THE CHECK DESK DEPARTMENT General Functions and Organization of Check Desk Department The functions of the check desk department vary consider ably among banks, since they are combined in different degrees with those of the general bookkeeper's department. The check desk department handles all the accounts of customers and cor respondents, except foreign accounts, receives all credits for the accounts from every department of the bank and makes all charges to the accounts, watches the average balances and inter est allowed, and prepares statements for customers. It is the bookkeeping department for domestic customers' accounts. Ancillary to this function is its receiving of the checks against the bank itself and the clearances (checks against banks for which the bank acts as clearing agent) which it prepares for proper credits and charges; this preparation includes sorting, listing, proving, and examining for stop-payments, overdrafts, certification, in dorsements, signatures, dates, and filling. The preparation, ex amination, proof, and charging of these checks consume the most time and labor in the check desk department; in small banks these operations can be done at a desk, hence the name of the depart ment into which it evolves in large banks. In the scheme of some banks the check desk department devotes itself to this work with the checks and clearances alone, and the bookkeeping phases are handled by a distinct customers' bookkeeping department or by the general bookkeeper's department. The following description relates to a bank where the check work and bookkeeping work are both assumed to be handled by the check desk department.
Such a department would be divided into subdepartments performing specialized functions. The receipt, proof, sorting, and examination of checks and clearances would be (lone by the proof desk and its accessory signature desk, and the clerks would be spoken of as "proof clerk," "signature clerk," "filling clerk," " clearance clerk," etc. The division of the bookkeeping work
follows the classification of the accounts and can be best shown by the following diagram: It will be noted that the bookkeeping has been divided into two main divisions, which in turn are ultimately divided alpha betically into "combines," "sections," or "ledgers," as they are variously called. Each ledger would have a bookkeeper. Three or four accounts current clerks, whose duties will appear below, would be connected with each combine. For the preparation of statements to customers, a special subdivision of statement clerks would be provided. The designation "check clerk" is commonly applied to the head of the check desk department.
If the bookkeepers are distant from the cages which deal with customers, it is imperative that communication between them be accurate as well as speedy. Telautographs supplemented by inte rior telephones-are the best means of reducing friction and giving service to customers and at the same time protection to the bank.
Sorting the Items The items handled by the proof desk are received through the following: the clearing house, the paying teller, the receiving teller, the note teller, the mail teller, the city collection teller, and the foreign division. Each check bears evidence of the de partment through which it has been received, for it is either stamped with a distinctive " Paid " stamp or has been thrust onto a spindle with a distinctive cut. During the night the mail teller's department has sorted the incoming cash letter items, and those for the check desk are ready for the proof clerks, who begin work about eight o'clock. Nearly all the accounts current clerks report in the morning to the mail teller and assist in preparing the outgoing exchanges.
The items coming to the check desk department from the morning mail are stamped with the mail teller's " Paid " stamp and include the following: i. Checks on the bank. 2. Clearances.
3. Certified checks—those certified by the bank.