transaction details from new automatic lodgement machines

Bercon

Hi Folks,
I suspect this is going to have to go a lot further up the food chain.

The MD of the company has started using the automatic lodgement machines, and I can see a problem coming down the line with the way that the information is presented  on the statements.

With the old lodgement book system, each slip was numbered, so a lodgement made had the number on the statement, so it was easy to determine after the event which lodgement a particular item went into the bank on.

Therein lies the issue. The new auto lodge terminals in the branch issue a receipt to the user, and it has a sequence number on it. Unfortunately, that sequence number does not appear anywhere on the statement, and I can see huge hassles in a short while when the accountant starts to audit the paper trail, as the reference that's being put on the statement is not unique to that lodgement, and in some cases, the same basic information appears on multiple lodgements. 

From an audit and security aspect, that is going to be a total nightmare. 

Has anyone else mentioned this, and are there any plans to upgrade the system so that the statement information can be tied to a specific lodgement as used to be the case with the lodgement books?

Thanks

Steve

Bank of Ireland: Tara

Hi Bercon,

Thanks for getting in touch. 

We've had similar query recently where gave my colleague gave a detailed response. You can view this here.

When making a lodgement at the LATM the receipt issued provides you with a reference number, this number relates to the card used to make the lodgement. Copies of any cheques contained in the lodgement are also provided on the receipt. To ensure the accountant can reconcile your accounts we would advise keeping these receipts.

Hope this helps
Tara

Bercon

Hi,

Yes I saw that thread, and wondered at the quality of systems analysis that concluded there would be no issues with a fundamental change to the manner in which information is provided to the customer.

The old system said something like Lodgement 1021. The new system says LATM CR 903189 0074. The problem is, there could be 20 lodgements in a month that will ALL have LATM CR 903189 0074 as the reference, so that now means I have to make fundamental changes to the way I operate the bank account because there is no longer a unique reference on the lodgement, despite the fact that there is a unique reference on the slip that is printed at the branch. There is also the even more fundamental issue of keeping track long term of thermal print paper that will fade very rapidly if not kept in the dark. I wonder how many revenue audits in the long term will be impossible to accurately verify because the information has either been lost, damaged, faded or other wise invalidated as a result of this change.

The old lodgement book had a receipt that was stamped by the branch for good reason, it was a fundamental part of the audit trail of activity on the account, and it was very hard to remove or otherwise falsify a stub, whereas with this new system that has no trackable trail between it and the statement, the potential for abuse of all natures is massive.

If for some reason there are now 2 lodgements made in a day at the same branch, then it will be even more confusing to work out what items relate to which lodgement.

The potential for both fraud and error with this concept is massive. At the very least, each card should have a centrally logged transaction sequence number that is returned to the remote terminal and used for that lodgement, with the central site then being updated by 1 for each lodgement, so that there is a valid and proveable audit trail for the security of both the customer and the company.

I find it beyond credibility that the reference number on the lodgement slip provided in branch has been conveniently discarded along the way, and I suspect that the audit profession are going to have more than a little to say about this before too long.

At this stage, this will cause me to have serious discussions with the other banks about their on line systems, and could lead to an urgent reccommendation to the MD that we should move to an alternate supplier, I have no objection to change when it improves the quality of the overall package, but this change, where we are forced to use the automated teller, which then provides us with less information that was available with the old system, is a very retrograde move that also has huge implications for the way that we now operate on a day to day basis, and how we reconcile the accounts at month and year end.

This is going to get very interesting indeed.

Regards

Steve

Tow

Bercon,

We still use the teller. There is a AIB less than 100 feet away and the branch manager has been told in no uncertain terms what will happen if any of his staff object.

Bank of Ireland: Alison

Hi Bercon

We have read your post in detail and appreciate your concerns. 

We feel it will be necessary to contact your Business Advisor within your branch and reiterate the difficulties you feel may arise relating to the Lodgement procedural change in branch.

You can locate contact details for your branch here

Thanks
Alison