Policy Text
Page 1 of 4 16/14 (REV 7/19)
Cash Handling, Shortage and Overage Procedures
The purpose of this General Order i s to establish the Sheriff’s Office policies and
procedures to install a system of internal control over program s involving the receipt
and/or the disbursement of cash , to establish departmental poli cy on cash shortage and
overage procedures. For the purposes of this order, the term “c ash” includes checks
and bank accounts. I. General
Government Code Section 29390 a llows the County Board of Superv isors, by
resolution to set the reporting limitations for cash handling p rocedures. On June
2, 1992, the Board of Supervisors approved cash loss reporting requirements
addressed in this General Order. An internal control system for ca sh consists of the policies an d procedures
established to provide reasonabl e assurance of the safeguarding of those assets.
It is usually not feasible, from a cost or available personnel standpoint, to
establish a control system that p rovides absolute protection fr om errors or
irregularities; reasonable assura nce in this regard is the best that generally can
be achieved. All cash funds must be approved b y the responsible Chief Deputy . Each fund will
provide an annual report to t he Chief Deputy by August 15
th of each year. A
copy of the financial report will be forwarded to the Fiscal Un it for filing.
II. Separation of Duties
No one person or department shoul d handle all aspects of a cash transaction
from beginning to end. If the si ze of the program does not all ow for complete
separation of duties, the progr am must establish additional pro cedures to
mitigate internal weaknesses such as increasing the supervision of the staff
involved. The following separatio n of duties represents the mi nimum necessary
to achieve division of responsib ility for cash transactions. A dditional division of
responsibilities within each f unction may be beneficial. The l ist of duties below is
not a list of duties that must be performed by everyone in all locations. It is a list
of duties which must be separated.
A. Authorizing cash transactions – one person should not have d uties in
more than one of the following areas:
Page 2 of 4 16/14 (REV 7/19) 1. Approval of invoices for payment
2. Signing of checks 3. Reconciling monthly bank statements
B. Recording of Cash Transactions
1. Preparation of invoices
2. Preparation and recording of checks 3. Maintenance of cash receipts 4. Maintenance of cash disbursements
C. Custody of cash 1. Endorsement of checks 2. Receipt and deposit of cash 3. Mailing or distribution of checks III. Basic Rules of Internal Control
A. Handling of cash will be kept s eparate from the recording of transactions
and no one employee wil l be allowed to handle a transaction fro m
beginning to end (separation of duties).
B. The receipt of cash will be cent ralized as much as possible.
C. All transactions involving the receipt of cash will be recor ded immediately.
D. Individuals making cash pay ments will be given receipts. .
E. Each day’s cash receip ts will be deposited intact.
F. All disbursements will be m ade by Debit Release Card (DRC) o r Check,
except for expenditur es from petty cash.
G. The cashing of personal checks from or co-mingling of person al funds with
program funds will not be permitted.
H. Monthly bank reconciliations w ill be prepared by employees n ot
responsible for the issuance or c ustody of cash. The cancelled checks will
be delivered unopened to the person responsible for the bank
reconciliation. The completed reconciliation will be reviewed promptly by
appropriate personnel.
Page 3 of 4 16/14 (REV 7/19) IV. Program Manager Responsibilities
A. Managers will insure all cash which should have been receive d was
received, recorded accurately and deposited promptly.
B. Managers will insure all cash d isbursements are authorized a nd are
properly recorded.
V. Cash Shortage and Overage Procedures
Sacramento County Ordinance permi ts the use of division budget funds to make
up cash shortages resulting from c ashiering operations. Howeve r, the Board of
Supervisors, by resolution, requi res losses of over $200 per oc currence and
$500 department wide must be reported. The Auditor-Controller must conduct
an investigation if there are shortages of $200 or more, or $50 0 or more
department wide. The Sheriff’s D epartment will report any loss of $500 or more
in aggregate in one fiscal year to the Undersheriff, Service Ar ea Chief Deputy
and the Chief of Departmental Admin istrative Services. In addi tion, the following
procedures are hereby established within the Sheriff’s Departme nt and shall be
followed without devia tion or exception.
A. Reporting Procedures 1. Shortage/Overages less than $200
Each Division or Bureau Commander will set a minimum reporting
shortage/overage amount for his/her operation. Any employee wh o
discovers such a shortage or o verage up to $200 will immediatel y
report the incident in writing on inter-department corresponden ce
through his/her