Z reading on cash till versus actual cash received

[Billyd15]

Hi all,

I'm hoping somebody can help please. If a Z reading says one figure and the cash is either up or down, what do you record as the cash sale? Is it the cash received or the Z reading. Thanks

 

[kevin.doran]

Why does it differ? That's the first question an inspector would ask.

 

[Billyd15]

Hi Kevin, Mainly due to human error. Over-rings or incorrect change given

 

[Scalloway]

You should keep a note of over rings and reconcile back to the correct figure.

 

[Billyd15]

The individual units have to enter their cash sales onto a portal, would you enter the Z reading even though they could be incorrect or the actual cash taken??

 

[Scalloway]

What do you mean by a portal?

 

[Billyd15]

An electronic system so the head office can see what they've sold

 

[Onion4Sage]

Perhaps you should discuss this with head office to see what their requirements are?

 

[Scalloway]

In that case someone would need to reconcile the Z total to the actual cash. If I was to visit a branch and discover that the Z totals and the cash did not match I would want an explanation.

 

[Billyd15]

Thanks Ian. Although most people have their own opinion on what you should record my question really is what would you do?

 

[Billyd15]

Scalloway,
The Z totals and the cash very rarely are the same. So which figure do you go with,actual cash received or Z reading? If you have more cash than your Z reading what do you say are your sales?

 

[Scalloway]

If I were checking your records I would take whichever was the higher and ask the person in charge to explain the differences.

Of course a dishonest person might be tempted to keep a cash float to balance ups and downs.

Are you having problems with head office?

 

[Onion4Sage]

I'd be inclined to account for the z total and record any "differences" in a discrepancies account. However, if the only figure being captured in the accounts is the one keyed in the portal (ie there's no way of capturing the discrepancies) I'd record the cash.

I'd still want to understand from head office what control system they would want implemented to manage the discrepancies.

 

[Billyd15]

No problems just lack of clarity. For me I would go with the physical cash as that's what I'll bank and the site managers have to comment on why the Z readings differ to the actual cash, keeping the auditable records. What do you think?

 

[Scalloway]

Yes the site managers should be able to explain discrepancies.

 

[Billyd15]

Hi Ian,

They can record either the physical cash or the Z reading and any difference is posted as a cash query. For me a cash query is something you don't understand

 

[Billyd15]

I agree Scalloway but it's mainly down to human error.

 

[Onion4Sage]

In that case I'd record the z total (what the takings should be) and post the difference as a cash query. The sum of the two being the actual cash received. It would be important that each site did the same thing.

 

[Billyd15]

Ian, even if its a sale not recorded?

 

[Onion4Sage]

Ian, even if its a sale not recorded?

Billy,
I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

If there's £10 in the z total for a sale but no cash there'd be -£10 in the cash discrepancy record. If there's nothing in the z total but £10 cash in hand from an unrecorded sale there'd be £10 in the cash discrepancy record. Either way, the amount of cash in hand is recorded.

 

[john1989]

Long term, the thing to do is give the staff proper training on the tills.

Tills should not be up or down on a regular basis.

 

[Philip Hoyle]

Surely Head Office want to know the amount of "real" sales. Some days, the Z total might be right, other days, the cash in the drawer might be right. Some days, both might be wrong. The differences need to be reconciled and explained and then you can return the accurate sales figure to Head Office. If a staff have rung in a sale twice, then the Z figure needs to be reduced, but if the staff have made a mess with change then the Z figure is right as it still shows the proper total of sales, even though the cash in the drawer is different.

If they're ringing things through twice or put something through that is then not wanted, there should be a system for crediting the till, i.e. get a supervisor to void the items, or if that's not feasible, get the cashier to make a list of all their mistakes so the Z report can be changed later.

As said above, probably a need for staff retraining or replacement if the cash is constantly different from the Z listings. Commonplace to be pence or a few pounds out due to change mistakes, but if it's tens of pounds or more, every day, then you need to find out why and take action to get the cashiers to do it properly.