A member will ask why the balance changed. The clerk needs the lines, in order, with a reason on each one. A single number on a profile cannot answer that question, and it cannot be audited.
Credits and debits, never an edited total
Contributions, loan disbursements, repayments, fees, and reversals are lines. The balance is the sum. If a clerk can type over the balance, you do not have a ledger. You have a field that drifts every time someone is in a hurry before a meeting.
A reversal is a new line that points at the line it undoes. Deleting the original line removes the story. The member who was charged a fee in error should see the fee and the reversal, with dates, so the argument ends at the counter.
The passbook and the system say the same thing
If you still stamp a passbook, the figure you stamp is the balance after the line you just posted, and the line’s reference is written next to it. A passbook that is updated from memory will diverge by Friday. The screen the clerk uses should show the last few lines, not only the total, so they can read them aloud.
Loans are a separate account from savings, even for the same member. Mixing them into one number makes a contribution look like a repayment. The member can have both, and the statement should say which is which.
Who may post
A teller posts up to a limit. Above the limit, a second person approves, and the approval is stored with the line. The person who approves should not be able to approve their own line. That rule is dull and it is the one that matters when cash goes missing.
End of day is a count of cash against the lines posted since the last close, by that teller. A difference is a line of its own, with a reason, not a quiet edit. The next committee meeting should be able to open that day and see it.
Read the lines aloud
The clerk's screen shows the last lines, not only the total, because the member will ask about a specific day. The clerk reads the date, the reason, and the amount. If the screen cannot support that sentence, the clerk will open a notebook and the notebook will become the ledger. Design the screen for the sentence.
A reversal points at the line it undoes. Deleting the original removes the story the member can see. The fee and the reversal both remain, with dates. The balance is the sum. An edit of the total is not a reversal, and it leaves nothing to read aloud.
Savings and loans stay apart even for the same member. A contribution is not a repayment. A statement that blends them will be wrong in a way that sounds precise. Two accounts, two downloads, and a transfer that writes both lines when money actually moves between them.
Above a limit, a second person approves, and they cannot approve their own line. The end of day compares cash to the lines that teller posted. A difference is stored. The committee can open that day later. A shared login makes the second person a fiction, so the teller has a personal sign-in before the limit means anything.
The member can take a statement home. It lists the period, the opening balance, every line, and the closing balance, and the closing figure is the same number the clerk just read. If the PDF and the screen disagree, you printed a different query. Generate the PDF from the lines on the screen. A statement that cannot be explained line by line is a brochure.
At the counter
- Post lines. Do not edit the balance.
- Reverse with a new line that points at the original.
- Keep savings and loans as separate accounts.
