Cash & Liquidity
Consumer Deposits Held
Customer service deposits held against the cash ring-fenced to refund them on account closure.
Why consumer deposits must be ring-fenced
Consumer service deposits are refundable liabilities held in trust against future default, and the cash to repay them on account closure should be safeguarded rather than absorbed into operating cash. Using deposit cash to fund operations is a liquidity warning sign and can leave the municipality unable to meet its refund obligations. AuditPro Core compares deposits held as a liability against the cash ring-fenced to settle them so the obligation remains genuinely backed.
The Numbers
AuditPro Core renders this view from your tenant's live, tamper-evident records. The figures below are illustrative sample data.
Deposits Held
R 64.8 m
liability
Cash Backing
R 41.2 m
63.6% covered
Coverage Shortfall
R 23.6 m
▲ R 6 m
Stale Deposits
R 4.1 m
inactive accounts
Deposits held vs cash backing (R m)
Deposit coverage by class
| Class | Held (R m) | Backed (R m) | Cover % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residential | 38.4 | 26.1 | 68 |
| Business | 21.2 | 12.4 | 58 |
| Industrial | 5.2 | 2.7 | 52 |
Figures shown are illustrative sample data for demonstration. AuditPro Core renders these views from your own tenant's live, tamper-evident records.
Deposits are liabilities, not income
A service deposit belongs to the consumer and must be refunded on account closure, net of any arrears. It is a liability under GRAP, never revenue available to spend.
Ring-fencing the refund cash
Sound practice keeps cash equivalent to deposit liabilities available to honour refunds. Where deposits are spent on operations, the municipality is effectively borrowing from its customers.
Reconciliation of register to ledger
The deposit liability in the ledger must agree with the sum of individual consumer deposit records. Differences indicate unrecorded refunds, misallocations or stale balances.
How AuditPro Core Bridges the Gap
- Liability reconciliation: the deposit ledger is reconciled to the underlying consumer deposit register.
- Ring-fence check: deposits held are compared to available cash to confirm refund backing.
- Stale-balance flagging: long-dormant deposits are surfaced for refund or write-back review.
- Audit trail: each balance traces to the consumer account and its movement history.
Key Takeaways
- Consumer deposits are refundable liabilities, never spendable revenue.
- Cash to refund deposits should be ring-fenced, not used for operations.
- Reconcile the deposit ledger to individual consumer records regularly.
- Spending deposit cash on operations is a clear liquidity warning.
See This on Your Own Data
AuditPro Core renders this dashboard from your tenant's live, tamper-evident records — every figure traceable to source.