Managing your company's cheques in Morocco: register, bank deposit and bounced cheques

Despite bank transfers and mobile payments, the cheque is still very present between Moroccan companies: rents, suppliers, long-standing clients, deferred settlements. It has a weakness every manager knows: a cheque received is not money until it has gone through the bank. Yet many SMEs count the invoice as "paid" as soon as they hold the cheque, and discover too late that it is post-dated, has no funds behind it, or is lost in a drawer.

Here is a simple method to stay in control.

1. A cheque is not a payment, it is a promise to collect

Between the moment your client hands you the cheque and the moment the money is available in your account, several days go by, sometimes weeks if the cheque is post-dated. During that time:

• the invoice is not settled: your receivable still exists;
• your cash position must not include this amount;
• the VAT of a company on the cash-basis regime only becomes due when payment is actually received.

The right reflex: distinguish the states of a cheque received — pending (recorded, not yet deposited), deposited (handed to the bank), paid (collected), bounced (refused) — and only consider the invoice settled at the "paid" state.

2. The information to note for each cheque

To find a cheque, dispute it or follow it up with the bank, always note:

• the drawer (who signed the cheque: the client, or a third party);
• the issuing bank;
• the cheque number;
• the issue date and, for a post-dated cheque, the target collection date;
• the invoice it settles.

Without this information, a lost or disputed cheque becomes very hard to trace.

3. The bank deposit, step by step

When you deposit several cheques at once, the bank asks for a deposit slip. Good practice:

1. Group the cheques to deposit and check their total before you leave.
2. Give each deposit a unique reference (for example today's date, with a sequence number if you deposit several times in the day).
3. Keep a copy of the slip with the detail of the cheques.
4. Mark the cheques as deposited in your tracking: you then know what is being collected and what is still sitting in the safe.

With Billora, the cheque register and the bank deposits do all of this: the PDF slip is generated in your branding (logo, colours, language) and each cheque follows its status.

4. The cheques you issue

Tracking is not only about cheques received. A cheque issued to a supplier leaves your cash on the date it is presented to your bank, not the day you sign it. Three precautions:

• note the expected debit date;
• fund your account before that date: a rejected cheque has a cost and erodes your supplier's trust;
• only consider the expense settled once the cheque has been debited.

5. The bounced cheque: what to do?

A cheque can be rejected for insufficient funds, a stop order, a non-compliant signature, and so on. In that case:

1. Put the invoice back to unpaid: the amount becomes a receivable to collect again.
2. Contact the client quickly, in writing, keeping a record of the exchange.
3. Ask for a new payment (preferably a transfer) or negotiate a payment schedule.
4. If the client does not answer, call on your legal adviser: the remedies depend on the situation and the applicable deadlines.

Billora's register takes the first step for you: when a cheque becomes "bounced", the payment is removed and the invoice balance is restored exactly.

6. Anticipate with a dashboard

The most useful thing is to see four figures every morning:

• the cheques to deposit (due date reached, still in your hands);
• the cheques being collected;
• the cheques issued to fund in the next 7 and 30 days;
• recent bounced cheques.

These figures, and the net balance your cheques will produce, are grouped in the "Cheques to follow" widget of the dashboard. They also feed the cash-flow forecast: the part of an invoice covered by a cheque is placed at the cheque's due date.

In summary

• A cheque is not a payment until it is collected.
• Note drawer, bank, number and due date for every cheque.
• Use a deposit with a unique reference and a slip.
• Also track the cheques you issue and fund your account.
• Deal quickly with a bounced cheque: the invoice becomes a receivable again.