Mapleton moves to electronic signatures

The township is moving to electronic signatures on cheques.

At the Dec. 9 meeting, council approved a report from finance director Yufang Du recommending a switch to the practice.

The township currently requires two manual signatures, either: mayor or CAO and director of finance, or deputy treasurer on cheques for payables.

“Electronic signatures have become common practice in the business world. Implementing electronic signatures will increase the efficiency and reduce the administrative burden from the existing process, given the number of cheques that are processed through accounts payable,” notes Du in her report to council.

She also noted finance department staff is working on updating the software to enable electronic signatures to print on the cheques, as well as updating internal control procedures to make sure effective controls are in place.

Contols will include:

- two staff members other than the accounts payable clerk will review and validate the cheques to ensure the continuity of cheque numbers from the previous cheque run and tracking voided/missing cheques;

- electronic access to the e-signatures will be properly monitored; and

- consideration will be given to manually signing cheques over $50,000.

Mayor Neil Driscoll said he wasn’t sure it would be necessary in the future to manually sign cheques for higher amounts either.

“I’m viewing them all. I’m not opposed to them being automatically signed,” said Driscoll.