How should our HOA store blank checks, track voided checks and control the checkbook?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 1, 2026

How an HOA treasurer controls the checkbook: ordering check stock, locked storage, a void log, no pre-signed checks and a monthly check number review.

Part of the HOA board handbook: treasurer and money.

Treat blank checks like cash

A box of blank association checks is a box of signed-in-advance risk. Every check carries the routing and account numbers, so anyone holding one can fill in a payee and an amount and try to pass it. Control comes down to four habits: order check stock only through a channel the bank approves, keep it locked with one named custodian, log every voided or spoiled check, and have a second director compare check numbers against the bank statement each month. None of this costs money. It takes about 20 minutes a month once it is set up. This guide covers the paper itself. Who must sign and how many signatures a check needs is a separate question, and so is what to do after checks go missing; see our guide on what to do when HOA checks or a debit card are stolen. State law and your governing documents control the details, and this is general education, not legal advice.

Order check stock the safe way

Reorder through the bank, or through the printer the bank names, and have the boxes picked up at the branch or delivered to the association's PO box. Do not ship new checks to a volunteer's front porch or a cluster mailbox. FinCEN's February 2023 alert on mail theft-related check fraud (FIN-2023-Alert003) reported that banks filed more than 350,000 check fraud suspicious activity reports in 2021 and over 680,000 in 2022, much of it tied to checks stolen from the mail. When the box arrives, the custodian opens it with another director present or on a video call and writes down three things: the date received, the first check number and the last check number. If a pad is missing or the sequence has a gap, call the bank that day. Order small. A 70-home association that writes 20 to 30 checks a month needs one box a year, not four. Fewer checks on the shelf means fewer to lose. When the board changes banks or account numbers, cut up the old stock in front of a witness and note the destroyed number range in the minutes.

Where the checks live and who holds the key

Pick one custodian, usually the treasurer, and write the name into the board's financial policy. Keep the unused stock in a locked box or drawer at that person's home or in a safe deposit box. Do not leave it in the clubhouse office, a shared storage closet or the trunk of a car. Keep only the current pad of checks out of the box. The rest stays sealed in its original packaging so a missing pad shows up as a gap you can see. A second director, often the secretary or president, keeps a copy of the number log and has no access to the stock. That split matters. The person who holds the checks should never be the only person who checks whether they were used properly. Signature stamps and printed facsimile signatures need the same lock or should not exist at all. A stamp lets anyone with the drawer key produce a signed check. If a past board ordered one, destroy it and record that in the minutes.

Never sign a check before it is filled in

Pre-signing a few blank checks before a vacation feels harmless. The Uniform Commercial Code treats it as a real exposure. Under Texas Business and Commerce Code 3.115 and Florida Statutes 673.1151, a signed check missing its payee or amount is an incomplete instrument, and filling it in without the signer's authority counts as an alteration. Texas 3.407(c) and Florida 673.4071(3) then let a bank or other party that pays or takes the check in good faith, without notice of the problem, enforce it according to its terms as completed. In plain terms, the bank may be allowed to charge the account for whatever amount the thief wrote in. The negligence rule adds to it. Texas 3.406, Florida 673.4061 and C.R.S. 4-3-406 say that a person whose failure to use ordinary care contributes to a forged signature or an alteration cannot assert the forgery against a bank that pays in good faith. Texas and Florida require that the failure substantially contribute; Colorado's text says only contributes. Unlocked check stock, a stamp in an open drawer and pre-signed checks are the facts a bank will point to. If a signer will be away, plan around it: pay early, move the bill to online bill pay with two-person approval, or add a third signer by board resolution.

Keep a void log

Every check that does not go out as written gets a line in the log. That includes misprints, checks torn in the printer, checks written to the wrong payee and checks the board cancelled before mailing. Record the check number, date, reason and the initials of the person who voided it. A sample row: 1187 | 3/14 | wrong amount, reissued as 1188 | voided by KT, seen by MR Write VOID across the face in ink, cut out the signature line, and keep the voided check attached to the log page. A shredded void is indistinguishable from a missing check. Keep the log with the association's financial records for as long as your records policy keeps bank statements. If the treasurer writes checks from accounting software, use the software's void function too, so the check register and the paper log agree.

Match check numbers to the bank statement every month

The bank statement shows each paid check by number, amount and date. Once a month the second director compares it to three things: the check register, the void log and the custodian's starting number. Any check that cleared and is not in the register, any voided number that cleared, and any jump in the sequence goes to the bank the same day. Speed also has legal weight. Texas 4.406, Florida 674.406 and C.R.S. 4-4-406 require a customer to examine statements with reasonable promptness and report unauthorized signatures or alterations. If the customer does not, the bank can refuse to cover later checks by the same wrongdoer that it paid after the customer had a reasonable period, not exceeding 30 days, to review the statement. There is also an outside limit regardless of care: one year after the statement is made available in Texas and Colorado, and 180 days in Florida. A treasurer who opens statements once a quarter can lose the association's claim. Our guide on how an HOA reconciles its bank statement walks through the full reconciliation. The check number review is the five-minute piece of it that catches stolen stock.

A sample policy and motion

Boards that write the rules down follow them. A short policy paragraph: "The treasurer is custodian of all unused association check stock, which is kept locked and sealed except for the pad in current use. Check stock is ordered only through the association's bank and delivered to the association's PO box or picked up at the branch. No director signs a check before the payee, amount and date are written in. Voided checks are logged, marked VOID, and kept. Each month a director who does not hold check stock compares the bank statement's check numbers to the register and void log and reports the result at the next board meeting." Motion: "I move to adopt the checkbook control policy as presented, to name [treasurer's name] as custodian of check stock, and to name [director's name] as the monthly reviewer." A workable calendar: adopt the policy at the next meeting; within two weeks, count the existing stock with two directors present and record the number range; within 30 days, destroy any signature stamp and old-account stock; then run the number review after every statement and report it in each treasurer's report.

Mistakes boards make with the checkbook

Leaving a pad of checks in the clubhouse for the pool contractor or the social committee. Pre-signing checks for a director to fill in while the treasurer travels. Letting the outgoing treasurer keep the stock for weeks after the election; the hand-off should happen at or right after the organizational meeting, with a count. Shredding spoiled checks instead of logging them. Ordering four years of checks to save on printing. Having the same person hold the checks, write them and review the statement. Ignoring a single missing check number because "it was probably a misprint." Each of these is cheap to fix, and each is the kind of fact that decides who absorbs a forged check loss.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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