Every £ is not the same...a £1 in cash lost is worth £20 in Sales

Here are some best practices that you should consider adopting to minimise cash loss.

Have a simple daily cash up process, count the till every day and reconcile any change you have separately. If you don't do it yourself make it a rule that you are contacted if the short or over on the till is above a nominal amount, decided by you £2 or £10 depending on your sales.

There is a downloadable excel template in the resources to the right.

Check your bankings every time they are done,  what is on your cash up should be in the bank, check that your staff have deposited the correct amount of cash into the bank each day and that the credit cards are correct when they hit your bank account a few days later. Banks do make mistakes....and if your team know you check every banking then they will be more careful as well. 

Have a culture and a set of rules to back it up, to reinforce that you give nothing away for FREE, everything must be recorded, so when you do give someone an extra coffee as they have spilt it, that is recorded too. See Templates of discount rules to the right

Stamped coffee cards, student discounts, staff food, all email vouchers, leaflet offers etc should be recorded through the till on a separate button so they can be reconciled and tracked. See the template for waste recording the right.

Make sure your CCTV is trained on the till and in the office or area where the cashing up is done. Make sure your team know this, as it helps with dealing with customers who try and confuse the cashier.

How to look out for staff taking money from the till. 

• Building the till - this is when a member of staff does not ring through a transaction and puts the money straight into the till but remembers how much has built up on the shift and then takes out the money before leaving. Look out for the till drawer not being closed after every transaction, some paper by the till with a running total on, some other form of counters around the till, e.g. match sticks, occasional large till overs where they have built up the till but been unable to take out the money before leaving.
• Refunds  - all refunds need to be signed by a supervisor with the reasons written on the till receipt, otherwise a refund can be made up and the money taken.
• Void last items excessive or always the last item on the receipt - this is another way to 'build the till', putting the items through the till as normal, taking the money from the customer and working out the change in your head, then voiding the last item before cashing off the till thus under ringing the sale.

Do a cashier audit using the till reports to compare everyone's level of voids, error corrects etc, see who stands out. Do it over a months time frame, most till systems will allow you to pull off a cashier report that will give you this easily.

Daily Cash Checks

• Cash taken balances with till total
• Credit card payment slips match the end of day totals
• Check the both number of slips and the total of the end of day reading match.
• Credit card payments received into the bank (There will be a few days delay in the money arriving in your bank)
• Cash deposited at bank match the cash taken  (Avoid the quick deposit systems as you get no receipt and the physical cash is often not checked for a few days and is taken to a cash centre away from the branch)
• Change float balances
• Refunds/voids/discounts are all recorded