What does cash up mean?

Only cash goes into this sum. Card, bank transfer and wallet payments never enter the drawer, so they are checked against their own statements, not the till.

A mini-mart opens with a float of $100. The sales record shows $620 in cash sales for the day, one cash refund of $15 and $40 paid in cash to a delivery driver. Expected cash = 100 + 620 - 15 - 40 = $665. The owner counts $657. The difference is -$8, a shortage.

Eight dollars on a $620 day is about 1.3 percent. One shortage means little. The same shortage three days running points at a habit, such as change given wrongly at a busy hour. Writing the difference down every day is what makes the pattern visible.

• Counting once, quickly. Count twice, ideally with a second person for large drawers.
• Mixing payment types. Include only cash in the expected figure.
• Forgetting paid-outs. Cash taken out for deliveries, bags or a quick purchase must be written down when it happens.
• Topping up the drawer to hide a gap. Record the shortage and move on. Covering it erases the evidence.

The full routine is in how to cash up at the end of the day, and the daily shop routine checklist shows where it fits.

Shopkeepa records the payment type on every sale, and you can search the sales history, so the cash total for the day is easy to read off. The counting and comparing is still done by you. Shopkeepa is not available yet; early-access sign-ups hear first when it opens.