Cashier balancing

The Balancing Process

First, the manager (or sometimes the cashier) prepares to count the money in the register. Counting the money is usually done in the back office: the drawer is removed from the register and taken into the office. By preparing to count the money, all large bills, checks and coupons and food stamps (if any) are removed and put to the side.

Next, the person counting the money counts it back to its "starting amount." The starting amount is the amount of money that was in the drawer at the beginning of the shift. As this is being done, there will be additional bills and change that will be put off to the side along with the larger bills. Once the drawer is reset back to its starting amount for the next cashier's shift, it is either placed in the safe or given to another cashier that is starting their shift.

Cashier Accountability

Now, the bills and change that were put off to the side get counted, along with the checks from the cashier's drawer. This is what makes up the cashier's sales deposit. Most cash registers can print up a sales slip and money tendering slip that tells how much money the cashier made in sales and how much money the cashier is accounted for. The manager refers to this slip when counting the cashier's sales money. If the money counted does not match what is on the balancing slip, the cashier may be over or short (in cash).

Whenever a discrepancy such as overages or shortages occur, the money is usually counted again to ensure that the amount is correct. The over/short can always be calculated by subtracting the amount of money in the drawer (exclude the "starting amount") from the amount printed on the cashier tendering slip, or balancing slip. Depending on the amount of over/short and circumstances involved, disciplinary actions may vary. Cashiers have lost their jobs to cash overages/shortages, either for repeated violations or for large overages or shortages. In most establishments, termination on the first offense is usually for $50.00 over/short or more. Shortages usually result from bills sticking together or from the cashier giving back too much change, or maybe even "pocketing" some money from the register. Overages occur from taking in too much money or cheating the customer out of some money. Cashiers should be careful when it comes to cash handling.

Night Deposit

All money made in sales, including checks is what goes into the night deposit. The deposit money is usually kept in a small box in a safe during the day. At the end of the day, this money is brought together along with money made in sales from cashiers. It is all counted and totaled. Most registers can print slips that tell the total money accountable for the entire day. This includes all cashiers' sales for the day. Like the cashier accountability process, this is the same except all money made in sales is counted. The money must match what the deposit print-up slip says.

Usually, a cashier cannot make certain that he or she is over or short until the entire deposit has been counted. In some establishments, "extra" money has been known to show up in a store's safe fund or another cashier's drawer, and sometimes in a deposit the following day. This is probably caused by incorrect counting of the money and it results in money being "held over." For example, a cashier who is said to be short $15.38 (-15.38) may see that the deposit is short $15.60 one night, but over $15.96 (+15.96) the following day. Because of that, the cashier is not short because the money was "found." The deposit money is placed in a deposit bag and taken to the bank.

Copyright 2008 - France BtoB from Wikipédia