The Finance Committee should work with the Registration Committee to establish the currencies and methods of payments to be accepted from ICASSP registrants. Payments in US dollars and the currency of the country hosting ICASSP should always be accepted. Publicize and enforce the accepted payment rules. Reject applications that violate the rules. Registration forms must list the accepted credit cards and currencies. A line like ``NO checks on non-U.S. (Australian) banks'' should appear in bold-face type near the signature line. It is next to impossible to cash checks drawn on foreign banks that do not have local corresponding banks, and it is expensive ($25.00-$100.00) even when such a branch exists.
A cancellation/refund policy must be established. Deadlines should be in bold-face type next to the signature line on the registration form.
Requests for wire transfers and invoicing should be anticipated. Set a fee for these services, say $50 dollars per attendee, so high that no one will use them. Otherwise you will experience attendees claiming that their company has wired the funds, or paid the invoice, yet the ICASSP will not have received them. Those that are received will in all likelihood not have the attendees name attached in any discernible fashion, or will be for multiple attendees with no indications of the type of registration for each attendee, etc. In short, you will rue the day that you ever agreed to allow such transfers.
Procure an endorsement stamp for checks, and a big stamp saying ``Receipt'' to stamp the back of badges when requested. Make arrangements with the bank to have two credit-card swipers at the ICASSP registration desk.