How Customers' Accounts Are Kept

His first transactions probably will be with the teller, who, after taking over the bills for the day, hands those which are payable at the bank to the ledgerkeeper by way of presentation. Glancing at them all, this officer selects those bearing the signatures of parties who have accounts in his ledger, makes himself certain as to the due date and as to the genuineness of the signatures, and then, taking each bill in turn, refers to the makers' accounts. If any customer has given special instructions, stopping payment of a particular cheque or bill, forbidding the charging up of bills or notes, etc., they will be recorded plainly at the head of the page; and, as the balance is there at the order of the customer, his instructions are to be heeded.

There is another important consideration to be borne in mind here. It has reference to the grade of credit possessed by the signers of the bills, and the state of their respective liability accounts. If the name signed is that of a customer who has nothing under discount, or whose credit is of the highest grade, his bills may be charged at once, provided the balance is sufficient to contain them. So may the bills of others who are not so strong, and who have a line of discounts at the bank, provided they have balances of the requisite size to pay all bills due and wish to pay them. But it often happens that in the batch received from the teller will be a number of bills signed by a customer who has enough to pay one or some, but not all.

Charging Up Discounted Bills

The ledger-keeper has to remember that there are discounted bills as well as bills for collection in the batch. The bank has an interest in getting its discounted bills paid before those held merely for collection. Because of these considerations the new ledger-keeper may be instructed to refer his selected bills to the manager before charging them up.

Before taking them in, he makes sure that he can inform the manager of the balances of the customers whose bills are in question without having to make several trips back and forth between his desk and the manager's room. After receiving instruction daily for a time he will be able to tell pretty well which bills may, and which may not, be charged.

The ledger is easy to understand. There are two or more main columns, each one having five subdivisions - for the date, for particulars, for debits, credits, and the balance. Carefulness and accuracy are especially necessary in posting. A careless or inaccurate man will have his hands full of trouble on balance days.

The entries are simple. First, the date, then the particulars-abbreviated into one word or number - if particulars are entered; next, the amount, placed in whichever of the two columns-debit or credit-it belongs, and finally the balance that remains after deducting or adding the amount from or to the balance standing after the next previous entry. As the entries are posted, the account folio and the ledger-keeper's initial are to be placed on each one of the vouchers or records from which the figures are taken.

The problems are in simple subtraction and addition. On frequent occasions it happens that several items are to be entered at once in an account. The clerk must learn, in order to economize time, to make the proper changes in the customer's balance with the least possible number of operations.

For example, a string of cheques, belonging to one account and received simultaneously, should be deducted from a credit balance or added to an overdraft in one operation, done direct into the ledger, if they do not result in changing the balance from credit to debit; the same with a string of credits similarly received.