Donation amount mismatch

When we were verifying amounts for donations this week, we were off by one dollar. We tracked it down to coins being entered as cash by mistake, but now I have a puzzling question.

If, hypothetically, a cash donor writes the wrong amount on the donation slip, and this is not caught before all of the cash is pooled together, what would we need to do? It would be impossible at that point to determine which donor the discrepancy belongs to.

Like I said, our problem was something else, and we fixed it already, so this isn't an urgent question, but I haven't been able to find an answer to it.

mattvchandler wrote:When we were verifying amounts for donations this week, we were off by one dollar. We tracked it down to coins being entered as cash by mistake, but now I have a puzzling question.

If, hypothetically, a cash donor writes the wrong amount on the donation slip, and this is not caught before all of the cash is pooled together, what would we need to do? It would be impossible at that point to determine which donor the discrepancy belongs to.

Like I said, our problem was something else, and we fixed it already, so this isn't an urgent question, but I haven't been able to find an answer to it.

You're right that with cash there would be no way to track it down. That's why you follow the The Companionship Principle when processing donations. If you truly follow that principle, the chance of this happening is close to nil.

mattvchandler wrote:If, hypothetically, a cash donor writes the wrong amount on the donation slip, and this is not caught before all of the cash is pooled together, what would we need to do? It would be impossible at that point to determine which donor the discrepancy belongs to.

If the companionship principle is followed and the contents of each donation envelope is verified immediately as the envelope is opened then I cannot see how any discrepancy would not be caught before pooling the cash.

The cash for each donation should only be added to the processed donations cash pool after the donation is processed. Verification and then processing each donation using the MLS software must be accomplished before the cash is combined with the other processed donations.

As the donations are verified and a discrepancy is noted between the amounts on the Tithing and Other Offerings slip and the checks, cash and coins found in the envelope then the donor should be contacted and the discrepancy resolved before processing the donation on the MLS software.

This is why you keep some change in your drawer. Sometimes kids are off a few cents and it isn't worth a phone call or your time.

Quicky wrote:This is why you keep some change in your drawer. Sometimes kids are off a few cents and it isn't worth a phone call or your time.

While this can certainly solve the problem, it goes against the church financial training and will (OK, should) be flagged by an auditor if discovered. If the training is followed, as Alan and JD have already pointed out, then this is not needed. If there indeed is an error between the slip and the amount in the envelope, then a call is warranted every time.

mattvchandler wrote:When we were verifying amounts for donations this week, we were off by one dollar. We tracked it down to coins being entered as cash by mistake, but now I have a puzzling question.

If, hypothetically, a cash donor writes the wrong amount on the donation slip, and this is not caught before all of the cash is pooled together, what would we need to do? It would be impossible at that point to determine which donor the discrepancy belongs to.

Like I said, our problem was something else, and we fixed it already, so this isn't an urgent question, but I haven't been able to find an answer to it.

As a standard practice we started the tradition of marking any needed changes to a donation slip in red pencil so that it would be more easy to determine what was originally on the donation slip from any changes that were made after it was received.

To minimize the problem you mentioned above, we began writing the denominations of the currency on the back of each donation slip that had cash and/or coin. For example, for a cash and coin donation of $36.52 we would write the following on the back of donation slip in red pencil:

$10 x 1
$5 x 3
$1 x 7
25¢ x 8
10¢ x 20
5¢ x 8
1¢ x 12

While that adds a tedious step to processing cash donations, it proved to be an immense timesaver in tracking down discrepancies on several occasions after that.

jbh001 wrote:As a standard practice we started the tradition of marking any needed changes to a donation slip in red pencil so that it would be more easy to determine what was originally on the donation slip from any changes that were made after it was received.

To minimize the problem you mentioned above, we began writing the denominations of the currency on the back of each donation slip that had cash and/or coin. For example, for a cash and coin donation of $36.52 we would write the following on the back of donation slip in red pencil:

$10 x 1
$5 x 3
$1 x 7
25¢ x 8
10¢ x 20
5¢ x 8
1¢ x 12

While that adds a tedious step to processing cash donations, it proved to be an immense timesaver in tracking down discrepancies on several occasions after that.

Yikes. Tedious doesn't even begin to describe how that step would bog down our weekly donations. We count each individual donation two times: once when the envelope is opened and once when the donation is entered. Check-only donations go in one stack, cash donations go in another stack, and anything with coin gets its own separate pile.

And our Stake Auditor pokes us each audit because we only count twice, not a third time after we transmit and print the report (like he wants). But, then again, I am the one with a Auditor who makes our audits go 6 hours because he does not audit, he inspects every transaction.