Bounced Check?!!

[cpa]

I have spent a lotta years in the ole accounting department. Stuff happens for any number of reasons. It is unfortunate when it happens to us. I do sympathize. Personally, I would not assume that Tesla's accounting department is messed up. I do not think that some A/R clerk is lapping receivables. (At least I hope not!) Rather, the payment likely got credited to some other account on their books instead of your receivable.

Here is a guess as to what may have happened: Delivery person takes check, hands it off to clerk who endorses check. Clerk deposits check electronically with either no receivable reference or the wrong receivable reference. Accordingly, system credits either the wrong customer or dumps the payment into a suspense account. The next day, someone else at Tesla sees that car ABC has been delivered, but there has been no payment. Word gets to the clerk, and the clerk redeposits check electronically with the correct A/R reference. Bank says, "Not so fast my friend. We honored this check yesterday." Then the system broke down.

The galling part of your story from my perspective is that no one high enough up the food chain at Tesla did not take immediate action to solve this situation and make the necessary corrections on their books. Tesla does not have thousands of transactions like this each day so that it would take a couple of days' research to trace the payment, track it down, confirm the funds were received, and correct the books. Your situation should have been cleared up in a matter of hours by an assistant controller or the corporate accounts receivable manager. Instead, it appears that it had been delegated to the sales staff.

Accounting departments at large companies try to work in the background. We do not want to be called by customers, vendors or employees. We want problems handled by the contact people who are responsible for such matters. We work with the supervisors in the field to resolve most issues. However, there comes a time when a situation like yours needs special attention. Someone from corporate should have been on the phone to you to quell your angst.

At least that is how I would have handled your unfortunate experience. And then I would have told the manager of the sales center to get their stuff together so that a situation like this never, ever happens again.

 

[mbhforum]

I have spent a lotta years in the ole accounting department. Stuff happens for any number of reasons. It is unfortunate when it happens to us. I do sympathize. Personally, I would not assume that Tesla's accounting department is messed up. I do not think that some A/R clerk is lapping receivables. (At least I hope not!) Rather, the payment likely got credited to some other account on their books instead of your receivable.

Here is a guess as to what may have happened: Delivery person takes check, hands it off to clerk who endorses check. Clerk deposits check electronically with either no receivable reference or the wrong receivable reference. Accordingly, system credits either the wrong customer or dumps the payment into a suspense account. The next day, someone else at Tesla sees that car ABC has been delivered, but there has been no payment. Word gets to the clerk, and the clerk redeposits check electronically with the correct A/R reference. Bank says, "Not so fast my friend. We honored this check yesterday." Then the system broke down.

The galling part of your story from my perspective is that no one high enough up the food chain at Tesla did not take immediate action to solve this situation and make the necessary corrections on their books. Tesla does not have thousands of transactions like this each day so that it would take a couple of days' research to trace the payment, track it down, confirm the funds were received, and correct the books. Your situation should have been cleared up in a matter of hours by an assistant controller or the corporate accounts receivable manager. Instead, it appears that it had been delegated to the sales staff.

Accounting departments at large companies try to work in the background. We do not want to be called by customers, vendors or employees. We want problems handled by the contact people who are responsible for such matters. We work with the supervisors in the field to resolve most issues. However, there comes a time when a situation like yours needs special attention. Someone from corporate should have been on the phone to you to quell your angst.

At least that is how I would have handled your unfortunate experience. And then I would have told the manager of the sales center to get their stuff together so that a situation like this never, ever happens again.

Thanks for your input. Apparently they uploaded the check to their portal twice and that started the downhill spiral. The galling part to me was that they sent their low level sales staff to somehow make this "my problem" and it took multiple emails and calls between the bank and this sales staff to get them off my back. I agree, this should have been escalated higher up. I really fear for how Tesla from an operational perspective will be prepared for the M3 between lack of service centers and back office issues like this being handled like amateurs.

 

[cpa]

Thanks for your input. Apparently they uploaded the check to their portal twice and that started the downhill spiral. The galling part to me was that they sent their low level sales staff to somehow make this "my problem" and it took multiple emails and calls between the bank and this sales staff to get them off my back. I agree, this should have been escalated higher up. I really fear for how Tesla from an operational perspective will be prepared for the M3 between lack of service centers and back office issues like this being handled like amateurs.

You are welcome. It is all too common for decentralized companies to dismiss accounting matters lightly. You are correct that many supervisors deem these accounting issues beneath their job description, so they delegate them to some clerical type who lacks the critical thinking needed to solve the problem. Their problems are making quotas, keeping expenses in check, customer relations. They could not care less about paperwork. Decades ago when I was a controller at a large company with about 40 locations scattered around California, I insisted that all newly hired location managers (and regional managers) spend one week in the accounting department working as a payroll clerk, A/P clerk, and A/R clerk. They quickly realized all the BS we had to go through just to get the bills paid, money in the bank and other things to keep the company going so that THEY looked good to their employees, suppliers and customers. Problems were few. Best of all, my accounting staff could do their jobs!