MAKNA HAVE REGULARLY SCHEDULED CHECK-SIGNING MEETINGS

If company management insists on signing all checks, in place of the utilization of signature stamps, then a accounts payable staff must either track down these individuals and loom threateningly over them while they sign the checks, or else meekly leave piles of checks on the desks and hope for the completed checks back within very few weeks. Either approach is unacceptable, since the very first puts the accounting staff in the uncomfortable position of forcing managers to interrupt their workdays to be able to sign checks, while the latter approach disrupts the timely distribution of checks to suppliers and employees. A great way to solve this difficulty is to set up for regularly scheduled check-signing meetings, preferably just after scheduled check runs. In so doing, managers can have already blocked out time with this work and will feel less compelled to drop other work to perform their signing duties. Also, this means that the accountant delivering the checks can sit and amicably discuss difficulties with the check signer, such as queries about the cause of some payments, while also presenting issues on behalf of the accounting department. Because of the increased amount of communication available under this process, it’s not unusual for a secretary controller to provide the checks, as opposed to an accounting clerk.