How to Cash Up a Till at the End of the Day: Expected Cash and Over/Short

1What Is Cashing Up, and When Do You Do It?

Cashing up means counting the notes and coins in the drawer and comparing the total with the amount that should be there. The goal is to confirm the till matches your records and, if it doesn't, to find the difference before it's too late. You count the till at these moments:

• At the end of the day. After the last sale, before the till is closed.
• At a shift handover. When the till passes from one person to another; the outgoing and incoming person count together.
• In a spot check. An unannounced count during the day narrows down when a difference appeared.

2How Do You Work Out the Expected Cash?

The end-of-day calculation starts with the opening cash. Cash that went into the drawer during the day is added, and cash that came out is subtracted:

• Opening cash. The change float put in the drawer at the start of the day.
• Cash sales and collections. Sales paid in cash, on-account balances paid in cash and gift cards sold for cash.
• Other cash in. Money put into the drawer outside of sales, such as topping up the change float.
• Cash out. Expenses paid from the till, cash refunds and money taken to the bank.

Card, on-account and bank transfer payments never enter the drawer, so they are not part of the cash count. You check the card total separately against your card terminal's end-of-day report.

3Cashing Up Step by Step

• Stop selling. Keep the drawer closed until the count is done; send new customers to another till or ask them to wait.
• Sort by denomination. Separate notes and coins by value, starting with the largest denomination.
• Count each denomination. Multiply the number of pieces by the value and write down the subtotals. You make fewer mistakes than counting the whole amount at once.
• Count again if it's off. Many differences are counting mistakes; recount before anything else.
• Compare and record. Compare the counted amount with the expected amount and write down the difference and its reason.
• Set aside the opening cash. Keep the change float for the next day and hand over or bank the rest.

4Why Is the Till Over or Short?

A difference goes both ways: if the counted amount is lower, the till is short; if it's higher, the till is over. The most common causes:

• Change error. Giving a customer too much or too little change.
• On-account sale not entered. If goods were handed over and the balance wasn't recorded, the till comes up short.
• Wrong payment method. A card sale recorded as cash makes the till short; a cash sale recorded as card makes it look over.
• Unrecorded cash in or out. If money was taken from or put into the drawer without being recorded, the numbers won't add up.
• Counting mistake. Skipping a denomination or counting it twice.

Most small differences turn up when you recount or look through the day's cash receipts. Recording the difference and its reason every day shows you on which days, and in whose till, the same difference keeps coming back.

5Cashing Up at Shift Close in PratikKasa

In PratikKasa the till is kept through personal shifts. Each person opens their shift with the opening cash, and their sales and collections are recorded to their own shift. If you sell without opening a shift, it opens by itself with zero opening cash.

Money you put into or take out of the till outside of sales is recorded with Cash In/Out, along with a description. These amounts are added to the expected cash as separate lines at closing.

At closing on Windows, you count the till note by note and coin by coin. The app shows expected cash, counted cash and the difference side by side, and lists how the expected cash is calculated line by line. If there is a difference, you choose the reason: Change Error, On-Account Sale Not Entered or Other. On the phone, you enter the total amount in the drawer and the difference is recorded to the shift.

When the shift closes, its Z report is prepared: the shift summary, the payment breakdown, the cash comparison and the count details. This is PratikKasa's shift report; it does not replace a fiscal cash register's Z report.

The drawings in this post are based on the screens of PratikKasa 2.1.0.