I have found that personal checking deposit slips are a little bit different than business checking deposit slips. The main difference is that a business checking slip anticipates that you will have a lot more checks to deposit so there is usually many lines for making entries. The example I am showing you below comes from a pad of deposit slips which include a non-carbon needed duplicate. When I first started this post, I was going by information I'd been given by my employer, who has been doing our accounting for 30 years. She was trained by a Certified Public Accountant who went to college probably in the 1960s. Apparently the way we do our deposit slips is old old old school. I'm going to show you how we do it, and then I'm going to talk about the other ways. It'll be up to you to decide what's right or wrong, or maybe just your favorite. It doesn't seem like anyone cares too much one way or the other from what I can tell. So here's a deposit slip, business account style. I ordered these from Costco checks.
As you can see, these steps have been followed:
- Write today's date.
- Fill in the currency section with the currency amount, and any coins on the coin line. You will also include rolls of coins in the coin section. In this example, a line has been drawn through the entire cash section.
- The bank number on which the check was drawn has been entered (Note, this is different from the check number).
- Fill in the amount of the check.
- Continue to fill in bank numbers and amounts until you get to the bottom.
- Add all items up and fill in the total at the bottom.
- Count the items and on the left side fill in the total items count.
- Finally, list the total again on the left side.
Here is the check I am using for this example.
I got to thinking as I was making this post, and decided to do some checking just to make sure I was giving the right information. I couldn't find anywhere on the Internet that this was the right way to make out a deposit slip. I called the credit union, and I called Wells Fargo and both institutions told me I should write the check number. My supervisor is one smart cookie and she knows her stuff, and I couldn't believe she could have gotten this wrong, so I started thinking… maybe all these young whippersnappers just don't know what they are talking about, and we all know you can't believe everything you read on the Internets.
So I posted to an accounting list I'm on, and asked if there were any ancient (okay I didn't use the word ancient) accountants who could tell me who was correct.
Come to find out, I was right… this is the way deposit slips USED to be filled out. Nowadays, people use whatever they feel like, apparently. One person responded to say they used that section for their own purposes and that was to write in the name of the person who the check was from. Another person wrote in to say they don't even use deposit slips any more since they just use the ATM and their bank just asks them to stick all the checks into an envelope and insert. Yet another person banks with an institution that allows him to scan his checks and make a deposit without even stepping foot in the bank. Wow.
So how do you use deposit slips? Do you even use them?
Don’t, anymore. Now I deposit everything electronically. Checks can be scanned on a home printer/scanner/FAX and uploaded direct to the credit union. 🙂 Process can be slow, but it’s still better than schlepping across town to deposit them, or risking having them get lost in the mail. Check your bank & credit union — they may already have this service, since it’s apparently getting pretty widespread.
But back to deposit slips: I also have been told to enter the bank number, not the check number. This came from our personal banker/financial adviser at First Interstate Bank (remember that one?), back when I had enough income to merit one of those.
Some soul entered the name of the person who wrote the check??? Heeeeee! Whatever FOR? The bank takes the deposit slip away from you, so what good does it do you to enter a reminder to yourself in the thing? That is hilarious.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
July 4th, 2011 at 8:52 pm
@Funny about Money, I saw that you scan yours. I inquired at Wells Fargo to see if they had that option and they didn’t know what I was talking about. The banking deposit slips we use are duplicates, so when you write anything on them you have a copy, too, so I guess that would be why that one person wrote the name of the person on the deposit slip. Actually with Mr. A’s deposit slips on my duplicate copy I write the invoice number, customer name, amount and check number. More than once this has saved my rear when I misplaced the information or for example when my computer backup mishap occurred and I had to go back and recreate everything. I am definitely looking forward to having that option to scan in checks to the bank. It will save me time having to stop. Thanks for visiting and commenting! 🙂
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I used to work at a bank (over 30 years ago) and I was taught to do deposit slips the same way you do. As a bookkeeper for a small company, and with the age of computers and electronic checking, we do all of our checking electronically and don’t even have to take our checks to the bank. We were given a machine by our bank to scan the checks, and if we keep a minimum balance in our account we don’t even have a service fee. We have to hold onto the checks for 60 days and then shred them. This has been such a wonderful addition to our banking practices. The funds are deposited into our account quickly, no waste of gas, money or time, the check is scanned, we can print out any check we need to if we need it. It’s a win/win.
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Where I work I often fill out the deposit slip. We don’t write anything except the amount of the checks and the cash. No bank number no anything.
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It sure is interesting to see how quickly the deposit process has changed. I remember learning how to correctly fill out a deposit slip similar to how you described in the article, but these days I can deposit straight from the ATM without even needing an envelope. I have to admit, it makes me a little nervous to trust each paycheck to the performance of an automated teller, but unfortunately my bank account charges almost $8 a month just to make trips to see the person behind the desk. Talk about odd modern money management practices.
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Can you please explain how to batch checks, the acceptable maximum number of checks to put in each batch, and how to list them on the deposit slip.
I usually use the area at the bottom of the deposit slip “total from attached list” but I was told this was incorrect. Sometimes that area will read “total from other side or attached list.”
Thank you for your “old-school” advice!
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
May 13th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Hi Miranda, I haven’t personally dealt with batching checks so I asked a couple of friends. They said it is going to depend on what your bank requires. Apparently some banks require you to attach a calculator tape with the totals for their records. I hope this helps! Mrs. Accountability
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what does “total reciepts”, and “less credit cards” mean and how do i apply them to the total deposit?
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
June 8th, 2013 at 12:21 pm
M.J., I don’t recall seeing these on any deposit slips. If you could get an image of one for me maybe I could figure it out. Mrs. A
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Tinker Reply:
November 8th, 2016 at 2:12 am
@M.J. Dow, I believe what she is talking about is with total reciepts and less credit cards is a POS system into a merchant account.
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