Balancing the Checkbook
Published Mar 23, 2005
My accountant father and my artist mother have very different views on balancing a checkbook.
Mom usually kept the checkbook, but when Dad retired, he took over all the financial duties. He was really taken aback when he looked over the checkbook and found only dollar amounts recorded.
It seems Mom hadn't wanted to deal with any more math than she had to, so she'd eliminated the cents from every check. She'd round up if the partial dollar amounts were 50 cents or more and drop those under 50 cents. Dad feverishly went through stacks of canceled checks and registers, trying to correct her method.
The difference in seven years of dollars only? Sixteen cents.
Originally published March 24, 2005.
