Selling · 3 of 3 · 2 min read
Closing the till
Count the drawer, explain a difference, and hand over.
On this page
Closing takes two minutes and is the only routine check that catches a problem the same day it happens.
Count the drawer
Close the register and enter what is physically in it. Count it before looking at the expected figure — knowing the target first is how a count becomes a formality.
The till then shows expected against counted, and the difference.
What the expected figure includes
- The opening float
- Cash sales
- Cash refunds paid out
- Cash paid in or out during the shift, if you recorded any
Card and other non-cash payments are not in the drawer, so they are not in the expected cash.
When it does not match
Small differences happen. A pattern does not.
- Short by a round amount — usually change given wrong, or a cash payment recorded as card
- Over — often a sale rung as cash and paid by card, or a float not recorded at open
- Out by exactly one sale — look for a void that should have been a refund, or the reverse; see Refunds and voids
Record the difference rather than adjusting the count to match. A recorded shortage is a fact you can look at next month; a fudged count is a fact you have destroyed.
A shortage or overage goes to its own account in the ledger. That means the books stay balanced and you get a running figure for how much the tills are out by over time — which is the number that tells you whether you have a training problem or a one-off bad evening.
Handing over between shifts
If another person takes the same till, close the session and open a new one. Each session records its own float, sales, and count, so a difference belongs to one person's shift rather than to the day.
The till also locks itself between shifts. The business stays selected — nobody hunts through a list at eight in the morning — but a PIN is needed to prove who is actually standing there. Without that, a lane reopened the next day would still be recording sales under last night's cashier.
At the end of the day
Look at the day's summary before you leave: takings by payment method, refunds, discounts, and the till differences. Two minutes, and it is far easier to explain something odd while you still remember the day.
Something here wrong or missing? Tell us — we would rather fix it than have you work around it.