Half past five, and the figures do not agree
The shop is closed and your assistant is counting the float. The till's end-of-day report says one figure for card, the card machine says another. The cash is a little over. There are two petty cash slips for milk and stamps, and a refund note from the morning that may or may not have gone through the till.
Twenty minutes later, you write the difference on the cash up sheet with a question mark and go home. Nobody will look at the sheet again until the accountant asks about it.
The sources do not talk to each other
Cashing up involves several separate records: the till, the card machine, the cash, and the paper slips for anything that happened outside the till. They rarely agree exactly, and working out why takes detective work.
- Card machine totals and till card totals can differ when a payment is taken on the machine but not rung through the till.
- Refunds are sometimes done on the card machine but not the till, or the other way round.
- Petty cash comes from the till drawer and is recorded on paper.
- Online orders paid at collection add another route.
- The cash up sheet is paper, so patterns across weeks are invisible.
What a slow, unexplained cash up costs
Time at the end of every day adds up, and it is paid time for staff who would rather go home. Differences that are never explained make it impossible to spot a real problem, such as a till error or repeated mistakes on a particular shift.
At the end of the month or quarter, whoever does the books has a pile of cash up sheets to reconcile with the bank, which is where the question marks come back.
How we build a cash up screen
- At closing, the screen pulls the day's till totals by payment type through the till's API.
- Card totals from the card provider, such as SumUp, Square or Zettle, are pulled where the provider allows it.
- Staff enter the cash count by denomination, and petty cash spends with a photo of the receipt.
- The screen compares the figures and, for any difference, suggests likely causes, such as a card payment with no matching till sale, or a refund on one system only.
- Staff add a note, and the day is signed off with their name.
- Daily records build up, so you can see differences across weeks and shifts, and your bookkeeper gets a clean summary for each day.
| Source | Before | With the cash up screen |
|---|---|---|
| Till report | Printed and read | Pulled automatically |
| Card machine | Printed and compared by eye | Pulled and matched to till sales |
| Cash | Counted onto a sheet | Counted by denomination on screen |
| Petty cash | Paper slips | Entered with a receipt photo |
| Differences | Written with a question mark | Likely cause suggested, note recorded |
How cash differences and petty cash are treated in your accounts is for you and your accountant. The screen gives them accurate, consistent records to work from.
Closing time with the screen
Cashing up becomes counting the cash, checking what the screen shows and adding a note if needed. Most days match. When they do not, the likely cause is shown while the day is still fresh, so it can be put right.
Your bookkeeper receives daily summaries in a consistent format, and the pile of paper sheets goes away.
Signs your cash up needs this
- Cashing up takes longer than it should most evenings.
- The till and card machine totals often disagree.
- Differences are written down but rarely explained.
- Petty cash is recorded on slips of paper.
- Your bookkeeper asks about cash up sheets months later.