What is a Deposit Receipt?

A deposit receipt is a receipt issued by a bank to a depositor for cash and checks deposited with the bank. The information recorded on the receipt includes the following:

Date of deposit. This is the specific date on which the deposit was made.
Depositor’s information. This is the name and possibly other identifiers of the person making the deposit.
Account number. This is the account number where the funds have been deposited.
Deposit amount. This is the total amount of money deposited, typically broken down by denomination (e.g., currency notes, coins, checks).
Payment method. This indicates whether the deposit was made in cash, by check, or electronic transfer.
Receipt number. This is a unique identifier for tracking and verification purposes.
Bank details. This is information about the bank, such as its name and branch location.
Signature and stamp. This is the bank’s official stamp and a signature from the teller to validate the transaction.

How is a Deposit Receipt Used?

A deposit receipt is useful as part of the system of internal controls related to the processing of cash. When a deposit receipt is returned from the bank, it should be compared to the total amount of cash recorded in the cash receipts journal for that day. If the total in the cash receipts journal is higher than the amount of the deposit receipt, it implies that the person who transported the funds to the bank may have stolen a portion of the funds while in transit. It is also possible that the bank teller made a clerical error when counting the received cash and checks.

This control only works if the person transporting the cash and checks to the bank is not allowed to record cash transactions in the accounting system. Otherwise, he could alter the amounts recorded in the accounting system to hide any subsequent theft.

A deposit receipt is not used when a bank receives checks through a lockbox. Instead, the cashier can access the bank's website to download information about the nature of the checks received by the bank.