Cash Accountability and Your POS

Recently I was talking to a client that is opening a new store.  One of their concerns was on how to keep the cash sorted out with their employees.  It is a great question and one that is answered differently for every store.  I’ll try and hit the highlights on methods that SP-1 can use to help you stay on top of it.

First we need to know the different areas where employees handle cash.

Two of them, delivery drivers and servers (think table service) are easily accounted for because you will most likely have them carry a bank.  When using server / drive banking, the cash accountability issue is pretty easy.    These employees will simply cash out and match up against the server or driver close out report.

It gets more difficult when we talk about the counter service aspect of the store.  If you want to help insure accurate tills, follow some of these steps:

• Assign employees to cash drawers.  This locks down the cash to only the employee assigned.
• Use Employee Swipe Cards instead of codes and passwords.  It is far more secure.
• Use Fingerprint ID instead of Employee Swipe Cards.  It is the most secure.
• Buy an extra insert for the cash drawer (with or without a locking lid).  That way you can quickly handle shift changes with minimum disruption.
• Buy multiple cash drawers.  Employee one is assigned to drawer one and employee two is assigned to drawer two.  If they are short, you know where to go.
• Don’t leave the key in the drawer!
• Integrate your credit cards with the POS – that way you don’t have cash / credit discrepencies.