An end-of-day routine for checking the cash drawer, matching card payments and handing over discrepancies without confusing them with pending payouts.
The till report shows MAD 2,400 in card payments, but the card terminal shows only MAD 2,300. The cash drawer is also MAD 20 short. Should you add the two differences and record a MAD 120 loss? No. One difference may come from a payment taken after the terminal’s cut-off, the other from an unexplained cash movement. Adding them together would obscure what to check in both cases.
Whether you are opening your first outlet in Morocco or preparing a second one, the end-of-day close should let someone who was not there reconstruct what was collected. The aim is not to report zero discrepancies every evening. It is to know which amounts have been checked, which items still need evidence and who will follow them up.
Compare the same trading day and the same transactions
Record the outlet, till, terminal, trading date and cut-off time. Decide how to handle a sale after midnight or a payment taken during a shift handover. If two tills share one terminal, establish which sales go through that terminal before you compare its report with the sales records. Do not compare it with just one till. When a customer pays partly in cash and partly by card, record each amount under the right payment method without counting the sale twice.
Keep the sales summary by payment method, along with the references for refunds, voids and cash movements. For a refund, check how the money was actually returned, not just how the original sale was paid. If a sale was cancelled before payment, there is no payment to find. Check whether the report shows gross amounts or totals already net of refunds: deducting a refund twice creates a discrepancy that was never there.
Reconcile cash first, then card payments
Cash: work out what should be left in the drawer
Start with the cash float checked at opening. Add cash sales and any documented cash added to the drawer. Subtract cash refunds, documented withdrawals and any transfers to the safe made before the count. Set the point at which the drawer is counted so you do not subtract cash that is still in it. Count by denomination and record the actual amount before comparing it with the expected total. A transfer to the safe is not a reduction in sales or a deposit already credited to your bank account.
Card: separate the transaction from the payout
First compare card sales recorded by the till with the terminal’s accepted payments and refunds for the same transactions. If the figures differ, trace the payment by time, amount and merchant reference, not by the full card number. Check declines, voids, duplicate entries and transactions taken after the cut-off. If the payment method was entered incorrectly, keep a record of the correction. Do not change a total just to make the two reports agree.
When the payment provider’s statement becomes available, match the batch of transactions to the expected payout and then to the bank credit. Note the fees or adjustments shown and the expected date under your agreement. A pending payout still needs to be checked; it is not a loss while the difference is being investigated. Use the expected dates and amounts in your cash flow forecast. The sales date and the date the money becomes available are not necessarily the same.
Fictional example: two discrepancies, two follow-ups
In a fictional shop, the opening cash float is MAD 400 and cash sales total MAD 2,280. The team has records for a MAD 120 refund, an approved MAD 150 withdrawal and a MAD 900 transfer to the safe. The drawer should hold MAD 1,510. The count is MAD 1,490, a shortfall of MAD 20. The team recounts the cash and checks the movements. If it cannot find the cause, it passes the unresolved shortfall to the manager without making up an expense.
The till shows MAD 2,400 in card payments against a terminal batch of MAD 2,300. The last MAD 100 payment was accepted but appears in the next batch. The team records its reference and checks that batch separately. If the provider’s statement shows an illustrative MAD 23 fee on the first batch of MAD 2,300, the expected bank credit for that batch is MAD 2,277. The MAD 100 payment and any adjustment to it are tracked separately. None of these amounts offsets the MAD 20 shortfall in the drawer.
Make the routine transferable to a second outlet
Use a shared closing sheet that records the till, period, expected and actual amounts, discrepancy, source of evidence and next check. Distinguish three statuses: reconciled, awaiting evidence or payout, and unexplained discrepancy. Give every open item an owner and a due date. If the same person takes payments and closes the till, arrange an independent review as soon as practicable. Give the reviewer access to relevant totals and records without copying card data into the shared sheet.
Before adding the routine to your network operations manual, ask someone unfamiliar with the till to try it. Set up fictional scenarios: a split payment, a cash refund and a card payment in the next batch. They should find the right amounts, explain what is unresolved and know whom to hand it over to. That is a better test than a signature alone. During an operations audit, look for repeat discrepancies by cause and till before attributing a problem to one person.
End-of-day checklist
- Record the cut-off and final totals by payment method.
- Count the drawer and check every cash movement not tied to a sale.
- Match card payments, then record payouts to be checked separately.
- Document open discrepancies with evidence, an owner and a due date.
- At the next shift, confirm that the opening float and outstanding items were handed over.
Frequently asked questions
Can we close while a card payout is still pending?
Yes for the operational check, provided the transactions reconcile and the expected payout is recorded with a follow-up date. Do not mark it as received until the bank credit appears. If it is late, compare the batch against the provider’s statement before deciding whether to escalate it.
Does every outlet need the same system?
Start with common evidence, categories and decision rules. Two outlets can use different systems if their closing records can be reviewed the same way. If your concept is growing and exceptions still depend on the founder, MFV’s network structuring support can help you document this routine alongside the rest of your operations.