Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Early Bank Account Types for Explorer Membership Dues and Professional Fees (Lyn Deardorff)

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

When I set up books for a volunteer food coop in a Unitarian Church, the CPA, 
also volunteer and Unitarian, said:

1. Have two people in charge of the funds. One pays the bills, collects money, 
and writes checks. The other one keeps the accounts and balances the checkbook. 
They shouldn’t be partners, relatives, best friends, or lovers. Neighbors can 
even be suspect.

2. Set up account numbers with lots of space in between so you have coherent 
account numbers to make accounts more specific as you grow. And it is harder to 
confuse and easier to remember account numbers 1000 and 5000 than it is 1000 
and 1001. 

3. Open books. Transparency is 100% effective. Consensus decision-making relies 
on everyone knowing what is going on.

If you build a good system through trial and error from the first dollar, you 
will have one developed by the time you move in.

Sharon
——— 
Sharon Villines
Affordable means 30% of your income, not 80% of someone else’s income.
http://affordablecohousing.com