When you and your staff and board members should be staying safe at home, the last thing you want is to be dodging germs on the streets to get cheques signed. That goes for your courier company’s staff too!

It’s time to move your payments to the cloud.

Need help? Contact us at info@youngassociates.ca

For those who’d rather DIY, here’s how. 

Authorization, control

Working remotely does not mean compromising proper accounting controls.

For small businesses, the owner may be the sole authority. Larger commercial concerns and nonprofit organizations typically require multiple authorizations on payments to control spending and ensure adherence to budgets.

You may find great comfort in those two signature lines on a cheque, and the in-person requirement for getting someone’s signature. But, that’s far from the only way to do it.

Banks and other third-party payment processors have designed protocols to support remote authorization by multiple parties, where each signer approves independently of the others. 

Organizations can implement their own internal protocols to ensure that the designated staff or board members approve payments. For instance, an invoice can be scanned and circulated by email, with the bookkeeper instructed to pay only after the appropriate people have given their okay. 

Alternately, you can investigate options for gathering digital signatures.

Getting started right away

Using options like Interac, credit card payment and supplier payment portals, you can immediately convert some of your payables stream to online payment. The table below provides some options.

Dealing with your cheques

Make sure your cheques are safe. Cheque fraud is on the rise. Blank cheques should always be kept out of sight, in a locked place. 

Do not ask signers to pre-sign cheques. This negates the value of the authorization process! If you’ve already disobeyed this important rule, you must be doubly sure that your blank cheques are secure.

Service providers

How to choose the right avenue(s) for you? This list will get you started. You may find it useful to canvass your bookkeeper, CPA, and tech-savvy colleagues to learn what they use. You may use multiple service providers, depending on your needs.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive. There are other options for you. Any of the providers below will work for small businesses, nonprofits and charities.

This is a quick overview only. All of these options offer more features than indicated in this summary. Review websites carefully for additional detail.

How Young Associates can assist

A consultation with us may make all the difference to your comfort level and confidence that your accounting system is up to the challenge of the pandemic. 

We can respond to your concerns around security, authorization, risk management, privacy and accounting process, and help identify the best online payment options for you.

We’d also be happy to give you a quote for full-service bookkeeping. 

We work on the basis of fixed price agreements, so you’ll know upfront how much our work will cost – and we always offer a money-back guarantee: if you’re not completely delighted with our service, we will, at your option, either refund the price, or accept a portion of said price that reflects your level of satisfaction. 

Contact us: info@youngassociates.ca

This tip sheet was created by Heather Young CPB and the Young Associates team based on the best information available to us as of the date of posting.

Although every effort has been made to provide complete and accurate information, Young Associates makes no warranties, express or implied, or representations as to the accuracy of content in this tip sheet. Young Associates assumes no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions in the information contained in the tip sheet. 

Founded in 1993, Young Associates provides bookkeeping and financial management services in the charitable sector, with a focus on arts and culture. Young Associates also provides consulting services in the areas of data management, business planning and strategic planning. Heather Young published Finance for the Arts in Canada (2005, 2020), a textbook and self-study guide on accounting and financial management for not-for-profit arts organizations.