At the end of a busy day, the cash in the drawer should match the payments recorded. When it doesn’t, and nobody notices until month-end, it becomes almost impossible to find out why. A short daily cash-up fixes that.
The 10-minute closing routine
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Stop capturing | Agree a closing time for the counter. Payments after it go on tomorrow’s cash-up. |
| 2. Count | Count cash and card slips. Write down the totals before looking at the system. |
| 3. Compare | Compare what you counted with the payments recorded today, by payment method. |
| 4. Explain differences | If there’s a difference, note the reason while the day is fresh. |
| 5. Approve | A manager checks and approves the cash-up. The person who counted shouldn’t approve their own. |
Fix mistakes the right way
Payments recorded against the wrong policy are the most common cause of differences. Don’t delete them. Reverse the payment with a reason, then record it again correctly. That keeps a clear history of what happened and who did it.
- Only managers should be able to reverse a payment.
- Every reversal needs a written reason.
- Once a day is approved, it should stay closed.
Keep old payments out of today’s count
If you’ve imported historical payments from your old records, make sure they never appear as new money in today’s cash-up. Otherwise branches will never balance.