Cash Handling & Deposit Procedures

To ensure the prompt deposit, safekeeping, and proper accounting for all college funds, our cash handling policy describes procedures for the handling of cash and other funds received by the college. This policy applies to faculty, staff and student organizations that receive funds for revenues, services rendered, travel reimbursements or donations, or any other purposes.

Please direct any questions regarding cash or checks to cashier@smith.edu. 

Deposit Procedures

All payments received by a college employee or student organization must be delivered to the cashier within three business days of receiving the payment. The cashier will deposit funds once a week.

Small deposits of less than $200 may be held securely in a department, but must be delivered to the cashier within 3 business days. At no time should more than $200 in cash or checks be held by any department or organization without the advance approval of the Controller.

All deposits must include a completed Daily Deposit Form, which can be found on the forms and policies page. Care in transporting funds to the cashier should always be a high priority. Deposits containing cash or checks should never be sent through campus or U.S. mail. The preferred method of transporting deposits is by hand delivery.

Departments or organizations that receive cash after business hours should contact campus safety for an escort to deposit the funds in the controller’s cashier office drop slot next to 103 College Hall.

All requests for bank accounts and other banking transactions must be directed to the banking team at co-banking@smith.edu. 

All checks, money orders, etc. should be made payable to Smith College. No one should accept post-dated checks or agree to hold checks for future deposits.

All checks must be pre-printed with the name and address of the account holder.

No individual is authorized to remove money from the campus for safekeeping, or to use cash funds to cash personal checks for themselves or others. Checks should be made payable to the college and may not be endorsed or “made payable to” any other party. Funds collected may not be used as a petty cash fund.

Cash Disbursements

Petty Cash

Petty cash requests should be emailed to the cashier’s office at least three business days prior to when the recipient will arrive at the cashier’s office to collect the funds.

The cashier conducts an audit of petty cash twice a year in December and June as part of the college’s fiscal and calendar year end close procedures. Any departments with petty cash on hand should expect to be audited. The cashier will reach out to departments as these dates approach to schedule a time to perform the audit.

Cash Advancements

All cash advancement requests related to events or travel must be emailed to the cashier at least three business days prior to when the recipient will arrive at the cashier’s office to collect the funds and include a completed cash advancement form.

Any purchases made using funds from a cash advance must have a receipt or other form of supporting documentation to accompany the transaction. After the event or trip duration has taken place, copies of the receipts and any unused funds from the cash advance must be returned to the cashier within business days of the recipient's return to the campus.

For inquiries related to personal reimbursements please see the policies detailed on the Accounts Payable page.

Departmental Handling Procedures

All departments must have written procedures for the handling of cash. It is the responsibility of each department to make the provisions necessary to properly safeguard the cash receipts in its area. The college Controller must approve all departmental procedures for the handling of money. Departments with new revenue-generating activities must submit proposed departmental cash handling procedures to the Controller.

Cash and checks should be physically protected through the use of a vault, locked cash drawer, cash register, locked metal box, or the like. All boxes and drawers should be securely fastened such that they cannot be removed.

Cash and checks must not be retained in desk drawers, closets or standard file cabinets since they may be easily accessed with minimal force or have readily available keys.

Personal Charges Made in Error on Smith Procurement Card

When a personal charge is accidentally made on a Smith Procurement Card (PCard), the expense must be reported on the next expense report that the cardholder submits in Workday. When submitting the expense report, the “Personal Expense” check box located on the expense item tab must be selected for any personal charges in order for Workday to identify them as personal.

Once the expense report has been submitted in Workday, the cardholder must submit a reimbursement for the expense in the form of exact cash or a check payable to Smith College. A short memo should be included with the reimbursement that references the payer’s name and the expense report number that the personal expense is located on. Reimbursements can be mailed to the attention of Xinh Spangler at College Hall Room 103, hand delivered to the cashier during working hours, or deposited in the cashier’s drop slot outside of the Cashier’s Office.

Contact the Smith College Cashier

Xinh Spangler
College Hall 103
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

Phone: 413-585-2415 Email: cashier@smith.edu

Cashier Hours
Monday: closed
Tuesday: 9 a.m.–noon
Wednesday: 9 a.m.–noon
Thursday: 1–4 p.m.
Friday: closed