the Clerk's office. As the Priest Quorum meets in the Bishop's office and they are usually waiting there before he get's there for Quorum meeting, keeping anything sensitive in the Bishop's office is not a good idea for our situation.