Cash up before locking the door

It is quarter to six in the sample gift shop in this tour. The last customer is browsing the cards, the sign is about to turn to Closed, and the owner has one question before locking the door: does the drawer hold what was sold? This tour shows the cash up for Till 1 in three stops, ending with a small shortfall and the note that explains it.

Each stop is expanded below into what you look at, what you do and why it matters. A worked example of the count follows, then tips, common mistakes and where to go next.

What does the cash-up screen show?

The heading names the till and who opened it: Cash up, Till 1, opened at 08:55. Beside it, 58 sales today and a Closing marker. On the left is Today's takings, split by how people paid. On the right is Count the drawer, with a short reminder at the top: cash only; card takings are already settled.

Step by step

1. Open the cash up for the till. At 17:45, after the last sale, open the cash up for Till 1. Make sure no sale is still half-finished on the till; it would change the figures as you count.
2. Read Today's takings. Card: £1,184.50 from 41 sales. Cash: £312.40 from 17 sales. Total £1,496.90 for this till today. The number of sales by method is a useful sense check: most customers paid by card, which is typical for a gift shop.
3. Look at what the drawer should hold. The panel lays out the sum: opening float £100.00, plus cash sales £312.40, equals £412.40 that should be in the drawer.
4. Count the drawer. Take the drawer out, count notes and coins by denomination, and enter the total next to Counted. In the sample the count is £410.40.
5. See the difference. EasyTaskr compares the count with what should be there and marks the result. Here it is Short by £2.00, with the prompt: add a note so the owner knows why.
6. Write the note. The owner remembers giving £2 change from the float to the window cleaner without ringing anything up. The note says exactly that. If you do not know why, say so; a note reading "unknown" is more honest than no note.
7. Close the till. Tap Close the till. Print summary gives a paper copy to put in the bag with the takings for the bank.
8. Separate the float. Count out the £100 float for tomorrow and set it aside before banking the rest. What goes to the bank is the cash sales, less any shortfall.

How does the sample count work out?

The card figure plays no part in the drawer count, but it still needs a check: compare it with the card terminal's own end-of-day total. If they differ, a card sale was keyed wrongly or a terminal payment was not rung through the till. Our end-of-day cash-up guide explains that check, and how to handle overs as well as shorts.

Why write a note for £2?

Because the amount is not the point; the pattern is. A £2 short once a month is noise. A £2 short every Saturday is a habit, and the notes are how you find it. In the sample the note shows the cause straight away: small payments made from the till without a record. The fix is simple, a petty cash slip or a paid-out entry, but you only know to make it because the note was written.

Notes also protect staff. When a till is short and there is no note, the owner has to guess. When the note explains it, nobody needs to be suspected of anything. For a shop with more than one person on the till, that matters as much as the money.

Tips for a quick, accurate cash-up

• Count before you read the expected figure. If you know you are looking for £412.40, you will find it. Count first, then compare.
• Count by denomination. Notes, then coins, in piles. It is slower the first week and faster forever after.
• Keep the float the same every day. A fixed £100 makes the sum easy and any difference obvious.
• Record every paid-out. Window cleaners, milk, stamps: anything paid from the drawer needs a slip, or it turns into a short.
• Print the summary for the bank bag. It ties the cash you bank to the day it came from.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the float in the count. The expected figure already includes the float. Take it out of the counted total and you will look £100 short.
• Counting card slips as cash. Card takings are settled by the terminal. They have no place in the drawer total.
• Rounding small differences away. A difference not recorded is a difference you can never explain.
• Cashing up with a sale still open. Finish or cancel any sale on the till first.
• Forgetting refunds. A cash refund leaves the drawer. If it went through Returns, it is accounted for; if it was handed over without a return, the drawer will be short.

What should you do next?

That is the end of the sample shop's day. If you joined here, start from before the doors open and follow the day through the till and a return, both of which feed the figures on this screen. For the money side, cash flow for a small business explains why card takings and banked cash arrive on different days, and our guide on choosing a POS system lists the cash-up features worth testing.

How EasyTaskr helps

EasyTaskr shows each till's takings by card and cash, works out what the drawer should hold from the float and cash sales, records the count and any difference with a note, and closes the till. End-of-day closing then locks the day. The shop and figures in this tour are sample data.