How do I record bank deposits?
You can use the Bank Deposit screen to record cash and cheque deposits paid into your bank account. For other types of income transactions, see How do I record income transactions?
You can record a bank deposit in one of two ways:
- by selecting 'Record New Bank Deposit' from the Bank Deposits module in the left-hand menu
- by selecting 'Bank Deposit' from the drop-down menu during the bank reconciliation process.
Top tip: If you are banking both cash and cheques in the same bank deposit, we recommend that you record these as separate bank deposits in ExpensePlus, one for the cash and one for the cheque(s). This is because with some banks, the cheque balance will appear a few days later on your bank statement, and the different dates will mean you can't reconcile both transactions to the one bank deposit entry in ExpensePlus.
The Bank Deposit screen allows you to record a breakdown of a bank deposit, but you will first need to enter:
- a bank deposit date
- the bank account for the deposit.
You can choose to add further information:
- the names of the people who counted the money
- the name of the person who will make the deposit
- a slip reference and description
- a file uploaded as an attachment, for example an offering counting sheet.
The Bank Deposit screen then provides multiple sections to ensure different types of income are recorded correctly.
Enter the cash or cheques being deposited into the following categories:
- Named Donations - Record all named donations in this section, regardless of whether or not they can be Gift Aided. Gift Aid is determined by whether or not the donor has a valid Gift Aid declaration.
- GASDS Donations - This section is for anonymous cash or contactless card donations under £30 in value. You should record all small donations eligible under GASDS (the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme). Where collections were made on differing dates, you would normally record these on separate lines. If there are anonymous donations that exceed the £30 GASDS limit for individual donations, you should record these in the Income (Other) section.
- Invoice Payments - Use this section if you're depositing cash or cheques that are payments received for invoices you've issued.
- Income (Other) - All other income should be recorded in this section, including any payments for events, cafe or bookshop sales, etc. It is up to you how you choose to break down this information.
You can enter each income line against your preferred fund and category.
The bottom two sections of the Bank Deposit screen allow you to record money retained as petty cash (in effect transferred from the cash collection to your petty cash account) or deposited to your bank as a withdrawal of petty cash.
Reconciling a bank deposit
Once a bank deposit has been entered, it appears on the bank reconciliation screen and can be matched against the relevant bank transaction(s) once these have been uploaded.
User access to enter bank deposits
If a volunteer has a specific role to be purely responsible for Bank Deposits (performing a cash offering or counting function), you can give them bespoke access to only this screen by customising their user role.
Donor envelopes and anonymous cash donations
If your organisation uses Donor Envelope Numbers rather than donor names for cash donations, the Manage Donors screen gives you the option to assign donors with envelope numbers.
System Settings also gives you the option to hide donor names when entering bank deposits. This can help you keep the bank deposit process efficient while being sensitive to confidential donor information.
To help you better understand the Bank Deposit module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.