How to cash up a till

Stop trading on the till and close it off for the day, so no sale slips in during the count. Then gather what you need:

• the opening float, as counted into the drawer that morning
• the register's end-of-day report, showing cash sales and cash refunds
• notes or slips for any cash paid into the drawer, such as extra change from the safe
• receipts for any cash paid out of the drawer
• the slips for cash lifted from the drawer to the safe or the bank during the day.

Card payments are checked separately, against the EFTPOS terminal's settlement, because card money goes to the bank, not the drawer. Cash out is the exception: cash handed to a customer on a card payment leaves the drawer, so it is one of the movements taken off below.

The expected cash is what should be in the drawer if every movement was recorded. Start with the float and work through each movement in turn:

1. Start with the opening float.
2. Add cash sales from the register report.
3. Take off cash refunds given to customers.
4. Add any cash put into the drawer during the day, such as extra change.
5. Take off any cash paid out of the drawer, each with its receipt.
6. Take off any cash out handed to customers on card payments.
7. Take off cash lifted to the safe or taken to the bank earlier in the day.

• Count away from the counter and out of customers' sight.
• Count notes and coins by denomination, and write each total on the cash-up sheet.
• Have a second person present, or recount it yourself, before you compare.
• Count first and compare second. Knowing the expected figure in advance makes it tempting to stop counting once it is reached.

The extra change goes back to the safe, because it was the business's own cash and never part of the takings. The cash lifted to the safe in the afternoon is takings, though: it goes to the bank with the amount set aside at closing, and the banking is recorded as a transfer, not as more sales.

1. Recount the cash, including any note tucked under the drawer tray.
2. Check the arithmetic on the cash-up sheet.
3. Check every refund, paid-out and lift has a slip and is on the sheet.
4. Compare the register's card total with the terminal settlement. A card sale rung up as cash leaves the drawer short by that amount, and a cash sale rung up as card leaves it over.
5. Look for sales voided or entered twice on the register.

If the gap remains, write it on the sheet as a shortage or overage with a note of what was checked. It is then recorded on its own, separately from sales. Small gaps happen; the useful signal is a pattern, such as the same till, the same shift or a gap that keeps growing.

Count the next day's float into its own bag or tray, in the change the till will need. Bag the takings with a copy of the cash-up sheet and put both in the safe. business.gov.au links the higher theft risk of cash to it not going straight into the bank, and advises banking regularly rather than holding large amounts.

Whoever counted, and whoever checked, signs the sheet. File it with the register report and the slips for that day. Because the ATO's rules don't allow the relevant information in records to be altered, fix a mistake on the sheet with a signed note rather than by rewriting it. business.gov.au gives 5 years as the keeping period for most business records, starting from the later of obtaining the record and completing the related transaction, and says company records need 7 years. Keep the sheet for the period that applies to your business.