Cash handling procedures: a one-page shop policy

Good cash handling procedures come down to a handful of rules: one person per drawer, a counted float, a slip for every pay-in and pay-out, regular safe drops, a second person for refunds and voids, a careful count at close, a varied banking routine, and differences written down rather than made up. Put those on one page, and make everyone who touches the till follow the same page.

What follows is that page, with a sentence or two on why each rule is there. Adapt the figures to your shop. Nothing here is legal advice; if your insurer, bank or local rules ask for something specific, they win.

Who opens the drawer, and when

One person per drawer per shift, wherever you can manage it. If three people take money from one drawer, a shortage at close belongs to all three, which means it belongs to nobody. With one person on it, the count says something about that drawer and that shift.

If the shop is too small for that, at least give everyone their own till login so every sale and every drawer open has a name against it. Shared logins make the whole policy unenforceable.

The drawer opens to take a payment or give change. Opening it for anything else is a no-sale, and every no-sale is recorded. Most are innocent, such as swapping a note for coins. A run of them on one shift is worth a question.

The float

The float is the fixed amount of change the drawer starts with. Write the figure down, keep it the same every day, and count it in at the start of every shift rather than trusting yesterday’s count. There is a separate guide to how much float to keep in a till if you have not settled on a figure.

Pay-ins and pay-outs

Sometimes cash goes into the drawer that is not a sale, or comes out for something that is not a refund: the window cleaner, a delivery paid in cash, milk for the staff room.

No pay-out without a slip and a reason. The receipt goes in the drawer or an envelope at the moment the money leaves, not at close. A pay-out with no paper is the single most common reason a drawer comes up short, and the person who took it is usually the one most surprised at close.

Decide who may make a pay-out and up to what amount. Anything over that needs the owner or a manager.

Safe drops

A drawer full of notes is a bigger loss if it is robbed, and harder to count accurately at close. Set a level, and when the drawer passes it, take the large notes out and put them in the safe.

• Count the drop, write the amount and time on a slip, and put the slip in the bag with the cash.
• Do it out of sight of the counter, not in front of a queue.
• Record the drop on the till as cash leaving the drawer, so the expected figure at close is still right.

Checking large notes

Train everyone to check large notes before they go in the drawer, using the security features your central bank publishes for its currency. Most central banks have a short guide with pictures; print it and keep it by the till.

If a note looks wrong, decline it politely and hand it back, or follow your local guidance on reporting it. Do not let staff argue with a customer over it. A refused note costs you a sale; a confrontation can cost a lot more.

Refunds and voids

Refunds and voids need a second person. A refund is the easiest way for cash to leave a drawer looking legitimate, which is why most retailers keep the authority to give one apart from the authority to sell.

• The refund goes through the till before the money leaves the drawer, always in that order.
• A cashier can take the return; a manager or the owner approves the refund.
• Large discounts follow the same rule: above a set limit, someone else signs it off.

None of this is about distrusting your staff. It means that when a refund is questioned, there are two people who can say what happened.

Counting at close

The close is where the rest of the policy pays off. There is a full routine in how to cash up a till; the policy only needs to say how it is done.

• Count with two people, or count blind. Two people counting, or one person counting without seeing what the till expects, stops a count being nudged to match the expected figure.
• Count the float out first and set it aside for tomorrow.
• Count cash by denomination on a sheet, and compare card totals against the terminal’s own end-of-day report as a separate step.
• Both counters sign the sheet.

When the count is different

Record the difference. Never make it up from your own pocket, and never take an overage home. A drawer that balances perfectly every night is usually being adjusted, and that hides the day something actually went wrong.

Set a threshold. Under it, log the figure and move on. Over it, look the same day, while the receipts and the memories are fresh. The usual causes, and how to tell them apart, are in why your till never balances. Cash differences and stock differences often have the same root, which is covered in where shrinkage comes from.

Banking

• Bank at different times and, where you can, by different routes. A routine anyone can predict is a routine anyone can plan around.
• Use a plain bag or envelope, not a branded bank bag carried in your hand.
• Avoid going alone with a visible bag if you can. If you must go alone, do not stop on the way.
• Keep the deposit slip with that day’s count sheet and Z report.
• Never leave takings in the till drawer overnight, even locked.

If your bank or insurer has its own requirements for how much cash may be held or carried, follow those.

Write it down

A policy that lives in the owner’s head changes with whoever is on shift. Print this page, go through it with every new starter on their first day, and have them sign it. Review it once a year, or after anything goes wrong.

Printable checklist

Opening

• Count the float in, by denomination, and record it.
• Log in as yourself. One person per drawer.

During the shift

• Every no-sale is recorded.
• Every pay-in and pay-out has a slip and a reason.
• Safe drop when the drawer passes the set level, with a slip.
• Large notes checked before they go in the drawer.
• Refunds, voids and large discounts approved by a second person, through the till first.

Closing

• Stop selling on the till being counted.
• Count the float out and set it aside.
• Count blind or with two people, and both sign.
• Compare cash and card separately.
• Write the difference down, even when it is zero.

Banking

• Varied times, plain bag, not alone if avoidable.
• Deposit slip filed with the count sheet.

Where StoreWave sits

StoreWave runs the drawer as a shift on each register. Each one opens with a counted float that is never carried forward, every drawer opened without a sale is recorded, and a pay-in or pay-out cannot be saved without a reason. At close the cashier counts each way of paying and sees the expected amount, the counted amount and the difference, and with blind close on the expected figure stays hidden until the count is in. There is more on shifts and cash-up.

Roles are yours to edit. Giving refunds and voiding them are permissions separate from selling, closing someone else’s shift is separate from running your own, and a discount above your limit needs a supervisor to approve it at the till. Pay-ins, pay-outs, drawer opens, refunds and voided sales all land in the activity log with a name against them. There is more on staff permissions.