Cash Handling
All student organizations are required to follow cash handling internal control of the U‐SU according to the University’s cash handling policies.
Student organization president/designee(s) is responsible:
- Authorize/Designate cash handler responsible for handling cash
- Ensure signatures in account application are current, and submitted to CSI
- Ensure that all signers/cash handlers complete the mandatory Organizational Development Course
- Ensure that cash handling is operated in accordance with USU and University cash handling policies and procedures.
- No single person has complete control when cash is received or payment is made.
- Mitigating controls be implemented to prevent and detect loss from fraud or negligence if student organizations are unable to comply with a strict segregation of duties due to lack of resources.
- All cash/check deposits or payment requests require dual authorization signatures by the club’s president and treasurer or advisor.
- To be accepted for deposit, each check presented must be payable to Cal State LA‐Student Organization Name, or University‐Student Union‐Student Organization Name
- Be recently dated (no more than 180 days old)
- Be legibly written in ink or typed
- Have Federal Reserve routing codes printed as part of the Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Code (MICR)
- Checks bearing the legend “Payable/Paid in Full” are not accepted
- Checks drawn on foreign bank accounts are not accepted at face value
- Only U.S. currency and coins, no foreign currencies
- Cash equivalents include checks, money orders
- In circumstances where it is not practical to process a receipt (e.g. club bake sales, ticket sales), other mitigating controls must be implemented, such as cash receipt log, sales log, pre‐numbering of tickets, ticket inventory reconciliation, and ticket count reconciliations against cash collected
- Cash receipts should be reconciled and reviewed by someone other than the cash handler responsible for the collection
- Cash differences (overages and shortages) must be documented and reviewed
- At no time shall student clubs and organizations accept funds via Venmo, Zelle, Cashapp, or other fund transfer platform in which the platform accounts are linked to an individual student’s personal bank account
- Student clubs and organizations are accountable for collection and deposit of cash and checks received
- The cash receipt and daily receiving log must be signed by an authorized signor
- Upon receipt of a check, an authorized signor for the student club or organization shall endorse the back of the check.
- At no time shall student clubs and organizations accept credit or debit cards
- Complete the “U‐SU Deposit Slip”
- Deposits must be taken to the U‐SU within 5 business days of receipt or daily if accumulated cash is greater than $300 or if total of checks is greater than $2,000
- If a check deposited by the student organization is returned by the bank due to non‐sufficient fund (NSF), a NSF fee of $40 will be deducted from the account
- It is the student organization’s responsibility to collect the fund (check amount and the NSF fee) from the payor.