Who should be bank signatory? Should
Should the CFO be a bank signatory?
Answers
The CFO imho should be a signatory, along with others.
Proper controls will go along way to the prevention of fraud.
If you are asking if the CFO HAS to be one of the signatories, the answer is it depends on your organizational structure/size. For smaller companies who do not have the "managerial staffing depth", yes. For bigger companies who have the managerial depth (ie, EVPs, SVPs, etc), you can assign/structure signatories through a variety of ways.....transaction type, amount, etc.
My opinion is that if you can give your executives the "title" or "position", you should also be able to trust their judgement.
This depends on the size of the check and the size of the organization.The CFO should be a signatory regardless. In a large organization a
We use online banking with two-step authority, so either I or the executive initiates the transaction and the other has to approve. For paper checks, I have signature authority, but our processes clearly state that I submit them to the executive for signing with any exceptions documented (and in practice, I simply decline to sign the checks). Add to this, the paper bank statements are reviewed monthly by the executive and myself. I've instituted these processes at every company I have managed the finances for and have never had an issue. Echoing Wayne and Emerson, the trust has to be there but so do the controls.
Filed Under:
FP&A