How to cash up at the end of the day

Cashing up, also called balancing the till or a till count, is the end-of-day check that the money in the drawer matches the sales you made. It takes ten minutes and tells you three things: how much you really took, whether anything went wrong at the counter, and how much to leave in the drawer for tomorrow.

Skip it and errors pile up unnoticed. A wrong change given on Monday, a refund nobody wrote down on Wednesday, and by Friday nobody can say where the money went.

• Opening float. The cash you put in the drawer at the start of the day for change.
• Cash sales. Only sales paid in cash. Card and bank transfer payments are not in the drawer.
• Cash refunds. Money handed back to customers from the drawer.
• Cash paid out. Anything taken from the drawer during the day: paying a delivery driver, buying cleaning supplies, owner withdrawals. Each one needs a note or receipt.

Compare the expected cash with what you actually count. The gap is your over or short.

1. Finish the last sale

   Close the counter or put the drawer away from customers. Counting while serving is how mistakes happen.

2. Count the drawer

   Sort notes and coins by value. Count each pile twice, or have a second person recount. Write the totals per denomination on a sheet, then add them up.

3. Get the day's figures

   Look up the day's cash sales, cash refunds and any recorded payouts. Use your sales records rather than memory.

4. Work out expected cash

   Opening float, plus cash sales, minus refunds and payouts.

5. Compare and note the difference

   Write down the counted total, the expected total and the difference, even if it is zero.

6. Take out the takings, leave the float

   Remove everything above tomorrow's float. Bag the takings, label them with the date and amount, and store them safely or bank them.

Card and transfer sales that day came to $611.00. They are part of the day's takings but are not in the drawer, so they are left out of the cash check. Total sales were $1,453.50.

After the count, $100.00 stays as tomorrow's float and $823.50 goes into the takings bag.

A small difference now and then is normal. Coins get miscounted and change gets fumbled. What matters is the pattern. Before assuming the worst, check the usual suspects:

• A sale recorded as cash that was paid by card, or the other way round.
• A refund or payout that happened but was not written down.
• The wrong float. Someone started the day with $80 instead of $100.
• A sale not recorded at all, which shows up as an over.
• A counting slip. Recount before chasing anything else.

• Use the same float every day. A round number like $100 makes the maths simple.
• Keep a payout slip in the drawer. Anyone who takes cash out writes the amount and reason.
• One drawer, one person per shift if you can. Shared drawers make differences impossible to trace.
• Cash up at shift changes too, not just at closing, if more than one person runs the till.
• Record every sale, every time. The check only works if the sales record is complete.
• Do not lend from the drawer. Even to yourself. Take owner money out as a recorded payout.

Shopkeepa records how each sale was paid (cash, card, bank transfer or other) and keeps refunds and voids on record rather than deleting them. Searchable sales history means the day's figures come from the record, not from memory, so cashing up is a matter of counting and comparing.

Cashier access keeps staff on the till without access to costs or settings. Learn more about the point of sale. Shopkeepa is in development, and early access shops will help shape it.